MILWAUKEE – The third of five community meetings held by Milwaukee Public Schools at Hamilton High School Monday evening put this question in the hands of community members: what is the most important thing you look at when choosing a school?
Through a series of activities, people including current district employees, parents, neighbors, and former MPS students weighed in on what they believe the district’s buildings should be used for.
“Today’s children really benefit and have always benefitted from strong family support, and in today’s MPS we have a lot of disengaged parents at a time where we can probably resource them better,” community member Michael Harper said.
Harper, an MPS grad, also added that there are less programs offered than in his day.
The meeting was put on by MPS and architectural firm Perkins-Eastman, which is working with the district on its Long-Range Facilities Master Plan. Principal architect Patrick Davis told WTMJ the problems MPS is facing aren’t unique.
“Generally a lot of the trends we’re seeing her are consistent with what we’re seeing in particular in urban school districts around the country,” Davis said. “We’re seeing a lot of birthrate decline across the country which is impacting enrollment. Also, different types and mixes of programs and access to programs is not always equal across the district.”
Davis said they’re beginning to see similar trends in their early work with MPS.
In a release announcing the community meetings, MPS said “Right-sizing the district is a component of the Strategic Plan.” Senior Director for the Department of Facilities and Maintenance Services Sean Kane said that means they’re considering a variety of options.
“It could be expansion, capping, consolidating, looking at what we’re doing with facilities,” Kane said. “We have to look at these buildings as assets – once you lose an asset, you can’t get it back.”
Kane said they are hoping to get recommendations in October with an eye on implementing some by the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, but MPS officials stressed that these meetings are part of a long term-plan and not everything will be implemented at once.
MPS is offering a Community & Family Survey through May 27, which can be accessed here.
The remaining two community meetings will be held on:
Tuesday, May 21: 5:30–7:00 p.m. at Bay View High School, 2751 S. Lenox St.
Wednesday, May 22: 5:30–7:00 p.m. at Rufus King High School, 1801 W. Olive St.
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