This post originally appeared at https://badgerbubbler.com/news/north-division-high-school-milwaukee

In the June 7, 2023 issue of the Milwaukee Community Journal, Mikel Holt wrote an interesting article in his Sygnifyin’ column. 

Though basically, it’s about the three black members of the Milwaukee School Board, the information he shares information about North Division that is just shocking.  He also shares the stranglehold that the teachers union has on the board, a fact that is well-known.

Generally speaking, MPS has the lowest reading proficiency rates for Black fourth and eighth graders in the US and Canada.

A shocking quote in the article from a teacher in MPS regarding students is, “they can’t learn because they are poor children, and everybody knows poor children can’t learn. Plus they hear gunshots every day….”  It’s no wonder how a school that was built to be a state-of-the-art high school for 2,000 students only has about 400 students, which has been the norm for at least a decade.

This year’s graduating class had 45 students and of those 15 almost missed the graduation ceremony because they hadn’t paid a $75 assessment fee.  Why would MPS be charging an assessment fee and what the heck is that anyway?  Thankfully a group called Call to Action and the North Division Hall of Fame Committee paid the money for the students so could attend the graduation ceremonies.

According to Holt, North Division is the worse performing school in Wisconsin, rated by every state and national assessment group and it’s the only school where proficiency rates for math, reading, science, and gym is stuck at zero.  Also, most of the graduates are two years behind their counterparts throughout the district and light years behind White suburban children.

This isn’t a money problem as MPS gets the most funding of any school in Wisconsin when all the avenues of funding are added together.  For instance, according to a WILL Law Firm article MPS received $11,242 in additional funding from federal stimulus funds.

The problem is that MPS has lost its focus on its main goal – to teach the students to be proficient in the 3 R’s and some life skills so they can become positive contributing members of society.