James Madison Principal Gregory Ogunbowale (center) speaks to community members and parents during a recent event focused on community schools. (Photo by Jabril Faraj) Milwaukee Public Schools announced that two additional schools — Browning Elementary and Lincoln Avenue Elementary — will join the district’s roster of community schools. The model, which includes principles of shared leadership, high-quality and culturally relevant instruction, wraparound services, community engagement and restorative discipline, has produced positive results nationally. As part of a partnership with the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, Auer Avenue, Hopkins Lloyd, Bradley Tech High School and James Madison Academic Campus (JMAC) have operated as community schools for about a year. The announcement came after the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) board recently rejected a proposal to partner with County Executive Chris Abele and Abele-appointed Opportunity Schools Partnership Program (OSPP) Commissioner Demond Means to cooperatively restructure a failing school. Shortly after the decision, MPS Superintendent Darienne Driver and Board President Mark Sain met with Abele and Means to discuss alternatives. MPS board Vice President Larry Miller said a quality early childhood education program could help prepare students to succeed in school and wouldn’t be disruptive to “the really strong reform work that we’re doing.” Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! Since June 2014, MPS has “worked to develop and refine a comprehensive plan to improve student outcomes,” according to its website, that focuses on closing the achievement gap, educating the whole child and engaging school communities. The district is currently undertaking multiple reform efforts, including a multi-organization collaboration at George Washington Carver Academy and a “knowledge exchange” partnership between Casimir Pulaski High School and Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, an MPS charter school network. The state legislation creating OSPP mandates that the commissioner identify between one and three schools the first two years and up to five in 2017-18 for transfer to charter or private voucher school operators. So far, no schools have been chosen. MPS officials and others have stated that the move could harm the district by reducing funding. Means and Abele, who have said they would like to minimize the legislation’s impact on MPS, pitched the partnership as an opportunity to create a community school. Miller said the OSPP proposal “caused some real concerns,” including the idea of a school takeover and discrepancies regarding who would employ teachers. “I’m always concerned when people say community school because, often, they’re just talking about wraparound services,” Miller said. “That’s only one component of it; the definition of community schools goes much deeper.” (From right) Ingrid Walker-Henry, Jamaal Smith, Martha De La Rosa and others listen to speakers during a community schools event at James Madison Academic Campus. (Photo by Jabril Faraj) Ingrid Walker-Henry, a member of Schools & Communities United and an MPS parent, noted, “Around the country, most of the models that you see in urban areas are turnaround districts, recovery districts … and they haven’t really shown results. This (community schools) is something … that actually has shown results with children.” In Cincinnati, since the introduction of Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in 2000, high school graduation rates have increased from 51 percent to more than 80 percent and the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly. Cincinnati Public Schools policy states that all district buildings will serve as CLCs; so far, 34 of 55 schools are functioning in that capacity. The Cincinnati Public School district calls its community schools CLCs; in Milwaukee CLCs refer to the almost 50 before- and after-school programs run in MPS schools by nonprofit organizations. Cincinnati’s success was the inspiration for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal to create 100 community schools by 2017. Oakland, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore and Chicago are among the cities taking steps to substantially expand community schools. Jamaal Smith, a community campaign coordinator with Wisconsin Jobs Now, said shared governance is the most important part of the model because it gives the community a responsibility and stake in a school’s success. Teachers, parents, children and neighbors are included in decision-making through school councils, which function much like a school board.