Yellow Bus

Five Milwaukee comprehensive high schools have some sort of entrance requirement, and thus, naturally, have higher scores on the state test, Wisconsin Knowledge Concepts Examination (WKCE). Those schools are King, Reagan, Riverside, Milwaukee HS of the Arts, and Milwaukee School of Languages. A really successful school does not rely on sorting students but takes the students it is given and provides them with the best education possible. Until recently, Hamilton High School called itself “the best of the rest” having the highest scores on the WKCE of the high schools not screening its incoming students. This year Bay View High…

The ACLU and Disability Rights Wisconsin have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, alleging that voucher schools discriminate against children with disabilities. Named in the complaint are the Wisconsin Department of Instruction and two voucher programs: Messmer and Concordia University Schools. Wisconsin’s State School Superintendent, Tony Evers, will cooperate with any investigation, which is clearly an understatement since Evers has called the voucher expansion “immoral.” Look for DPI to drag out every conceivable document they can find to support the complaint. While Wisconsin’s ACLU is involved, much of the heavy lifting comes from the national…

As the cost of a college education has escalated and employment prospects have dried up, parents and students are rethinking the value of a college education. PayPal’s co-founder, Peter Thiel, believes we are in an “education bubble,” too many college graduates chasing a handful of college-required jobs. He is giving money to gifted college students to drop out of school and start their own businesses. Why go to college? Some 150 years ago, one went off to college to become a refined gentleman (women excluded). Course work included Latin, Greek, philosophy, literature, arts with some science and math to give…

October 2009Governor Walker is asking the state legislature to give him the rule-making powers over all state departments, but Walker’s quest for more authority has constitutional problems. Three departments have their officers constitutionally elected:  the State School Superintendent, Attorney General and the Secretary of State. The State Supreme Court has already ruled on the constitutional independence of the DPI Superintendent so the independent rule-making of the other two offices are probably protected as well. School Superintendent Tony Evers has already let it be known he is not about to submit his rules to the governor.    In 1995, Governor Tommy…

After months of wondering whether Milwaukee’s new school board superintendent would leave Milwaukee for greener pastures, Superintendent Thornton has been recently telling school board members and others that it is time for his wife to move to Milwaukee and seek employment here. So the story in Tuesday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Thornton just might leave Milwaukee might be a bit behind the times (unless the MJS knows something it isn’t telling the rest of us. From the very beginning of the selection process, critics of MPS were telling the public that the school system was so dysfunctional that it couldn’t…

Congressman Paul Ryan’s road trip through southeast Wisconsin has hit a few potholes along the way. The bumps in the road come from citizens at Ryan’s town hall meetings questioning his Medicare reform proposal. In Ryan’s proposal, those younger than 55 would no longer get Medicare as we know it when they turned 65. Instead they would receive a certificate, a coupon, or voucher to go out into the marketplace and buy their own health insurance. Ryan argues that a voucher system would drive down costs because healthcare consumers would ask more questions about coverage and procedures if they had…

Students are sent to Northwest Secondary; no students actually sign up to go there. For the 2011-2012 school year, only seven students made NWS their first choice. All seven are registering for severe special education programs at this school because there are few other choices. Sixth grade has 80 openings; not a single regular sixth grader has signed up for NWS. Ninth grade has 60 openings; not a single ninth grader has signed up. Few teachers pick NWS; many are assigned from the out-of-assignment teacher pool. Many teachers quit or move on to other schools when there are openings elsewhere.…

Now that the election is over, let’s look at the makeup of the school board, what the election taught us and where this board is likely to go.  The first lesson is that it is better to get the endorsement of organized labor than the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Every labor endorsed candidate for school board won. The paper only got 50% of their candidates to cross the finish line. Clearly the attacks against collective bargaining by Governor Walker and Republicans made these races a referendum on this anti-labor agenda. The Journal Sentinel continues to harp on the idea that the…

Recently Detroit Public Schools announced that it was closing 70 public schools and that some classes might have over sixty students in a class. High school classes would resemble college lecture halls with the teacher down in front while students listen attentively (well maybe) in rows of stadium-style seating. But, you say, that is Detroit; Milwaukee is not likely to see sixty students in a class. The reality is such class sizes have happened in Milwaukee and other places in Wisconsin. Music classes, in particular chorus, band and orchestra, often have class sizes well beyond forty students. Another place schools…

Remember when the Milwaukee school board was considered so dysfunctional because of its continual battles and bickering? Today, Milwaukee’s school board is pretty united and a paragon of civility. The direction of board is unlikely to change in the April election, and it is a safe bet Michael Bonds will be chosen as board president if he wants it. The state legislators, who criticized the Milwaukee school board less than a year ago, who pushed for mayoral control of the school system, find themselves in an elected body far more dysfunctional than the school board ever was. Since I have…