Tag Archives: Rita Olson

September 11, 2014 · 10:06 am

Meet The Mayor … And School Leaders

In the spirit of cooperation, a couple of special guests are joining me for my next Meet the Mayor event: South Milwaukee School President Pat Bordak and Superintendent Rita Olson.

We’ll all be at the South Milwaukee Downtown Market from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25. Look for us at a picnic table near the stage … and then stick around for a South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center concert starting at 5 and the Guardian Credit Union Movie in the Market showing of “Frozen” starting at dusk.

Mark your calendars and stop by to join in the discussion. Questions, comments, concerns — all are welcome.

Also, stay tuned for more special guests at future Meet the Mayor sessions. My goal: Give residents a chance to speak with not only me, but other local leaders.

In other words, invest in transparency and communication.

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May 6, 2011 · 9:23 am

On South Milwaukee High School and Graduation Rates

The Journal Sentinel has a story in Friday’s edition that at first glance is rather alarming.

From it:

Wisconsin’s graduation rate declined slightly in 2010 to 85.7% under a new calculation method that is supposed to better represent how many students receive regular diplomas within four years of high school. … The Northern Ozaukee and South Milwaukee school districts suffered some of the greatest losses in employing the new calculation method, falling from 92.6% to 78.9% and 96.2% to 82.6%, respectively.

Wait. A 13.6 percentage point decline in graduation rates? In one year?

Of course, there is a lot more to this story, and it all comes down to how the figures are calculated. More from the story:

Under the new method, the state tracks students from their freshman year to graduation four years later. The process is mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires all states to calculate their graduation rates the same way by the end of the current school year.

Previously, Wisconsin officials counted the number of students who graduated with a regular diploma and subtracted those students known to have dropped out during the previous four years, potentially undercounting dropouts and including students who took longer than four years to graduate.

So, what does this all mean for South Milwaukee? I asked Superintendent Rita Olson for her take on this, and here is her email response:

Of course, we are looking into the discrepancy between the “legacy” rate (the percentage of students who graduate each year) and the new “cohort” rate (the percentage of students who graduate within four years). We believe that one of the contributing factors is that South Milwaukee requires students to have 26 credits for graduation, whereas many other districts require only 21 to 24 credits. So, for example, if a student transfers into our district at the beginning of senior year with 16 credits from another district, they would be re-classified as a junior in South Milwaukee. It would be almost impossible for them to pick up another 10 credits in order to graduate in one year.

In addition to analyzing our data to find out why we have the discrepancy, we are also working on a new schedule at the high school that allows for a “resource block.” During this time, students will be able to receive individualized attention and interventions with classroom teachers.

Dr. Olson also spoke with the reporter for the story and told her much the same thing: that “educators are investigating why the district’s graduation rate declined so much using the new method.” From the story:

She suggested that the district’s requirement that students acquire 26 credits, combined with the high school’s block schedule, could make it difficult for students to graduate in four years, especially if they transfer from other schools with lower standards and traditional schedules.”Now they’re punishing kids that it might take a little longer for,” Olson said.

So, as usual, you can’t always take statistics at face value, especially when they don’t support what you see with your own eyes.

And all of what I’ve seen — from my time on the school district’s long-range visioning and planning committee last fall to what I’ve witnessed in the growth of my son in 5K at Rawson Elementary — has instilled great faith in the South Milwaukee school system.

I look forward to my son and now 3-year-old daughter growing up in South Milwaukee schools, and I have complete confidence in the education they’ll get at every level. From where do I draw this belief? It’s the people.

The CEO of MillerCoors, my employer, is fond of saying that “people make it happen.” I couldn’t agree more. And it’s the people of the South Milwaukee School District — the teachers, staff, administration, school board and others — who make it happen with our kids.

No matter what the numbers say.

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March 30, 2011 · 4:41 pm

Budget Approved: School District Cuts Total $1.1 Million

The South Milwaukee School Board has passed the district’s preliminary 2011-12 budget … with most of the cuts proposed earlier this month intact.

Check out the final list of budget assumptions here.

You will note that the pool is now off the chopping block, as well proposals to reduce an instrumental music position and reduce police liaison services.

The budget, passed at the district’s March 23 meeting, also assumes the “budget repair bill” officially goes into effect at some point – and its mandated health insurance and pension contributions.

It also assumes a more than $1.8 million decrease in revenue due to the revenue caps proposed in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget.

So, what’s next? Good question.

There are still a number of moving pieces, including efforts to negotiate union contracts for 2011-12 to better take advantage of the so-called “tools” in the budget repair bill, Superintendent Rita Olson tells me.

You’ll recall that the unions ratified 2009-11 contracts less than a month ago.

And the budget won’t truly be final until the district’s annual meeting in September, when the tax levy is formally passed. So stay tuned.

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February 22, 2011 · 10:26 am

South Milwaukee School Unions Ratify Contracts … and Wait

Five unions representing teachers and other employees of the South Milwaukee School District ratified new contracts over the weekend, Superintendent Rita Olson confirmed to me in an email.

Now they wait to see what will happen in Madison as to their future of their pay, benefits and collective bargaining rights.  

From the highlights Dr. Olson provided:

  • All steps given in the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years would be honored and individuals would not be required to move backwards to previously held salaries. 
  • The contract would have a 0 percent per cell increase in the first year and a 1.28 percent per cell increase in the second year. 
  • Effective July 1, 2011,  health insurance premiums would be increased to 9 percent or current law, whichever is greater.
  • There is also a cap on health insurance contributions for retirees, and staggered years of service to qualify for retirement health insurance benefits.

This sounds fair and reasonable to me … and a great example of what I continue to say in the debate over the governor’s union-busting plan:  Let local units of government (in this case, the school district) work with their unions to control costs and deal with budget pressures as they see fit.

State government should not force our hands, especially when it comes to what we can and can’t collectively bargain for with our workers.

To the governor and those in the Senate and Assembly: Accept the compromise proposed by Senate Democrats, which gives you the savings you need to help solve the state budget crisis and allows local governments to deal with looming shared revenue cuts.

I thought that’s what this was supposed to be about anyway. Isn’t it?

Of course, I know it’s not. I get it. This is first and foremost about breaking public unions and ending more than 50 years of collective bargaining with barely a debate — and no desire for any level of compromise. It’s about balancing the budget on the back of middle class workers. And it’s wrong.

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February 16, 2011 · 10:59 pm

The South Milwaukee School District’s Reaction to Walker’s Union Busting …

Update: School Superintendent Rita Olson has informed me that the School Board did indeed approve contracts for five of its unions on Wednesday. The deals still need to be ratified by each union. I will keep you posted when I get more details.

The South Milwaukee School Board is working to approve union contracts with teachers and other represented employees ahead of new restrictions on organized labor coming soon out of Madison.

Check out the Journal Sentinel story here. From it:

In South Milwaukee, Superintendent Rita Olson said her school system does not have a tentative agreement with its unions yet, but she hopes the board might be able to make offers that would be accepted by all of its employee bargaining units at the Wednesday meeting. She said the sides have been negotiating for a long time and are not far from settling anyway.

“We want to offer a voluntary settlement before everything goes into effect,” Olson said of Walker’s proposal.

School administrators have been told that Walker’s changes would go into effect immediately and affect any unsettled contracts.

I am anxious to see what kind of contract settlement is reached, if one is at all. I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, I commend the district for its willingness to work with its union employees in the 11th hour to get a deal done that I’m expecting will be fair. It goes back to the crux of my argument on this issue: Let local units of government decide what’s best when it comes to how they bargain with their unions and what they bargain for.

Let the School Board and school unions, in this instance, hammer out a contract how they see fit.

There is simply no room for the governor and state legislature to get involved here … except, of course, when the goal is to decapitate public sector unions, which is Scott Walker’s ultimate aim in this whole charade.

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October 17, 2010 · 7:33 pm

A Few Thoughts on Toilet Paper …

I know I’m not alone in my dismay over the extent of the toilet-papering of Oak Creek Parkway during South Milwaukee High School Homecoming week.

Now while I don’t necessarily agree with local blogger Jerrianne Hayslett’s link between the toilet paper and sewer backups — I’d like to see more science on this before tying those two issues together — she is right on when she writes this:

Looking at it yesterday reminded me of places I’ve been that is strewn with litter and what a terrible impression that makes on a community. Trashy.

I’m no fuddy-duddy (or am I one simply by using the word “fuddy-duddy” in the first place?), and I can appreciate a good Homecoming tradition, and prank, as much as the next person, but this time it went too far. Trees were covered in toilet paper for block after block down the parkway, east from 15th Avenue to nearly Chicago Avenue. And a good deal of it still remains.

My biggest concern? Not sewer backups, but aesthetics. Oak Creek Parkway is a South Milwaukee jewel, and the toilet paper defaces it, especially once rain and wind wash it from the trees and send it to the ground. Hayslett’s word describes it best: trashy.

I did inquire about this in the days after it happened with our police chief and the school district superintendent.

Chief Ann Wellens wrote back, and she is right when she says the department doesn’t have the resources to prevent this, especially when an estimated 100 students took part. (Although police did confiscate more than 200 rolls of toilet paper before they were used this time).

Instead, I think this is a school district issue, and South Milwaukee Superintendent Dr. Rita Olson did contact me to say they were working to clean it up.

She also extended me an invitation to join the district’s Vision and Planning Committee, which begins meeting next week. One goal of the group of about 35 students, parent, teachers, administrators and community members? Develop “long-term solutions in working with our youth.”

I appreciate the invitation and look forward to the process. And who knows? Maybe we can come up with a solution to toilet-papering, too.

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