Brenda Cassellius, who was named the next superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools on Tuesday, recognizes the urgency of addressing issues outlined in a recent MPS operations audit.
In a virtual meeting with reporters on Friday, Cassellius said she has reviewed the operations audit that Gov. Tony Evers released on Thursday. The audit, conducted by MGT of America Consulting, identified inefficiencies and provided 29 recommendations for operational changes at MPS. The report concluded that, while facing external challenges ranging from teacher shortages to declining enrollment, MPS has “critical issues” that come from “leadership instability, a culture resistant to change, high staff turnover, and ineffective systems and reporting protocols.”
Evers hired MGT after MPS did not submit required annual financial audit reports to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction last year. Evers directed funding for two independent audits of instruction and operations at MPS. The instructional audit has not yet been released.
In a virtual meeting with reporters on Friday, Cassellius — the former superintendent of Boston Public Schools — said she received and reviewed the operations audit. She has been in contact with MGT and asked for her own debriefing of the report. She also plans to meet with MPS interim superintendent Eduardo Galvan to “debrief it with him and his team to see where we might be able to start early” to address the recommendations outlined in the audit, Cassellius said.
“There’s urgency, because there are a lot of vacancies and key positions within the district that are going to be crucial,” Cassellius said. “I’m starting to sense from the audit and what I was reading is that there’s just an urgency to attend to the issues within the district and the leadership of the district in order to really start to put in place some of the more strategic initiatives that are in there.”
Some of the audit’s recommendations involve restructuring the central office — which includes hiring a chief operations officer and chief communications officer, as well as creating a “cross-functional role” — revamping the human resources department, improving communication and collaboration within the district, investing in technological infrastructure and much more.
Cassellius said her top priority is to fill the vacancies outlined in the report. She also hopes to work on the district’s facilities issues, get started on strategic planning with the school board, as well as have conversations and listening sessions with the community to “start building those relationships and start rebuilding trust,” she said.
These strides are important, as Cassellius suspects the academic instruction audit “will be just as challenging, if not more challenging” to address than the operational audit, she said.
“I feel this tremendous amount of urgency to get to it,” Cassellius said. “We have the lead issue and (I’m) wanting to work with the city on that. Obviously, that relates then to the overall larger facilities issue.”
MPS facilities issues
The MGT audit acknowledged the district’s aged facilities and enrollment issues. In October, MPS released a report that proposed the closure or merger of 13 schools located in predominantly Black neighborhoods. The schools considered for closure or mergers have utilization rates below 50%, have experienced declining enrollment over the last five years and are within 1 mile of another underutilized school, according to the study.
While Cassellius said she did not “have any information on those 13 schools at this point,” she plans to take a closer look at MPS facilities following a city health department report that said students were poisoned by lead at school. She’s “anxious” to work with the school board on a plan to address MPS facilities issues, she said.
During her first 100 days as superintendent in Boston, Cassellius visited all 125 of the district’s schools, she said.
“I’m definitely going to go walk our school buildings and get a good sense of what the buildings are like,” Cassellius said. “Because, of course, this decision is one about the economics of it overall, and underutilization of buildings, then it’s about enrollment and what is predicted around the enrollments within that community. And then it’s about academics and how are the students actually doing at the building. And then it’s about what’s the condition of the building.”
Cassellius will be negotiating her contract and next steps in the coming weeks. The MPS superintendent contract is set to formally begin July 1.
