PolitiFact sorts only some of the “truth” on voucher schools, leaves out key objections to program’s expansion
79 MPS students earn national German language awards
Private school voucher expansion: A growing taxpayer-funded entitlement
Use revenue increase to fully fund Wisconsin’s K-12 public schools
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: A Failure
We often rue the loss of old buildings. Especially ones that were near and dear to us. And no buildings fit that bill more than schools, where we grew up. It’s a shame, for example, that schools like Jefferson (at Juneau Village), Jackson in the Third Ward, 18th Street (now a parking lot) and 21st [...]
In 1911, Danish-born landscape architect Jens Jensen, who left a lasting imprint on the upper Midwest, wrote of the school playground, “It belongs to the school and should not be conducted as a separate institution. Each gains from an association with the other. The playground gives the school building a setting which it too often [...]
You can read an endless parade of books about public education. There are surveys of history, books that focus on charters and on voucher programs, volumes devoted to the battles for desegregation and all kinds of books by pundits arguing this or that approach to funding, to curriculum and everything else. But if you want [...]
Last week, I spied a copy of the new Great Schools school finder which rates all the area public, charter and private schools to help parents make informed choices. The schools get a number rating, from 1 to 10, based on test scores, school climate and improvement. The rankings are also
Tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Gov. Scott Walker will give his state of the state address speech for 2013. Certainly, he and I won’t agree when it comes to public schools. We might agree that the new report cards and the new cut scores will turn out to be a good thing for students across [...]
A loop of video showing the Blue Angels soaring through the heavens was projected on a screen above the stage in the gymnateriatorium at Maryland Avenue Montessori, a Milwaukee Public School on the East Side celebrating 125 years in its current building this year. Despite their speed and acrobatics, they couldn’t hold a flame – [...]
At the bottom of every email from MacDowell Montessori teacher Chip Johnston is this phrase: “Progress comes from a combination of hard work and smart work.” That philosophy helps drive Johnston’s interest in
Next week is International Walk to School Day and in preparation, I heard a
When I talked to the principal at Maryland Avenue Montessori School this morning, we agreed it’s a great day for the ribbon cutting ceremony on the MPS school’s new rain garden. There was a light drizzle and the show would go on. As long as there’s been an East Side, there’s been a Maryland Avenue [...]
You know by now that I support public Montessori, a method that has been responsible for some of the highest achieving schools in MPS. (Note: I say “a” method, not “the” method in response to some talkbacks on my commentary recently on the opening of the new Howard Avenue Montessori School. There are other methods, [...]
As Milwaukee Public Schools’ communications director Roseann St. Aubin announces her departure, we offer a fond farewell. Like most of you, I first “met” St. Aubin when she was a local broadcast news personality. After stints in the Department of City Development and working for then-Mayor John Norquist, St. Aubin moved to MPS, where she’s [...]
Folks are usually looking for bright spots in our public schools and a late-addition item on the agenda of this Thursday’s Committee of Student Achievement and School Innovation meeting is just the kind of good news we love on the last day of school at MPS. It’s no secret that the public Montessori programs in [...]
MPS’ chief academic officer, Heidi Ramirez, who came to Milwaukee with superintendent Gregory Thornton when he arrived in 2010, has resigned. Ramirez said she will continue in her position through mid-July to help ease the transition. MPS spokesperson Roseann St. Aubin said the district intends to replace Ramirez (the CAO position was unfilled for a [...]
Any parent knows that kids can and will surprise you. For example,
Last week, MPS’ Albert Kagel School in Walker’s Point celebrated International Day and though I couldn’t make it down to check it out, I asked principal
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