More than one hundred students from Carmen South held a protest and rally against Milwaukee Public Schools Administrators that decided to evict them from Room 11 at the Walker Complex in the Southside of Milwaukee.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
August 30, 2019
Milwaukee, WI - On Friday, more than one hundred Latino students from Carmen South High School, 1700 block of S. 32nd Street held a major protest and rally in front of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Administration building on W. Vliet Street in the City of Milwaukee. The Carmen South students leaders along with multiple parents had gone to MPS offices to request a meeting with any administrator that would meet with them, but after several hours, no one met with them. So, on Friday, they decided to take their protest to the MPS administration building chanting "Save Room 11", "Galvan, escucha estamos en la Lucha", "Baez, escucha estamos en la Lucha", "We need a Meeting", "Don't take our Arts", "Do your Job", "Si Se Puede", "Posely, escucha estamos en Lucha", "We are Carmen" and other chants while walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the building. The students were peaceful and made a strong stand that actually turned out to be an embarrassment for the administrators including MPS Board members who have neglected to meet with the students after they had the locks changed from Room 11 during class and an attempt was made to evict them from Room 11, which they had been using for years. At least six classes including music, a library and an advisory section was used for the arts programs.
Apparently, MPS decided to allocate Room 11 to ALBA before letting Carmen High School know, another Charter school in the Walker Complex sharing space.
While at the protest, several Carmen students attempted to schedule an appointment with an MPS administrator at the front office, but were kicked out of the building by MPS security and were told that no one would meet with them, even when they are MPS students and their parents pay taxes.
MPS administrators have cancelled meetings with the Carmen students and parents including Tony Baez, the only Latino MPS Board Member, according to parents. Also, Eduardo Galvan, the MPS Regional Superintendent of Schools failed to meet with the students, despite Galvan having time to checkout the student protest on Thursday at the Carmen High School and he never approached the students. Galvan when questioned at the protest scene on Thursday told Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) that MPS would release a press release.
Jennifer Lopez, the CEO of Carmen High School says in a press release that she asked for the report of a space-allocation study allegedly conducted by MPS, which an oral report was provided to the MPS Board, but so far, MPS hasn't made any documents of the study available to Lopez.
Baez, the MPS Board member in an e-mail says that Carmen failed to seek other options to accommodate for the loss of Room 11, but it seems that MPS administrators failed to provide adequate space for Carmen when it confiscated Room 11, which apparently was now allocated to ALBA.
MPS communications staff told the students that negotiations were taking place between MPS administrators and Carmen High School, but the students and parents weren't being provided any information.
The following link provided includes additional information, dicuments and chain of events including press releases from MPS, Carmen High School and an e-mail from Baez, the MPS Board member.
It seems MPS administrators couldn't accommodate space in return of confiscating Room 11, which in January the MPS Board discussed allowing Carmen to stay in Room 11 until the end of 2019. Unfortunately, MPS administrators including MPS Board members couldn't search within the MPS properties to see, if a school building in the Southside has adequate space to house Carmen South. But as a MPS Board member says, it's another issue.
Additional info: Carmen High School students blocked entrance at the Walker Complex to keep Milwaukee Public Schools employees from evicting them from Room 11 after locks were changed in Milwaukee, WI. https://bit.ly/32k8ZRn
Breaking Update in WI: On Saturday, August 31, 2019, Milwaukee Public Schools employees cleared Room 11 at the Walker Complex building in the Southside of Milwaukee. The room was being used by Carmen South High School students until last Wednesday when MPS employees changed the locks during class as students watched.
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