Black Ministers’ Reform Plan

Following are the reforms released Feb. 26 by the Milwaukee Minority Ministerial Alliance.

1. The Milwaukee School Board must resolve that achieving excellence in elementary school education is its most pressing priority.
2. By September 1 of this year there must be a full-time registered nurse in every Milwaukee elementary school.
3. When school opens in the fall of this year there are to be no more than 20 students in any elementary school class for grades K-6.
4. Beginning this school year, summer school will be operated throughout the Milwaukee Public School system.
5. Beginning September 1, 1998, completely up-to-date vocational/technical education will be available to all students in the Milwaukee high schools.
6. Beginning this school year, no child in the Milwaukee Public Schools will be promoted until they can satisfactorily perform the work of the grade they are in.
7. The Mayor of Milwaukee must develop a program to reduce poverty by at least 25% among Milwaukee Public School children by 2003.
8. When school opens in the fall of 2001, there are to be no classes in any Milwaukee Public School with no more than 20 students.
9. By September 1, 2001, there must be no public schools in Milwaukee with more than 500 students.
10. When schools open in the fall of 2000, Milwaukee’s elementary schools are to be situated so that every child can walk to their school. Community schools must become a practical, living reality in Milwaukee.
11. When schools opens in the fall of this year, every elementary school and its grounds will remain open until 10 p.m. every weekday, and will be open from 10a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends — properly supervised for quiet study, remedial help, and safe recreation.
12. Beginning September 1, 1998, every Milwaukee elementary student will be individually evaluated each school year. Remedial work, where necessary, will be individually carried out for each child. No child in Milwaukee will any longer remain anonymous.
13. Every school in Milwaukee must have programs of music, art, drama, forensics, band, dance, and intramural and interscholastic athletics, with the capacity to involve as many students in each activity as with to participate. No student will be turned away for lack of capacity. To achieve genuine excellence, complete education must become a reality in Milwaukee.
14. There are to be full-time registered nurses in every Milwaukee middle school and high school.
15. Beginning September 1, 1998, each Milwaukee middle school and high school must have a counselor for every 250 students. Each high school must have a career counselor for every 200 students. Each middle school must have a career counselor for every two middle schools.
16. Beginning September 1, 1998, the Milwaukee School District will operate comprehensive birth-K child development programs in the communities of Milwaukee’s 24 most impoverished elementary schools. Something meaningful must be done to break poverty’s hold on our children