Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, a network of five public charter schools in Milwaukee, has been moving ahead with plans to build a $55 million school on Milwaukee’s south side. In August, Carmen Schools purchased the 6-acre site located at 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave. for $4.4 million, following the project’s Board of Zoning Appeals approval. This will be the first permanent home for Carmen, which currently shares space in Milwaukee Public Schools locations or in renovated schools. Aaron Lippman took over as Carmen’s new chief executive officer in July, picking up the torch at a time of planning for future growth and sustainability. BizTimes reporter Samantha Dietel spoke with Lippman in August about his journey with Carmen and plans for the schools. The following portions of the interview have been edited for length and clarity.
BizTimes: You were a Carmen principal and founder of the southeast high school campus before you left to head the Milwaukee Jewish Day School. What brought you back to Carmen Schools?
Lippman: “I’ll start with why I came to Carmen Schools. Just through connection, we knew somebody who knew Dr. (Patricia) Hoben, the founder of Carmen, and they were looking for somebody, so I was able to step into that role. From the job, I felt like I was at home. All the things around our mission, who we are, why we exist, what we’re trying to do for kids in the city and for the city at large, spoke to me, and we got really good results there. And then Dr. Hoben asked me to found the southeast campus, which also went really well.
“I left (Carmen) because there was an opportunity for me to be with my own children. At the time, Carmen didn’t have elementary schools, and so I went to Milwaukee Jewish Day School for that. I am Jewish. I went to a Jewish Day School growing up, my mom was my teacher, and so I was able to bring it back for my own kids. And this is no knocking at MJDS, which I love – my kids are still there – but Carmen was always in my heart, and I really wanted to be there. And so, when the opportunity arose to re-engage with Carmen last year, I did that by consulting with Carmen and supporting some of their principal development work. And then I’d always been friends with Jennifer Lopez, our former CEO, and she did great things for Carmen, and she was always engaging with me. I stayed in touch with how Carmen was doing, and so it was always in my mind. And then when the opportunity to apply came, I jumped at it. So again, being able to come back, ideally, have a bigger impact because I could help support the entire organization, as opposed to a single school site was, for me, a no-brainer.”
How are you approaching your new role as CEO?
“Thoughtfully. And I think what has been really helpful is both through working with Carmen during the year, having some historical context through a pretty rigorous interview process – which had me engaging with various constituencies – and then once I was officially hired but not officially in the role in July, (Carmen chief of staff Fabiola Ramirez) and I spent several weeks visiting with every school site, meeting specifically with parents, with students and with staff at each campus. Between the context from before, the interview process, and that experience, some really clear trend lines emerged in terms of what was going well in Carmen and what were some opportunities for us to move the organization forward. And so, I think that has driven a lot of what we are doing now.”
What are your goals for Carmen Schools moving forward?
“I think more than anything, it’s making sure that we are clear about who we are and why we exist and creating a great experience for staff. First, everything we do is through the lens of what’s going to be best for students. But if we’re not focused on setting up our staff for success in their day-to-day work so they know that they are supported when they need help, we are there for them, and we are developing them, so they feel excited about coming to work every day and they see the impact of their work. That’s really essential to building a staff culture where people are bought into who we are and why we exist, and then, as a result, can engage with students in a way that builds authentic relationships and gets kids motivated to do their best work.
“We appreciate being held to high standards by our authorizers, but really for us, we hold ourselves to a very high standard. We want to be the best, not just in the city of Milwaukee. We want to be among the best schools in the nation, because I believe that is what our kids deserve, our families deserve, and we want our staff to feel like we’re at the best educational institution in Milwaukee. And so ultimately, that’s the goal, but it will not happen overnight.”
What changes are on the horizon at Carmen Schools?
“The new facility is a big deal. New faces, especially on the executive level of our schools. Some new people on our leadership team at each campus, those are new. I think making sure that we’re re-grounding in why we were founded and how we engage with the kids. There’s always work around curriculum development, so we’ve done a lot of work in math and ELA (English Language Arts) to make sure that our curriculum is aligned to the outcomes we want to see for kids. We’re doing that work in other content areas as well. I think that’s always ongoing. But I think the facility is a big piece, because it’s giving us this opportunity to think about Carmen in the future, and what it would look like to run a high school that’s larger than what we’ve done historically.”
What are your priorities for the new south side school?
“I think we want to make sure that we are able to successfully support our staff, so that they feel like it is a building that they are part of. We want to really successfully engage our students and families so that they see it as theirs. We are there to create the opportunity for them, but it’s a school that they feel they can own and feel happy in. I think that’s really important. And ultimately, we want to get back to – not just at that school, but at all of our campuses – a really high level where we are on the top of every list out there in terms of our academic outcomes and what our kids are doing post-graduation.”
