Parents sound off at first town hall since MPS publicized potential school closures
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The district cites declining enrollment, aging infrastructure for the need to potentially close, merge some schools, but has yet to identify which schools could be impacted.
On Monday, September 30, 2024, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) hosted a town hall at Rufus King International High School. The district hoped to inform the public about its long-range facilities master plan and hear from parents and community members.
Cafeteria tables at the high school packed with parents and concerned community members after school. Tensions ran high as many community members expressed a lack of trust in the district.
The consultant the district hired, Perkins Eastman, presented its long-range facilities master plan, which lays out the criteria for schools that could make them candidates for closure.
“Anytime we talk about change, it’s always that potential, right? A lot of people grew up in the school, and they want that school to live on forever. And in a perfect world, we would want that as well,” MPS Interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan said.
The plan, driven by declining enrollment and aging infrastructure, outlines potential school closures, mergers, new construction, and programming investments over the next decade.
To address these issues, MPS proposes grouping schools into categories based on utilization rates, building conditions, and program offerings.
Each category would then be considered for different strategies, including closures, mergers, building additions or programmatic investments.
For example, a school that is operating at less than 50 percent capacity, has not experienced enrollment growth for five years, and is located within a mile of another underutilized school is a candidate for closure.
“We’re trying to see what sort of interventions are potentially pragmatic and feasible that would help start to address those balances and really make sure that every kid has equal access and opportunities,” Nathan Morris, a project manager for Perkins Eastman, said.
The district stopped short of saying which schools could fall into the closure and merger category. People at the meeting told WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys that they wish they knew more.
“They’re not going to tell us what their agenda is until the eleventh hour,” Yvonne Bonds, a retired educator, said.
“We’ve lost confidence in them, particularly integrity. We can’t trust them,” said Deborah Lee, who has nieces who go to MPS schools. “But we will see. I’m going to continue to keep following this and looking into it.”
Milwaukee Alderwoman Sharlen Moore called the town hall a failure and blamed the administration.
“They set the consultant, they set him up for failure. And instead of having the opportunity to connect and engage with parents, the administration and the district continues to do the same old same old and we got to demand for different,” Moore said.
The district has three remaining in-person town halls.
• Wednesday, Oct. 2 at Hamilton High School, 6215 W. Warnimont Ave. • Thursday, Oct. 3 at James Madison High School, 8135 W. Florist Ave. • There are two virtual town hall meetings that will be held via Zoom on Monday, Oct. 7, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
