MPS board will see big turnover
Slate of Socialists among candidates vying for four open seats in primary
With no incumbents running for the four open seats on the Milwaukee School Board, voters are choosing from a field of newcomers in the Feb. 16 primary, including a slate of Socialist candidates backed by the teachers union.
Candidates will take office at a time when they will likely face major decisions about reopening schools, while navigating a pandemic with a student population that in the last year has faced historic academic, physical and emotional challenges.
Two of the races have only one candidate on the ballot: Walker’s Point Center for the Arts executive director Marcela Garcia for the south side District 6 seat now held by Tony Baez; and MPS teacher Harry Leonard for the southwest District 7 seat held by Paula Phillips.
Contested races in the 4th and 5th districts on the north and east side each have four candidates. District 4 incumbent Annie Woodward was taken off the ballot when election officials said they found numerous signatures on her nomination papers from people outside her district. Board president Larry Miller of District 5 is not seeking reelection.
A Democratic Socialist slate of two candidates, Dana Kelley and Alex Brower in Districts 4 and 5, is endorsed by the teachers union, the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association. MTEA also endorsed a second candidate in District 5, Abbie Fishman.
Kelley and Brower are part of the Milwaukee chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), though school board offices are officially non-partisan. According to January campaign finance
reports, both had raised more money than other candidates in their respective races.
Milwaukee historian John Gurda said he believes Brower and Kelley, if either succeed, would be the first openly Socialist office winners in Milwaukee since former mayor and school board member Frank Zeidler in 1956.
DSA has seen surges in membership during the pandemic, and since the rise of Democratic Socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Gurda said the renewed interest in socialism has common threads with the “strong class consciousness” of the 1910s-30s, when Milwaukee became famous for its Socialist leaders.
“The big common bond would be a real opposition to the inequities of the capitalist system,” Gurda said. “The yawning gulf between the rich and poor is probably the most serious problem we face, and they have a clear consciousness of that problem.”
At the same time, depending on the outcome of the election, the board could turn majority-white after years of most members being people of color, in a district where just 10% of students are white.
DISTRICT 4 CANDIDATES Aisha Carr
Background: Carr first ran for school board in 2017 when she was an MPS high school teacher and lost to Woodward. She previously directed a community learning center for the Boys & Girls Clubs and now directs Milwaukee Succeeds Opportunity Youth Program, supporting young people ages 16 to 24. As Carr didn’t register her candidacy until January, she hasn’t yet filed a campaign finance report.
Website: facebook.com/aishaformilwaukee
Views on reopening: While district officials target an April return to school, Carr said schools should not reopen this school year. She said administrators and staff should instead focus on a comprehensive plan for next school year.
Priorities: When Carr ran in 2017, she was endorsed by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce and accepted funding from the organization, which has supported vouchers. Since then, she said, she learned to be more careful about accepting donations and clarified her position.
As a student, Carr was expelled from an MPS high school, and she said it was important for her to have the option to attend a private school and she supports the idea of vouchers for families that are under-resourced. However, she said the school choice system as it exists today needs greater transparency and accountability.
Carr said she would push for better pay for MPS teachers, intentional recruitment of teachers of color, and a focus on trauma-informed care rather than suspensions, expulsions and police actions. “I was expelled after one minor incident that if restorative practices existed then, the situation could have been addressed in a different way,” Carr said.
Cheryl Hayes
Background: For 22 years, Hayes ran a youth group in Milwaukee called Persons Expressing Problems, Challenging Ideas that was featured in the New York Times. She has worked in several roles for MPS, including substitute teacher, special education teacher, GED coordinator and online teacher before retiring last year. Hayes earned a masters degree in urban education at age 60. A January finance report shows her campaign has raised $50, all coming from Hayes herself.
Website: cherylhayesforthekids.com
Views on reopening: Hayes said schools shouldn’t reopen until a vaccine is available to all community members who want to be vaccinated.
Priorities: Hayes, who worked with students with special needs for much of her career, said she wants to see smaller classes so teachers are able to accommodate special needs in inclusive classrooms and reduce separation of these students from students in the mainstream.
Hayes also would like to expand Violence Free Zones, in which young adults from the community surrounding a school serve as mediators and mentors, with the goal of reducing violence, suspensions, and calls to police.
Hayes opposes public funding for vouchers for students to attend private schools. She also believes all Milwaukee charter schools should be chartered by MPS, rather than other organizations.
Dana Kelley
Background: Kelley is the lead organizer of North Side Rising, a community organizing effort of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. She also serves as assistant pastor of the Reviving Faith Movement Church. She is endorsed by the Milwaukee teachers union and Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America, of which she is a member. A January finance report showed her campaign had raised $2,756. Website: vote4danakelley.org Views on reopening: Kelley said schools should not reopen this school year.
Priorities: Along with Brower, Kelley said she would advocate for a Green New Deal for MPS, aligning goals with the federal proposal. It would include infrastructure issues like lead and ventilation, curriculum focused on climate equity, healthy foods and, ultimately, energy independence with federal assistance.
Kelley also wants to grow music, arts, clubs and other activities in MPS. Having been abused growing up, Kelley said these activities offered a critical safe space for her. “This is where our children can express themselves and have an outlet for what they’re dealing with, what they don’t know how to verbalize or are afraid to verbalize,” Kelley said.
Kelley opposes public funding for private education and said she would propose accountability measures for charter schools.
Victor Nwagbaraocha
Background: In 30 years in the education field, Nwagbaraocha worked as a teacher and administrator in MPS and Racine Unified School District. He also founded Positive Images, a non-profit connecting Milwaukee students with role models. He is endorsed by Woodward, who currently represents the district. A January finance report showed his campaign had raised $1,610.
Website: victor4mps.org
Views on reopening: Nwagbaraocha said it was too early to tell whether it will be appropriate to reopen schools in April, but he would like to reopen before the end of the school year.
Priorities: Nwagbaraocha said he would advocate for hiring more nurses to have a nurse in each building, as well as other mental health professionals. He also wants to expand summer school options to make it easier for students to graduate early.
Nwagbaraocha said students need more structured mentoring opportunities and channels to be involved in their communities. He believes there should be school board seats for students.
Nwagbaraocha said he doesn’t support public funding for vouchers, but also doesn’t view vouchers as the “enemy” and would focus on improving MPS schools to make other options less desirable.
DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATES Alex Brower
Background: A substitute teacher for MPS, Brower engaged in a hunger strike to secure healthcare benefits in 2018. He lost a run for county comptroller last year and now directs the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans. He is endorsed by the Milwaukee teachers union and Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America, of which he is treasurer. A January finance report showed his campaign had raised $17,904.
Website: https://voteforalexbrower.org/
Views on reopening: Brower said schools should not reopen until all community members have opportunities to be vaccinated.
Priorities: Like Kelley, Brower supports a Green New Deal for MPS, including removal of toxins in buildings, improving ventilation and natural light, getting healthier foods and reducing use of fossil fuels.
Brower wants to add seats to the school board, encouraging students to
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serve. He also wants to organize community-wide votes on some budget and policy decisions that would normally be made by the school board alone.
Building on the gains made because of his hunger strike, Brower wants to ensure health benefits for all full-time MPS staff and end the use of temp agencies. He said he’ll call on state lawmakers to end the school choice program and call on non-MPS entities that charter schools in Milwaukee to voluntarily commit to ending the practice, so all charter schools in Milwaukee would move under the purview of the Milwaukee School Board.
Abbie Fishman
Background: Fishman retired in May after teaching in several MPS schools, most recently at Riverside High School. She had also worked in the MPS central office, specializing in advanced academics. She is endorsed by the Milwaukee teachers union, in a double endorsement alongside Brower. A January finance report showed her campaign had raised $3,233.
Website: abbiefishman4mps.org Views on reopening: Fishman said it’s too early to tell whether an April reopening will be appropriate. She said all school staff should have the chance to be vaccinated before reopening.
Priorities: While teaching at Riverside, Fishman built partnerships with Boswell Books for students to meet authors, and with UWM for students to discuss Shakespeare with actors in the UWM performance. As a school board member, Fishman said, she will help more schools establish such partnerships with community organizations, as well as vocational internships.
Fishman also wants to expand “gifted and talented” programs to include students with a richer diversity of interests and strengths, such as leadership and compassion. She also wants to offer more mental health services.
Fishman opposes public funding for vouchers and said officials should consider different regulations for charter schools, which she said currently put other MPS schools on an uneven playing field.
Jilly Gokalgandhi
Background: Now at American Family Insurance, and previously for Rockwell Automation, Gokalgandhi coordinated community partnerships, including STEM learning opportunities for MPS students. Previously working for United Way, she was the Community
Schools Coordinator for Bradley Tech High School. She is endorsed by Miller, the outgoing board president. A January finance report showed her campaign had raised $17,475.
Website: jillyformps.org
Views on reopening: Gokalgandhi said reopening should wait until all school staff have the opportunity to be vaccinated.
Priorities: Gokalgandhi said she would bring important personal experience and perspective to the board as a woman of color who moved to the U.S. from Mumbai as a child.
“I’m running on a platform of antiracist and culturally relevant teaching,” Gokalgandhi said. “I inherently understand why these things are important because when I grew up, I didn’t see my story, my heritage reflected in history books or literature. That fight is really personal.”
Gokalgandhi said she’ll fight to keep undocumented immigrant families safe. She plans to lobby the state for more funding for English language learners and for special education. And to parallel the existing Black & Latino Male Achievement Program, she wants to create a similar program for female and gender-nonconforming students. She opposes funding for vouchers.
Kahri Phelps Okoro
Background: Okoro serves as treasurer of the Milwaukee Area Technical
College Board of Directors, and works as operations manager for Equity Supply Group. She previously worked as a reading teacher for MPS and created FAMILY Literacy Backpacks for students. A January report indicated no fundraising for the campaign.
Website: blueprint4change.com Views on reopening: Okoro said the district should pursue a phased, hybrid reopening on a voluntary basis for both teachers and families.
Priorities: Okoro said she wants to improve communication with parents and expand opportunities for parents to volunteer in schools. “A lot of parents I speak to, they said they feel like they’re not invited in the schools,” Okoro said. “There are people that say I’m willing to help out and nobody asks.”
Okoro, concerned about the future of companies that provide busing for students given the impact of the pandemic, said she would also prioritize working on a transportation plan for reopening.
Okoro said she doesn’t oppose the school choice program. “Until MPS is more competitive, I don’t feel it is right to tell any parent that they should not have another option for their student,” she said.
Contact Rory at rory.linnane@jrn.com.
Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.