Supporters cheer MPS students as they return to school

It sounded like a Redcat roar coming from Bay View High School, where community, state, and school leaders, cheerleaders, and mascots welcomed students back to school Monday, August 14. 2023, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) began the new year for schools on the early start calendar, which includes all high schools, 6thto 8th-grade middle schools, K-12 schools, and several elementary schools.

Bay View students walked into school on a red carpet lined with supporters. The crowd included several influential Bay View High School alumni, among them Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who wore a Bay View Redcats T-shirt under his blazer.

Johnson, in remarks afterward, noted the connection between a good education and rising to the position he holds today. “That’s only possible because I started, stayed, and succeeded at Milwaukee Public Schools,” he said. The remarks were made in the school’s Mary Morris Hall, named for the late mother of Bay View alumna and state Representative Christine Sinicki, who also attended the festivities.

Crowley, who led the hall in a Redcats cheer, said the county supports Milwaukee’s students in any way possible.

Superintendent Dr. Keith P. Posley observed that MPS is entering the year with scores of projects completed throughout the district, such as STEM labs, outdoor classrooms, and bottle-filling stations dispensing filtered water.

Looking ahead, Posley said, Bay View will take part in Junior Achievement’s nationwide 3DE program along with Marshall High School, the only two schools from Wisconsin to do so. Students will study real-life business challenges and tackle them through the lenses of their math, science, English, and social studies classes.

Students will learn business skills and make connections, and the program is known to improve school attendance. MPS this year is emphasizing the importance of attendance with its “Every Day Counts” campaign.

Also speaking at the Bay View High School program were:

• Assistant State Superintendent Dr. Keona Jones;
• From the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, Marva Herndon of District 1, president of the school board, and Megan O’Halloran of District 8;
• Amy Mizialko, president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association;
• Steve Lubar, executive director of the Administrators and Supervisors Council.

Speakers, other guests, and Milwaukee media toured two Bay View High School classrooms after the program: the Spanish language classroom and the culinary arts classroom.

Principal Jeffery Gaddis said the high school will be adding a professionally outfitted culinary classroom in the building’s lower level, and culinary and engineering students are collaborating to open a food truck by this time next year.

The first day of class for students at schools on the traditional calendar will be Tuesday, September 5. District festivities that day will take place at Maryland Avenue Montessori School.

Students still can enroll in MPS, either online at mpsmke.com/enroll or in person at the schools or at MPS Central Services, 5225 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee.