Milwaukee Lincoln Avenue School fire; community meeting, future debate

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Public Schools held a meeting for the community on Monday, July 13 at the Boys & Girls Club at Rogers Street Academy, in the aftermath of the 5-alarm fire June 30 that destroyed Lincoln Avenue School.

Public feedback sought

What they're saying:

"This is another opportunity for the broader community to come out and to just get information about where we're at, what our next steps are, so that you're not just getting it from the media, and you can ask your questions of the team here, and then you can offer any suggestions and make sure that we're not missing anything, because what we want to do is make sure we wrap our arms around our students and our families and our entire community, and everybody feels valued and that they have a voice in the next steps for the community," said Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius. "This is really, really important to us."

The superintendent said Milwaukee is getting ready to raze Lincoln Avenue School. A time frame has not yet been established. 

"We don't have answers just yet about what's next. We'll be working with the community about what's next, and the city, as you know, the city owns our buildings. We lease them. And so we are working closely with the city on what's next, and we'll be working very closely with you," Cassellius said. 

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"We met with the staff to see if you were in support of the recommendation from the SEC to relocate to Pulaski. Now that we have that confirmation, our team, our facilities team is hard at work. And now we're going around really trying to make sure that we map out the building. So when you come to open house, you can actually see the learning environment that your child will be engaging in," said Michael Harris, Interim Deputy Superintendent of Operations for MPS. 

When it was time for questions, the first query posed to the officials came from a person who asked if there was a way to sell bricks from the old building; for people to buy bricks, possibly to benefit the school or district. Casselius said if it is possible, they will try to make that happen, assuming there are not any toxic chemicals involved. 

"The pain that your family is feeling about that. One thing I've noticed as superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools is that there are so many people who are so connected to their school community. People actually introduced themselves by their elementary school," Cassellius said. 

What about the students?

Dig deeper:

Keeping the entire K3 through fifth-grade community under one roof was the number one priority for families and staff. On Friday, the district announced it was moving forward with a recommendation to relocate the entire Lincoln Avenue School community to Casimir Pulaski High School. It turned out Pulaski was the only available option.

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On July 2,  district leaders first met with the school’s engagement committee (SEC), which included teachers, paraprofessionals, Principal Ayala, several parents, community leaders and more, to talk through which school buildings had open space and were available. 

The SEC school committee discussed the pros and cons of each available option and made the recommendation to the district to move forward with Pulaski.

Head to MPS FAQ webpage to learn more.

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