(Editor’s note: Given the importance of an upcoming community meeting on North Division, we felt it appropriate to republish an abbreviated version of a column written several years ago).
Had not the endeavors of a task force created by the Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent in 2008 been derailed by saboteurs and special interests, there is a good possibility Milwaukee’s North Division High School would today be among the elite public schools in the city, instead of the worst-performing educational institution in the state.
(Fifteen) years ago, a commissioned task force of educational experts and North Division alumni created by then-Superintendent William Andrekopoulos set out to forge a new educational paradigm for the failing Northside school.
As an alum, I felt a kinship to the school, which was originally located a block away from its current location–on 10th and Center Street–across the street from my grandmother’s house and within a stone’s throw from the old St. Boniface Catholic Church, the launching pad for the open housing marches.
North Division was once branded as ‘our’ (Black Milwaukeeans’) premiere school, an honored institution in the African American community—a community center, church hall, and sports haven.
It was also identified as the catalyst for a series of campaigns to keep the school under ‘community control,’ the centerpiece of a proposal to carve out a separate —community-controlled—school district, and indirectly, the school choice initiative.
The North Division facility I attended in 1969 was crumbling around our ears. Students were afraid to venture into the lower levels, and windows were worn to the point where invasive bugs distracted the learning process.
Ironically, a community-wide effort to force the school board to construct a new facility was not the panacea we had sought, as the board callously planned to close the new school to those who fought for it.
In a nutshell, the board earmarked the school as a specialty, with the express intent of providing a ‘busing’ option for White students to meet court-ordered goals.
That deceptive scheme led to the Coalition to Save North, led by community activists (and North alum) Howard Fuller and the late State Representative Polly Williams. The Coalition to Save North’s sole goal was to restore North as a neighborhood school.
After a long and sometimes tumultuous fight, the board ultimately relented, but not without setting into motion a series of policy changes that eventually led North to the bottom of the academic achievement ladder.
By 1987, North had deteriorated until Williams sought legislative approval to make North the cornerstone of a new school district.
In her press conference to announce her legislation, Williams pointed to North as an example of the school board’s ongoing agenda to undermine the education of Black children.
While Williams’s bill passed the assembly, the senate version was derailed following intense union lobbying. The union opposition was grounded not in what was best for the students, but in the fear that many teachers could lose their jobs and, equally important, control over the educational monopoly.
In response to ongoing community dissension, the school board routinely made promises of forthcoming reforms. There was even a suggestion to make the school a Title 1 academy, the theory being that designation would result in additional federal and state funding to create individualized learning opportunities and tutoring.
On one or two occasions, the board did introduce several innovative projects.
But none succeeded, either because of limited support, insufficient funding, or lack of community support.
Thus, by 2008, North had become an embarrassing failure, a dumping ground for adjudicated juveniles and special needs students.
When the Andrekopoulos’ task force held its first meeting at the school that fall, North housed five different autonomous schools whose collective enrollment was less than half of the school’s capacity of 1,500.
The medical and dental specialty offices had been closed, as was the carpentry, welding, and health clinic. North’s Olympic pool, considered by some as the best in the district, had been drained for years and was most recently used for a driver’s education program. Portable desks had scarred the pool floor.
Following one meeting, Williams explained the importance of the task force goals.
“As goes North Division, so goes the education of our children. It’s evident to everyone there is a system of apartheid that replaced segregation.
“Moreover, since they (board and administration) don’t want to educate our children, since they want to continue to play games with our children as pawns, we must take over the process and run things ourselves.”
A decade earlier, Williams’ disdain for the MPS administration led her to create the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). Her program, however, was initially for only 15,000 poor children. As such, she recognized the importance of institutional change within MPS.
North remained on her radar because she witnessed hundreds of Black children slipping through the cracks, but it also represented a linchpin in the civil rights struggle.
Thus, while she was hopeful the task force could accomplish what she could not, history tempered her enthusiasm, and she was not optimistic.
The task force was entrusted with turning the school around after a half dozen ‘reforms’ and failed ‘reinvestments’ ranging from creating smaller schools within the facility to dental specialties to vocational programs.
After nearly two months of weekly meetings, testimony from a dozen experts, fact-finding, and visits to several community-controlled schools throughout the Midwest, it was apparent the only viable option for North was to convert it into a non-instrumentality charter.
We didn’t get that far, however, as no sooner than a new school board director was elected, a group of union supporters and alumni forced a reorganization of the task force.
With Director Anne Woodard as their champion, the group was able to force Andrekopoulos to open up the task force for a half dozen new members—most of whom had teacher union relationships or opposed any ‘reform’ they could not control.
In short, that sabotage resulted in a stalemate that was applauded by the union while guaranteeing another generation of failure for the students.
Thus, (15) years and as many excuses and failed ‘band-aides later, North has firmly cemented itself at the bottom of the Department of Public Instruction’s report card list.
An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 17, 2018, called North Division the worst school in America.
This publication made similar declarations before and since. We questioned not only the board and union’s bizarre opposition to restructuring the school, but also the apathy and complicity of North alumni, parents, and Black leadership to generations of our children being forced into second-class citizenship.
Indeed, (a decade and a half) after our unsuccessful attempt to create a new educational paradigm for North, less than eight percent of its juniors were proficient in English and zero in math.
Martinez Martin, the valedictorian for the graduating class of 2017, said less than 35% of the students who started at North four years earlier walked across the stage to accept a diploma.
Only 10 were accepted into college; six enrolled in colleges throughout the state, and each had to take a year of remedial education, including Martin. “They didn’t prepare me, and I was at the top of my class.”
It was not surprising that so few students were accepted into college since last year; the average ACT score was an embarrassing 13.3. Only two schools in the state had a lower score.
Daily attendance at North is among the lowest in the state at 62%, including delinquent students who are under threat of being returned to detention or possibly prison if they do not attend school.
MPS data also shows that of the 300-plus students enrolled in North following Martin’s graduation, only six made the school their first, second, or third choice.
If there is a silver lining to this disheartening scenario, several opponents to the task force direction have since realized they were dancing to a polka, not Rhythm and Blues.
To my surprise, they are the driving forces and foundation of the new coalition, ‘Call to Action.’
The group, consisting of North alum and community activists, first emerged from obscurity when it vocalized support for a proposal to ‘merge’ the Milwaukee Collegiate Academy charter school with North Division four years ago.
However, Fuller’s dream of ending his exemplary career with a prosperous North met with strong resistance from the MTEA and North Division teachers.
And, for reasons that defy logic, the head of the North Division Alumni Association joined those groups in opposing the merger. Her nonsensical rationale is that the “students are doing fine.”
James Smith, a North Division alum and member of Call to Action, was taken aback by that assessment but was not surprised at the coordinated opposition to Fuller’s proposal. In fact, Smith found irrefutable evidence that the union and North teachers not only lied to students—telling them they would be thrown out if the plan advanced—but corrected members of the Negrocracy who were undermining the merger.
“This is what we are dealing with,” Smith said in an interview. “I support unions, but do not respect teachers who would use our children like this. Also, the MTEA’s agenda is not in the best interest of our children.
“The real question is, what are they protecting? Failure?”
Martin revealed he was contacted by a North teacher and asked to speak at a press conference at the following board meeting.
Martinez rejected the offer after quizzing the teacher about the motives.
Out of curiosity, Martin said he started investigating the controversy and soon found himself volunteering with ‘Call to Action,’ headed by North alumni and highly regarded activists Mac Weddle and Saleem El Amin.
The organization has been active at the school for the last decade, providing scholarships, mentoring students, and organizing events.
In the last four years, however, it has shifted its agenda to focusing on restructuring the school. They have met weekly to entertain education experts, assess successful models, and meet with 53206 residents, businesses, and churches to develop a proposal to reverse the fortunes of North.
Ironically, those meetings have led the organization to the reality that the task force was on the right track. In an apparent move to deflect criticism, the board voted after the failedmerger attempt to designate North a ‘community school,’ a process providing somewrap-around services to parents while rebranding the school.
“But that (designation) does nothing for theacademics,” explained Smith, who said, “Mostof the students are still failing.”
“Much of what they have incorporated atNorth has shown little tangible results in student academic improvement.
“We don’t oppose what they are trying to do,but who wants to go to North without academicimprovements?”
Call to Action’s initial proposal following themerger fiasco was consistent with a templatecreated for Bradley Tech, in which an autonomous board would operate the school. But unlike Tech, which is supervised by a board ofbusiness entities, North would have a board ofBlack leaders and education experts. But if history is the best judge, outside influence wouldeventually undermine that paradigm, particularly if it were given true autonomy.
That leaves but one other option—followingthe path paved by the 2008 task force.
“Simply put,” a ‘Call to Action’ member explained, “we need drastic and fundamentalchange to ensure our children receive the besteducation possible, like other schools.
“We’ve been lied to, disappointed and disheartened. We’ve reached the point where weexpect excuses, as generation after generationof our children are allowed to slip through thecracks.
“If we were talking about white children, theboard would have bent over backward to correct the problem. Instead, we’re talking aboutchildren whose only value is a paycheck (forteachers).”
The ‘Call to Action’ member said he didn’twant to get into a public debate with membersof the Alumni association, but cannot fantomwhy people who say they care for our childrencan allow “this tragedy to continue.
“If they are blind to what is happening, I canonly pray for them. In the interim, we will fightto provide our children the best possible chanceto reach their dreams.”
(Editor’s note: Call to Action will host acommunity meeting at the school on Tuesday,6:15 p.m., to discuss the plight of current Northstudents and offer a proposal for the future.)
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