Demand MPS Give ALBA and Pulaski Students Room to Learn

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors and MPS Superintendent Posley

Graphic Credit: John Fleissner

For years, ALBA and Pulaski have been forced to turn away hundreds of students and families who want to enroll because of a forced co-location with a private charter school.

Over the past decade former superintendents and school boards advanced a privatization scheme to forcibly shrink and eliminate Pulaski by allowing private charter school, Carmen, to occupy Pulaski and ALBA.  These forced co-locations rob ALBA and Pulaski students and families of the opportunities they deserve.

Demand for seats has consistently grown at ALBA and Pulaski in recent years. The Carmen occupation has pushed our students to learn in hallways, has forced four school counselors in one office, denying students dignity and privacy, and has denied students with special education needs dedicated space to meet with special education teachers and fulfill IEP services.


• MPS parents, students, and educators have raised concerns that the co-locations restrict enrollment for successful International Baccalaureate, arts, trade and tech, and bilingual programming at ALBA and Pulaski

• Conflicting school schedules, facility needs, policies, and overall goals at the two co-location sites have resulted in strained learning environments and overcrowded facilities for many years

• Key findings from the 2022 Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) Charter Evaluation for Milwaukee Public Schools found "little evidence to suggest that the co-location experiment has improved the academic performance of students." And that "Overall it is difficult to find much in the data to suggest that the co-location...has met the goals which were envisioned," and that it "has thus fallen considerably short of its intended outcomes."

• ALBA's IB and bilingual programming will strengthen a feeder pattern into Pulaski

• ALBA and Pulaski enroll a significantly higher percentage of students with disabilities than Carmen


Durante años, ALBA y Pulaski se han visto obligados a rechazar a cientos de estudiantes y familias que quieren inscribirse debido a una ubicación forzada con una escuela chárter privada.

Durante la última década, los ex superintendentes y las mesas directivas escolares promovieron un plan de privatización para reducir y eliminar por la fuerza a Pulaski al permitir que la escuela privada chárter, Carmen, ocupara Pulaski y ALBA.  Estas ubicaciones forzadas privan a los estudiantes y familias de ALBA y Pulaski de las oportunidades que merecen.

La demanda de asientos ha crecido constantemente en ALBA y Pulaski en los últimos años. La ocupación de Carmen ha empujado a nuestros estudiantes a aprender en los pasillos, ha obligado a cuatro consejeros escolares a estar en una oficina, negando a los estudiantes dignidad y privacidad, y ha negado a los estudiantes con necesidades educativas especiales un espacio dedicado para reunirse con los maestros de educación especial y cumplir con los servicios del IEP.

• Los padres, estudiantes y educadores de MPS han expresado su preocupación de que las ubicaciones compartidas restrinjan la inscripción para el Bachillerato Internacional, las artes, el comercio y la tecnología, y la programación bilingüe exitosa en ALBA y Pulaski

• Los horarios escolares conflictivos, las necesidades de las instalaciones, las políticas y los objetivos generales en los dos sitios de ubicación compartida han dado como resultado entornos de aprendizaje tensos e instalaciones sobrepobladas durante muchos años

• Los hallazgos clave de la Evaluación Chárter de Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) de 2022 para las Escuelas Públicas de Milwaukee encontraron "poca evidencia que sugiera que el experimento de ubicación compartida haya mejorado el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes". Y que "en general, es difícil encontrar mucho en los datos que sugiera que la ubicación compartida... ha cumplido los objetivos previstos" y que "por lo tanto se ha quedado muy por debajo de los resultados previstos".

• La programación bilingüe y del IB de ALBA fortalecerá un patrón de alimentación en Pulaski

• ALBA y Pulaski matriculan un porcentaje significativamente mayor de estudiantes con discapacidades que Carmen


To: The Milwaukee Board of School Directors and MPS Superintendent Posley
From: [Your Name]

Dear Milwaukee Board of School Directors and Superintendent Posley,

As demand for seats has grown at ALBA and Pulaski in recent years, the Carmen occupation has forced classes into hallways where students without classrooms are learning from teachers using carts on wheels.

I am writing to demand you provide the space needed for MPS students and prospective students to have the educational opportunities that they deserve by ending the forced occupation of their public school buildings by private charter schools.