MILWAUKEE — It’s only two more weeks before Milwaukee Public Schools starts its academic school year on Tuesday, September 2nd but there are still many parents within the MPS district who did not yet enroll their child for the academic school year.
Kay Mercado and her husband recently moved from the Glendale School District to Milwaukee and said while they were unable to enroll their son into the first school of their choice this year, they are hoping to make sure that the school he is registered with this year continues his extra-curricular activities.
“My son has a robotics club, a mathematics club in addition to STEM too,” said Mercado. “We want to make sure that he has access to those things still. I will say it’s important to enroll your child as soon as you can. If you’re getting in the last few picks, that’s not good. Your child may have to go further from home, they are not around with the kids in their neighborhood, it is so important to see what MPS has to offer and you don’t want to wait.”
First time parent Takiyah Cox says she’s hoping to make sure that her child stays in a small enough program so she can get the help she needs from educators.
“There are so many opportunities that my daughter can get from MPS once she gets closer to higher education,” said Cox. “The plan is after her K-5 program, I want her to go to a science school. I feel those schools are extremely beneficial. I can definitely see the difference with all the other programs the school district offers. I don’t know if I was just young or just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities or if there was a lack of opportunities. Now that I am a Mom, I see thing from a different set of lenses so I see there is much more to offer in the district these days.”
With the enrollment fair come other opportunities for parent to explore for their children including signing up for second language classes such as Spanish, German and French.
Other programs available for parents this year is active bus tracking.
MPS Senior Director of Business and Transportation Services David Fifarek says the Where’s My Bus app will bring peace of mind to parents who want to make sure their child’s bus arrives on time to school.
“The app allows GPS of all buses to your respective families. So if you have three kids in three different schools, the app will be a one stop shop for where is that bus at any given point in time on it’s travel time,” said Fifarek. “This app will provide real-time information to families on their particular student’s bus information as the bus is coming. This is really helpful especially in Milwaukee when we have inclement weather patters. We are excited to kind of give them a new and more efficient offering.”
The MPS enrollment fair continues on Friday at Wick Playfield near MPS headquarters.
