MPS is slow-walking at a time when the urgency is needed
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “slow-walking” as “acting in a deliberately slow manner” that delays or prevents progress.
I looked it up because I was thinking about the Milwaukee Public Schools system. Hmmm. We could argue over whether the Milwaukee School Board and the MPS administration are deliberately acting slowly. I’m not good at reading minds and I don’t know much about what goes on behind the scenes.
But, my goodness, things are dragging along these days. And this at a time when “crisis” is an accurate term for describing the state of educational progress for children in the MPS system.
The overall level of achievement and success for students was alarming before the coronavirus pandemic started. And, even though no data has been released since more than a year ago on student performance, one has to assume that students are now even further behind than they were before the pandemic hit. They’ve had nine months out of school or in virtual learning programs that, at best, range widely in quality.
I offer several items in support of using the term “slow-walking.”
Re-opening schools in person. This is a very difficult subject, especially in low-income and minority communities where COVID-19 rates have been high, worries are great, trust in government and the medical system is low, and there are many multigenerational households including people at risk. There are big reasons schools, including all in MPS and many outside the system, have remained virtual. Furthermore, schools that have opened in person have operated with a lot of stress and uncertainty, including abrupt flipping to virtual learning when COVID cases show up.
But there is a national wave of concern about what virtual schooling is doing to kids, not only academically but socially and emotionally, and efforts to get at least young kids back into classrooms are increasing, both in Wisconsin and nationally. Several days ago, the superintendents of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago called the situation of kids “dire” and called for a federal “Marshall Plan” to help schools re-open safely.
But reopening proposals don’t seem to be drawing much urgency in MPS.
In October, Superintendent Keith Posley proposed developing plans for partial opening in the second half of January. The city health commissioner told the board this could be done with reasonable safety. MPS administrators presented plans for doing that, including what they are doing to ventilate buildings.
The board showed no support and agreed to discuss the issue in January. MPS currently is asking parents to fill out a survey on what they want to see happen.
While Janice Jackson, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, has called for reopening schools in forceful terms (and in limited ways, they are scheduled to do so in early January), Posley has been cautious. I asked him several days ago what his own position was on reopening. “It’s really not about me,” he said. “It‘s about making sure everyone is safe.”
When it comes to educating kids, MPS stumbled through the first part of the pandemic closings last spring.
Posley praises how things are going this fall and says virtual learning efforts are much better. But requests for anything that provides evidence that the assertion is true have brought no substantial response.
Charter school renewals. Sometimes action and progress are not the same thing. This deserves a column in itself — and I expect to do that soon — but, in brief, the School Board decided Thursday night to take steps to make life more of a hassle for three charter schools that even critics agreed were doing good to excellent work.
Two of the three schools — La Causa on the south side and Milwaukee Excellence Charter School on the north side — are, in effect, authorized by the school board, but are not staffed by MPS employees. The third, known as IDEAL, on the south side, is staffed by MPS employees but has somewhat more independence than other MPS schools.
Both a review committee created by the board and Posley’s administration recommended five-year renewals of the charters for each school, which has been the standard term of charters for a couple decades.
But the current board members basically don’t like charters. So while proclaiming the virtues of each of the schools, the board cut their renewals to three years. A big deal? Depends on who you ask, but you can bet charter advocates will take it as a slap in the face to some of the best schools in the city.
The School Board itself. This is a concern that has been building in my mind for about 20 years. There are school boards from districts large and small, near and far, that focus attention on student performance and what is being done to improve it. In public sessions, they hold administrators accountable for student success. The Milwaukee board deals with a lot of subjects. Student success generally isn’t one of them. How are kids doing in reading, math and other subjects or why do so many schools have low levels of success year after year? Talking about things like those seems to be treated like doing dirty laundry in public.
The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association. The union has been in a strong position in recent years when it comes to MPS policy. Every board member currently was endorsed for election by the union. The union is strongly opposed to schools operating in person — and even wants non-MPS schools to stay closed. Union opposition to in-person classes is a big factor in the MPS approach to the subject. And the union is opposed to charter schools, which don’t have unionized members. And the board is generally opposed. In general, there’s alignment between the union and the board.
The community itself. So what about voices from the community calling for improving student success or advocating for kids to return to school in safe ways? It’s quiet out there. While decision-making on whether to operate schools in person has brought out strong advocacy and large crowds at meetings in many places, MPS is not one of them.
Best as I can read the big picture, MPS is moving fairly quietly through a year when it is very likely that kids are not doing well.
What are Posley’s thoughts on how the rest of the school year is shaping up? “We’re going to win,” Posley said.
That’s hard to see happening if you’re slow-walking.
Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.