MPS ending Carmen Northwest charter, school will need new home

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Public Schools is breaking up with one of its charter schools, meaning the campus and its 550 students will have to find a new home.

Renewal falls short

What they're saying:

Carmen Middle/High School of Science and Technology: Northwest Campus – or Carmen Northwest – has been at 72nd and Prentiss, just south of Silver Spring, since 2013. 

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MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius originally recommended the school board renew the charter school for three years. But on Thursday night, she said the board did not have the votes to approve it.

"The board’s lease with Carmen School would end without an option to purchase or extend their lease because we need the building," said Cassellius. "It is our intent to retain the (Carmen) Northwest facility as part of our long-range facility planning, as space for other educational use that the board may see fit."

The school board renewed the Carmen Northwest charter for one more school year – that is, 2026–2027. The district is also taking back the building in 2027. Carmen Northwest will need to secure a new location after June 2027.

"What do you need our building for?" said Aaron Lippman, Carmen Schools of Science and Technology CEO. "Shouldn't a quality school be the anchor of the community, as opposed to vacating it with pie-in-the-sky ideas of what might be for that building, especially when you have dozens of other vacant buildings?"

What are charter schools?

The backstory:

Charter schools are public schools, funded by taxpayers, that need an authorizing entity's approval to operate. For example, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors approved Carmen Northwest's charter, but the school operates independent of MPS.

Without approval from MPS, Carmen Northwest will have to look at other options – like the city of Milwaukee itself or an entity like the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee – for a charter.