Earlier today, Milwaukee Mayor @CavalierJohnson saying he will be a “committed partner” with MPS following the resignation of former Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley early this morning.@620wtmj pic.twitter.com/KM2aCSGoE3
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) June 4, 2024
MILWAUKEE– Mayor Cavalier Johnson spoke on the news surrounding MPS Tuesday, and he said he plans to stick to the goal he has always set out for regarding students in MPS.
“I want to make sure that kids in Milwaukee Public Schools are best positioned for success. That’s what I said when I won re-election and was inaugurated as mayor, [and[ that’s what consistently I’ve said and been talking about since this financial situation has shown itself,” he said. “I’m going to be in the room. I’m going to be a committed partner in working to make sure that’s what happens.”
Mayor Johnson said this in response to the major financial scandal involving suspended funds for MPS from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction over delayed financial reports dating back to last September. Johnson gave his perspective on that financial situation, which he said was also news to him as well.
“It’s not uncommon for school districts from across the state to be late in submitting their financials,” he said. “The issue with Milwaukee Public Schools is that they were exceptionally late.”
All of this eventually led to the resignation of former MPS Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley early Tuesday morning. Mayor Johnson spoke on some of the impact that Posley made during his tenure.
“Working with him since I’ve been mayor… has been very fruitful,” he said. “Milwaukee is very likely the only big city in the United States that’s doing workforce development with kids as young as 10-years-old… if it were not for MPS, [the Camp Rise] program would not have happened.”
He also mentioned how they established monthly check-ins with the superintendents since he became mayor in 2022, which led to starting the Camp Rise program, and he said having those conversations also led to: “getting young people in this city connected with opportunities in the trades… and showing them there are great family supporting job opportunities in the trades.”
Mayor Johnson explained how he’d like for there to be balance between two different ways of operating MPS moving forward.
“There are extremes here. The extremes being the status quo that we’ve seen as it relates to public schools, and the extreme of the mayoral takeover,” he said. “Although I may be young, I’m old enough to remember the fact that this community rejected [the previous mayoral control] effort.”
Johnson expressed how he also wanted people to not forget about schools outside of MPS amid all of this news too, and he realizes that schooling will play a big part in his goal of increasing Milwaukee’s population.
“We’re talking about Milwaukee Public Schools now, yes, but let’s not forget that when we talk about education in Milwaukee it’s not just [MPS],” he said. “There are a number of other school types here, whether it’s charter schools, private schools… [there are] some really great and wonderful schools like [MPS], but also some really challenged schools like we also see in [MPS].”
He said it’s on him and the people in positions of power in education “to come together [and] to not have the adults fighting… but coming to make sure that all kids in our community regardless of what education system they find themselves in are in the best positions for success.”
