Among the local attendees were parents, classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, union leaders (including the President of the MTEA, Milwaukee’s teacher union) two elected school board members and members of the Coalition to Stop the Takeover, a group convened in early response to resist the threat of mayoral control in Milwaukee.
CORE started off the discussion with a detailed description of Renaissance 2010, demonstrating how this policy is hurting school communities and neighborhoods, causing teachers to lose hard earned seniority and benefits, weakening unions and more recently, contributing to a rise in violence in the schools, including the tragic death of CPS student Darrion Albert. CORE also spoke about their beginnings, how they were able to activate their membership by providing them with the support and activism the teachers union was not, especially in regards to responding to the numerous school closings. Upon concluding, Milwaukeeans had many questions and comments—discussion flourished and questioning began to go both ways as CORE members asked about the local situation as well.
By comparing local landscapes key similarities became evident though each locality had its own unique narrative. Whereas Chicago has had Mayoral control for some years now and is fighting to stop the implementation of more charters, ‘turnarounds’ and outright closings as a means to further privatizing schools, in Milwaukee, the encroachment of privatization surged in the mid nineties with the introduction of voucher schools. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Public Schools maintained an elected school board.
Now that is being threatened. Early this fall, news broke that the Mayor, the Governor and the state superintendent were planning to push for mayoral control, citing the necessity to do so in order to qualify for Race to the Top Funds. In response, the Educator’s Network for Social Justice (ENSJ) and the NAACP convened a coalition to stop the takeover, which now consists of 28 community, labor and other activist groups. The focus of resistance most recently has been on the state legislature as a bill was drafted that would give the mayor power to appoint a district superintendent as well as maintain the elected school board but severely weaken its power. The Coalition to Stop the Takeover organized demonstrations at the homes of Milwaukee legislators who have come out in support for that bill (and the takeover) and the Coalition is planning further mobilization efforts in Madison this week as well as for a public hearing on such legislation to be held in Milwaukee some time in January.
The motivation for inviting CORE members for this discussion was to provide Milwaukee with the human story of what the takeover could mean. Since the news broke that political leaders were planning this takeover, numerous forums, debates and hearings have been held and well attended. Other cities, including Chicago have been brought forth as examples—by both sides of the debate, either as shining examples or as disastrous experiments. Beyond the reports of test score losses or gains, nothing proves more powerful than the stories of personal experience. CORE has inspired us here in Milwaukee to keep on fighting, knowing we have partners in the greater struggle to keep our public schools in the hands of the people only a few hours to the south.
For a further report on the event, check out Milwaukee’s School Board Director Larry Miller’s blog post here
