Wisconsin has the largest graduation gap between white and black students in the nation. Less than 40 percent of Milwaukee’s African-American students graduate from high school, and only 5 percent of them obtain a college degree.
Those statistics remain in the forefront of the minds of the faculty and staff at Milwaukee College Preparatory School (MCPS).
The sidewalks outside of the school are littered with waste and debris. The paint on the houses is chipped, and most of the buildings in the neighborhood are unfinished, bleak and gray.
Against that urban backdrop, the brightly colored arms of the statues that surround the entrance to the school act as a beacon among the dreariness of North 36th Street. Young minds enter these doors and enter a world unlike any they’ve ever known, a world where 480 students can succeed. A world where others believe in them, encourage them and teach them that they don’t have to succumb to the statistics.
Ronald Sadoff, founder of Sadoff Investment Management LLC, an investment advisory firm in Milwaukee, is largely responsible for the opportunities available to the students at MCPS. In the 1990s, Sadoff had a vision to develop a school for inner city kids in need that would provide far more than just an excellent education.
A decade later, Sadoff is a kind of foster grandfather to the hundreds of students whose lives he has touched by instilling in them the belief that they can succeed in life.
MCPS was originally associated with the Marva Collins Preparatory School and functioned for its first three years with her name attached to it. Collins developed an institute in the Chicago area that focused on a high-performance education and challenged children to succeed in ways that no one thought they could.
MCPS was founded under the same principles. The school emphasizes the notion that even though two-thirds of the students’ homes are led by a single parent and 70 percent of them live below the poverty level, those should not be excuses. Instead, the school emphasizes that those are obstacles the students can overcome. Students at MCPS begin 4-year-old kindergarten with the goal of college in mind.
Sadoff originally learned about Collins and her unique teaching methods in a 1996 segment the “60 Minutes” television show.
“My wife (Micky) and I had been looking to get involved. I wanted to work with kids and was interested in starting them young. On the “60 Minutes” program, Marva claimed a phenomenal success ratio when dealing with inner city kids just like these,” he said. Sadoff was so impressed with her story that he drove to Chicago to meet Collins and proposed that a school be built in Milwaukee. Collins was hesitant to grant him a license to form the school on 36th Street, but his persistence finally won her over.
With the seed planted, Sadoff found principal Robert Rauh, and the two, after evaluating a few options, decided to be chartered by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Sadoff invested more than $200,000 and rented out one floor of the Capital Christian Center building at 2449 N. 36th St.
“Originally, I had thought that Marva had a name like McDonald’s, that we would be inundated with kids wanting to come to our school,” Sadoff recalled, “When in fact, it was just the opposite.”
The first summer before the school was scheduled to open, it had only 12 students signed up for enrollment. After the initial low enrollment, Sadoff and Rauh threw a party to promote the school and its mission.
“The entire neighborhood was invited. There was free food, clowns, music and entertainment,” Sadoff said. “We signed up 55 kids that day.”
In the first fall, the school enrolled 76 students in classes from 4-year-old kindergarten to third grade.
Since the first year, MCPS has purchased the Capital Christian Center building and conducted a rehab and expansion project for $6 million, funded by various contributors, including Sadoff. Today, 480 students are enrolled in MCPS from K-4 to eighth grade, although Collins has since withdrawn her name from the school.
“It’s approximately 48 students per grade level, with two sections of 24 students,” said Rauh.
Children living anywhere in Milwaukee County are eligible for enrollment, and admission is based entirely on a blind admissions policy, with current students and siblings of current students getting first priority.
Sadoff continues to be a presence at MCPS, with regular visits and involvement in the big decisions the school makes.
“I try to get here at least once a week. I try to get to know the kids, visit all the classrooms, and get to know the teachers,” Sadoff said.
According to Rauh, the school couldn’t ask for a better board chair.
“He is incredibly supportive, he knows what is going on, but he doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day operations,” Rauh said. “He allows us to do what we think is best. All the teachers know who he is. I give him copies of their evaluations, and more often then not, he will hand-write notes to them, thanking them for their dedication and their excellence.”
The relationship between Sadoff and MCPS has become more than a business relationship. According to Rauh, Sadoff has become a mentor and a very personal friend.
“For (the Sadoffs) to make the commitment to start a school and really make a difference in the lives of kids in the central city of Milwaukee is incredible,” Rauh said. “He is passionate about making our city a better place and giving back to the community where he raised his kids. That is just incredibly admirable. We are really blessed to have them and people like the Sadoffs in the city of Milwaukee.”
The students and staff at MCPS follow a specific mission that is described as “an unrelenting focus on academic achievement and character development.” Every teacher, student and parent is required to sign and date a commitment to excellence agreement that binds them into the MCPS mission.
Upon arriving at MCPS at the beginning of the year, classrooms and children will define what it is they are there for and write out their mission statements for the academic year. Many of the statements are displayed in the halls of MCPS, shadowed only by the unique single-file lines of students who grace the hallways between class periods.
MCPS continues to overcome statistics and prove that poverty rates and the amount of money spent on education are not exclusively connected with achievement rates. The school’s educational curriculum is almost entirely funded by the state. According to Sadoff, MCPS receives a little more than half the local and state funding that Milwaukee Public Schools receive.
“The state provides $7,600 per student per year,” Sadoff said. “Cost in the state of Wisconsin public school is something like $13,000 for each student per year.”
Additional money is provided by donors such as the Sadoffs.
“The state provides about 95 percent of our operating cost,” Rauh said, “But every year there is still a need to raise money.”
According to Rauh, programs such as the new computer lab and accelerated math and reading programs have all been funded by special contributors.
MCPS students currently outscore the average students in the Milwaukee Public School program in all grade levels on their performance test scores.
“These kids are phenomenal,” Sadoff said. “Our 4-year-old kindergarteners learn to read by Christmas time. Our third graders are reading Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson and loving it. They are excited to be at school.”
Part of the school’s mission is to become a mentor, a model for other institutions and give hope to troubled communities. Visitors from all over the globe have visited and toured the school.
However, the school’s enrollment remains capped at about 480 students.
“On average, every year we have at least 100 to 150 students who don’t get in,” Rauh said.
Thoughts of expansion, according to Rauh, may be a part of the long-range plans.
“It would have to really be a convergence of right opportunities. We would definitely want a facility near here,” Rauh said. “Quality is No. 1. But if it came about, we certainly would look at it. The potential is there to expand, and there are certainly more than enough families out there looking for great educational opportunities for their kids.”
For Sadoff, it’s the kids who are the real heroes. Still, many of them would not even have the opportunity were it not for his generosity.
His best advice to other business people interested in making a difference is to find the right cause.
Sadoff said he has begun looking for one or two additional programs in the city that he could contribute to and improve.
“Find your passion and fill a void,” Sadoff said. ” I don’t recommend getting into an industry you know nothing about, but surround yourself with capable, driven people.”
People such as Sadoff find the experience of fully embracing a charity to be a rewarding experience, according to Deborah Fugenschuh, president of the Donors Forum of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
“There is no right or wrong philanthropy, just simple acts that can make a difference,” she said.
Milwaukee College Prep School
Address: 2449 N. 36th St., Milwaukee
Enrollment: 480
Classification: Charter school
Principal: Robert Rauh
Board president: Ronald Sadoff
Web site: www.milwcollegeprep.com
Editor’s note: This special Small Business Times report examines how four local business executives are making a difference in the region’s nonprofit community. For a list of charities that are in need of assistance, visit www.biztimes.com/nonprofit.
