Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, a network of public charter schools in Milwaukee, is planning to build a new $55 million school on the city's south side.
Plans filed with the City of Milwaukee show an approximately 124,000-square-foot school to be built at 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave., which is currently occupied by Ascension Wisconsin Medical Arts Pavilion.
The school would have capacity for up to 1,100 students between grades 6 through 12, according to documents submitted to Milwaukee's Board of Zoning Appeals, which is set to vote on the proposal next week. A new 70,200-square-foot turf athletic field would also be built on the site, pans show.
Carmen estimates the new school would employ between 75 and 85 people.
Representatives from Carmen did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The proposed school is a few blocks away from Carmen Southeast, at 2500 W. Oklahoma Ave., where the school is co-located with Casimir Pulaski High School, a public school. Carmen leases its space there from Milwaukee Public Schools.
In April, a resolution was introduced to the MPS Board of Directors to not renew Carmen's lease at the school, as well as Carmen's space at 1712 S. 32nd St., where Carmen South is co-located with Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA) Elementary School.
MPS documents say that a Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) Charter Evaluation for Milwaukee Public Schools found “little evidence to suggest that the colocation experiment has improved the academic performance of students at either site (and at Pulaski in particular)“ and that “Overall it is difficult to find much in the data to suggest that the co-location partnership between Carmen Southeast and Pulaski has met the goals which were envisioned,” and that “the partnership has thus far fallen considerably short of its intended outcomes."
Carmen will still lease space at these MPS locations until the 2026-27 school year. MPS documents say that Carmen has the option to lease space at other MPS schools.
