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Board Split on School: Parents, Students Praise Truth Institute

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 03:00 CDT

By Sarah Carr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jun. 27--A few dozen staff, parents and students at Milwaukee's Truth Institute for Leadership and Service protested the school district's move to close their school at a board meeting Monday night.

And, after listening to about 25 people speak on behalf of the school, board members deadlocked on whether they wanted to close Truth, meaning the school's fate will not be determined until another board meeting Thursday night.

Truth is one of three small high schools in the North Division building. As one of the first new schools to open three years ago through Milwaukee Public Schools' push for smaller high schools, Truth was a forerunner in a major attempt at school reform in the city.

In seeking to close Truth, administrators cited poor academic performance at the school. Last year, 17% of sophomores were rated proficient or advanced in reading, and 3% in math.

"We feel that the children in this school could perform much better in a different school," said MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos.

But Steve Ivory, a parent with a 17-year-old son at Truth, said it isn't all "about numbers, numbers, numbers. It's about life skills." Several students and parents said with tears in their eyes that they felt completely disconnected from the school system until they arrived at Truth, and the school needs more time to improve its scores.

They also criticized the MPS administration for not notifying parents and staff at the school earlier of the effort to close it. "If you ask me, it looks a little bit sneaky," said Auntrae Boyd, a parent. "We should have had way more opportunities to debate this."

Carlos Garrett, a student who started at Truth two years ago, said he promised one of his teachers he would graduate from there. "Since the school is being closed, I can't fulfill the promise to graduate," he said. "Give us one more chance to get our stats up so I can fulfill my promise."

Andrekopoulos said Truth's leaders were advised in letters and meetings that officials were reviewing the school and its non-compliance with several parts of its charter contract.

Board members Danny Goldberg and Ken Johnson essentially voted to terminate the contract, while Jennifer Morales and Charlene Hardin wanted to give it one more year. "We've heard a number of areas the school is fantastic in," Johnson said. "The area that kept getting dismissed was that the test scores aren't there."

But Morales said testimony showed "students who were not attached to the system in any way are getting attached."

Truth was one of several high schools in the city to receive grant money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the foundation's support for small high schools nationwide.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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