Eight candidates vie for four Milwaukee Public Schools board of directors seats

Four of the nine seats on the Milwaukee Public Schools board of directors are up for grabs in the April 4 election, with two incumbents facing challengers and two others making way for newcomers to join the board.

The election comes at a critical time for MPS, the largest and one of the poorest and lowest-performing districts in the state. It has repelled two legislative takeover attempts in recent years and has embarked on a series of new reforms aimed at improving academic performance. At the same time, it is facing budget constraints and continued competition from charter and private voucher schools.

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The field of eight includes two MPS teachers, who would have to take leaves of absences if they win, and several political novices.The winners will serve four-year terms.

Here's a look at the races:

District 4

Two-term incumbent Annie Woodward is defending her seat against challenger Aisha Carr, an ethnic studies teacher at MPS' James Madison Academic Campus who was scheduled to return to the classroom Monday after a four-day suspension last week. The district said she violated school policy, but she characterized the move as political.

Woodward, 77, retired from the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services and touts her years of experience in public service, on the School Board and as a longtime community advocate.

She has voiced opposition to charter and voucher schools and believes the district "could have a fight on its hands to prevent the privatization of our public schools" under new U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

Carr, 29, said she has experienced MPS as a student, parent, teacher and community organizer, and believes the district is in "a war" and must do more to educate the whole child.

A  graduate of the voucher-funded Messmer High School, she is one of two candidates — along with Jonatan Zuñiga in the 6th District — who are being touted on the Facebook Page of the pro-school choice nonprofit Leaders for a Better Community. Carr said she is not a school choice advocate. She said she supports MPS Superintendent Darienne Driver's reform agenda and believes poorly performing schools should be closed, regardless of the sector.

"My stance is one for kids and quality education across the board," she said.

As a board member, Woodward said, she successfully fought the closure of schools in her district and pushed to return North Division to a traditional high school model after the district experimented with three smaller schools there. She advocated for the return of music, art, physical education and other enrichment courses that had been cut years earlier. And she pushed for the expansion of trade and career programming, including the return of welding courses to North Division and the culinary arts program at Washington High.

Carr worked for former Sen. Russ Feingold in Washington, D.C., and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. She was an MPS special education teacher before she was hired to teach one of the new Black Lives Matter courses this year.

She said MPS must improve the academic success of students, lack of quality teachers and funding issues, and said she would support teachers while challenging them to do what is best for students.

District 5

Two former MPS teachers are facing off in a race that pits incumbent Larry Miller against challenger Kahri Phelps-Okoro.

Miller, on the board since 2009, opposes vouchers, saying they create an uneven playing field and that voucher schools often fare no better than their public counterparts. Phelps-Okoro, a former MPS reading specialist who put one of her own children in a voucher school, said she wants to make the district more competitive, but that parents shouldn't be limited in their choices until that happens.

"I really want to see MPS turned around so we don't have to worry about vouchers and charter schools," she said.

Miller said he wants to see a citywide push for early childhood education. He co-authored the Black Lives Matter resolution that created a new ethnic studies curriculum; supports a broader expansion of ethnic studies; and co-authored a resolution to designate MPS schools as safe havens for immigrant and refugee children.

The biggest challenge, he said, is the need to improve students' academic performance and graduation rates.

Phelps-Okoro is running on a platform to improve literacy, math and science, school climate, curriculum and community. As a project manager for a family-owned construction materials company, she said, she sees lots of opportunities for MPS graduates, but that many cannot pass the basic math and reading tests required to work in the trades.

"We need to get in there with a sense of urgency," she said. "You have a whole generation of kids coming out of school without basic skills."

District 6

Two community activists — bilingual education proponent Tony Baez and Jonatan Zuñiga, outreach manager at Layton Boulevard West Neighbors, are vying for the south-side seat being vacated by Tatiana Joseph.

Baez, 68, would like to see MPS expand its language offerings and put a greater emphasis on bilingual education; phase out standardized tests as a way to gauge academic performance; and develop other means of assessing students. "The school district has to improve what it's doing for children," he said.

He called public schools "centers of democratic engagement," in contrast to voucher and charter schools. "But I don't want to attack parents that made those decisions based on limited information," he said.

Baez sees MPS' budget woes as a reflection of the state's spending priorities and said the district should consider suing the state — as Chicago Public Schools has done in Illinois — over the way it distributes education dollars.

A graduate of the MPS charter school Carmen Schools of Science & Technology and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Zuñiga said his campaign is "about launching a search for the best solutions."

"It's a call to action to get more people involved and to get new ideas and a new energy around public school issues," he said.

Zuñiga, 23, said he's a proponent of public schools and believes voucher and charter schools must be held to the same standards. But he said parents who choose those for their children need to be treated with respect.

He would like to see more of an emphasis on the trades in MPS schools and greater collaboration with businesses and local colleges and universities to make that happen.

District 7

Two relative newcomers to Milwaukee are vying for the south side seat vacated by Claire Zautke. Paula Phillips, 28, a project coordinator for the women's initiative at the Medical College of Wisconsin, came here in 2010 for an AmeriCorps post with City Year Milwaukee. Joey Balistreri, 27, a classical musician and former teacher, arrived last year when he followed his naval officer husband back to his hometown.

Phillips, who is engaged to state Rep. Daniel Riemer (D-Milwaukee), said she brings a unique perspective to MPS from growing up in a military family and as the child of immigrants.

She has campaigned around improving MPS' reputation, creating access to high-quality schools and building more transparency with the MPS budget. Phillips also said she wants to advocate for MPS at the state level and work with other underserved districts around the state.

Phillips said voucher schools have not improved education for students in Milwaukee and she is "more concerned about making MPS a place where people want to send their kids."

Balistreri,  who says his own family disowned him when they learned he is gay, became an educator "because I wanted to make a bigger impact and ensure kids like me are accepted for their true selves."

He married into a family long active in MPS: His mother-in-law spent four decades in the district and his father-in-law is a former Rufus King principal who went on to serve on the School Board.

As a board member, Balistreri said he would emphasize early childhood education, advocate for children with disabilities — he is the parent of a 2-year-old disabled son — and increasing MPS enrollment.

"I have a unique perspective in that I've worked in urban districts very similar to Milwaukee ... and I've had an opportunity to see what works in the classroom and what doesn't."