A group of women—Deborah Kuether, Tamika Johnson and Sheila Thompkins—sat right up front at a public forum Thursday evening to hear from the finalists for the superintendent position of Milwaukee Public Schools. 

As each of the three candidates answered questions from the audience, the women snapped and yelled “All right,” when they agreed. When they disagreed, they scoffed or just said, “No.”

“We get talked at a lot, and it’s time to let citizens have a voice,” said Kuether, a former literacy director at MPS.

Johnson, a former MPS teacher who now teaches in another district, said she’s looking for someone with the will to fix MPS’s many problems, including finances, school safety and representation.

Thompkins, whose daughter recently graduated, put it simply: “Forget about your title, your status – your purpose is for the children and the community.”

The candidates covered topics including class sizes, budgets, potential school closures and police officers in schools.

Two topics that came up for each candidate that overlapped with initiatives in MPS’s 2023–28 strategic plan were improving academics and supporting teachers.

Here’s how the candidates answered these questions.

Brenda Cassellius

First to the podium was Brenda Cassellius, former superintendent for Boston Public Schools.  

She said that the “absolutely bottom line” for her is raising academic achievement.

While she served as Minnesota’s commissioner of education, the state’s overall high school graduation rate reached nearly 83%, the highest in the state’s history. 

Graduation rates are “about being on track for graduation by not being credit deficient and then you put in place the scaffolding programs with the counselors to support students when they get off track,” Cassellius said.

Boosting the graduation rate also is about ensuring access to advanced courses, career and technical education and other opportunities are accessible in every high school, she added.

The statements of Casselius that got the most vocal agreement from the crowd were about supporting teachers.

“Supporting teachers means supporting their working conditions and supporting the ways in which their time is protected with students to actually forward instruction … ,” she said, adding that this is especially important for special education teachers who spend a lot of time on paperwork.

Joshua Starr

Next up was Joshua Starr, former superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. He said his bottom line is ensuring “that every single child is in a great school every single day.”

According to Milwaukee data that he’s seen, including school report cards, some schools are in crisis, he said.

Starr said he has experience “dismantling systems of oppression, breaking down barriers” in order to make sure students have equitable access to great schools.

The result of this sort of work in Milwaukee will be evident, Starr said, in higher reading and math scores as well as in attendance and graduation rates.

Like with Casselius, the crowd responded most enthusiastically when Starr talked about teacher support.

Lack of equity affects teachers, too, he argued, citing the higher rate of quitting among teachers of color compared to white teachers, “. . . oftentimes, because the one Black male teacher in the building is also assigned to discipline, and the one teacher who speaks Spanish is assigned to be the translator.”

This is related to the issue of principal support, he explained.

He described how, in Montgomery County, he gave a survey to measure staff engagement at schools and used the results to provide coaching to principals.

“I’ve never seen a great school without a great principal.”

Andraé Townsel

Andraé Townsel, the current superintendent at Calvert County Public Schools in Maryland, was last to speak and eager to discuss student achievement.

From his shoulder bag, he pulled out a packet of paper – his literacy plan for MPS based on his work as a superintendent.

Last academic year, the English language art skills of elementary, middle and high school students in Calvert County Public Schools were all ranked higher than the state average.

Townsel has been able to raise such skills, he argued, because of “attention to detail and investment in the science of reading.”

Townsel also said he thinks it’s important to invest in the morale of educators, which often means raising salaries. 

Salaries for public school teachers in Calvert County increased more last fiscal year than in previous years.  

“They (teachers) are the experts,” said Townsel. “They are the ones on the ground with our young people every single day, and they need to be treated as champions.”

What’s next?

By the end of the forum, Johnson and Thompkins knew who they would choose, but Kuether was torn between two of the candidates.

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors aims to announce its choice by late February or early March.

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