Yellow Bus

Supporters of Milwaukee Public Schools aren’t exactly jumping for joy over the primary victory of Barrett over Falk. After all, Mayor Tom Barrett tried to take over the school system nearly two years ago. Would a Governor Barrett try to do the same thing again? Reports surfaced at the time that the real push for mayoral control came from then Governor Jim Doyle and that Mayor Barrett went along to support the governor’s initiative. Barrett was genuinely upset with the governor when Doyle announced he was not seeking reelection. Barrett would never use his political capital on mayoral control if…

When Howard Fuller became Milwaukee’s superintendent in 1991, he pushed the district to offer no math course on the high school level lower than algebra. His reasoning was that algebra was a gatekeeper for college entrance. Far too many Milwaukee students never took algebra and could not gain entry into college without remediation. In some places, the situation hasn’t changed much. Nationally about 14 percent of all high schools don’t even offer algebra destroying the ability of many students to even enter college. Most of these schools are in poor and minority areas according to the Department of Education’s Office…

The Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) asked its teachers to accept a one week salary giveback in exchange for more teachers in the classroom. The union lobbied state legislators to allow a window to negotiate this concession. But when the votes were tallied, the teachers turned down the giveback. Historically the teachers’ union has been accused of being the main stumbling block in creative ideas to improve Milwaukee schools. The theory is that it is the union that opposes innovation, salary givebacks, elimination of tenure and seniority rights, and protects bad teachers with unnecessary due process procedures. In fact, the…

In the 2008 Obama vs. McCain election, the story is that a canvasser knocked on a door in Washington, PA. When asked who they were voting for, the shout came back, “We’re voting for the n***er!” Of course this story is on the Internet making its accuracy questionable, but it does illustrate a truth: many working class folks don’t worry about political correctness. The same can’t be said for higher income liberals. What do liberals do instead of directly confronting issues of race? They find other excuses, which brings us to the issue of Bay View Middle and High School…

No question about it, healthcare costs are killing the budgets of both public and private employers. This is a national problem, and soon the Supreme Court will weigh in on the federal government’s role in healthcare reform. At the local level, healthcare costs may be one of the most complex issues facing Milwaukee Public Schools and places the district in a no-win situation. In the 1980s, teachers and administrators traded for early retirement at age 55 with the district’s right to require that all MPS employees live in the district. At the time, this trade was a clear win for…

Milwaukee city government is authorizing up to eight charter schools controlled by the California-based organization Rocketship. These schools may pull several thousand additional students from Milwaukee Public Schools and place the school system into a near bankrupt situation. MPS has fixed costs that can not be decreased because of dropping enrollment. Like most school districts, MPS provides some form of health insurance benefits to their retirees. Under state law, these benefits are considered as legal property and can not be changed once employees are vested in the system. MPS simply followed actuarial standards at the time these benefits were given…

When Mayor Barrett was asked how mayoral control would improve Milwaukee Public Schools, he stated that he would hire a superintendent and then leave him alone. He would not micromanage the superintendent the way the present school board does. The mayor’s supporters even questioned the ability of the school board to hire a qualified superintendent. They argued that the Milwaukee school board was so dysfunctional that no one would want the position. That changed when the board hired Gregory Thornton, and the mayor has been impressed with Thornton. If Barrett controlled MPS, there is a good bet he would keep…

The day after one of our high schools had a major fight, I visited the school. As I walked out, a television van passed me heading toward the school; they were looking for the next big fight. When schools have disruptions, the media is like a bee to nector, but often its coverage is shallow and selective. The research shows there is no causal link between media portrayal of violence and individuals committing violent acts. But the research also shows that violence portrayal can desensitize individuals and trigger violence in those who have a predisposition to commit violent acts. The…

Newt Gingrich created a firestorm when he proposed that students be put to work cleaning their schools.  He stated that so many poor families have no one in the family who works and children need to learn the value of earning a paycheck. While Gingrich was correct about the attitudes of some poor people, he pushed a stereotype that poor people don’t know what work is. In fact, many poor people work two or even three jobs to keep their families afloat. Lost in the discussion is whether student employment is really all that valuable in the first place. The…

Schools have been measured in this state by the Wisconsin Knowledge Concepts Examination (WKCE). The test clearly has problems. It is given in the fall so the test is more a measure of how well students learned the previous year than they did in their present classes. Nor can the test result be used to drive instruction since schools don’t get the test results until spring. Nor can the test be used to measure how well students are doing in Wisconsin versus students in other states since we are the only one giving the exam. Nor can anyone justify the…