Interim MPS superintendent Posley to ‘tweak’ budget
His changes will be unveiled at school board committee meeting on Thursday
In his first day on the job Monday, Milwaukee Public Schools Interim Superintendent Keith Posley emphasized that student achievement would be his top priority, lauded teachers as essential to the district’s mission and vowed to “tweak” the 2018-’19 proposed budget that will be approved by the school board later this month.
“Everything I do will be about student achievement — core instruction in math, reading and writing — every single day,” Posley said Monday at Franklin Elementary School, the first of a three-school tour of buildings where he worked as teacher and principal before becoming an administrator.
Speaking to reporters at the close of the Franklin stop, Posley declined to say exactly what he plans to change in the budget proposed by his predecessor, Darienne Driver, who left Sunday to become the president and CEO of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
He said those changes would be unveiled Thursday at the school board’s Committee on Strategic Planning and Budget.
Driver initially had planned to stay until July 6, the end of her contract. However, the MPS school board had Posley begin his job on Monday, nudging Driver out the door early so the new superintendent “would own this budget,” Vice President Larry Miller said last week.
Posley downplayed any friction Monday, saying, “Dr. Driver and I have been working on this budget since Day 1. And it’s been a seamless transition process.”
And he made an overture to teachers, whose union had criticized Driver for proposing changes to health care benefits and failing to offer more than a cost-of-living raise in the coming year.
“Teachers are where the rubber meets the road,” said Posley, who professed “great respect for the work they do on a daily basis.”
“I’m a teacher at heart. I will be a teacher until the end,” he said.
Posley kicked off his day at Franklin Elementary School, at 2308 W. Nash St., where he began his career as a gym teacher nearly 28 years ago. There, he visited with students and teachers — some of whom started their careers with him at Franklin — and was treated to an anti-bullying rap tune by a group of first-graders.
“This is like home . ... Ben Franklin will always be home to me,” said Posley, who also had stops at nearby Clarke Street School and Forest Home Avenue School, on the south side.
“I love being around young people ... just seeing all the potential,” he said.
He comforted a sleepy preschooler in a Head Start class and told students in Daniel Hardwick’s class to “learn as much as you possibly can today. You can do all things.”
He repeatedly thanked teachers “for all you do for our young people.” Teachers who worked with Posley greeted him with hugs and said they were happy to see him at the helm of the district.
“It’s awesome,” said Bonnie Schmidt, who was among a trio of teachers who, with Principal Sara Hmielewski, gave Posley a large print from the school for his new office.
“He saw students as more than just a body. He saw a whole child,” Schmidt said.
“He engaged the kids in more than just phy-ed. He cared about their minds and their spirit.”
In addition to student achievement, Posley listed as his priorities developing staff, fiscal responsibility and transparency, and a commitment to school climate and culture.
He acknowledged the district’s financial struggles — next year’s budget makes significant cuts to close what was initially projected as a $38.7 million deficit — and he said he would be launching shortly an aggressive new campaign aimed at increasing enrollment, which should then boost state funding.
“We will be out on the buses this summer ... knocking on doors, canvassing the neighborhoods .... talking up Milwaukee Public Schools,” he said.
Board members, who have voiced frustration about the short tenure of superintendents in recent years, have said that Posley could be appointed permanently to the post depending on how he performs in his first year.
Before leaving Friday, Driver said she hoped the community would embrace Posley the way it did her.
Posley served as MPS’ as chief school administration officer before being tapped as interim superintendent. A graduate of Tougaloo College in Mississippi, he was recruited by MPS out of college and has spent his entire career in the district.
He holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a doctorate in educational leadership from National Louis University.