MILWAUKEE — Next week, the last batch of Milwaukee Public School students will head back to the classroom for the first time since last spring.
There have been challenges since MPS began bringing students back on April 14. When the youngest group went back for the first day, 80 school buses and 160 routes were canceled. That sparked confusion and left parents scrambling.
Several days later, some families remain frustrated over transportation issues. But on Friday, the superintendent said it takes time to sort out.
"The first couple of weeks of school there’s going to be some turbulence as far as scheduling of those kinds of things, route adjustments, things of that nature," said Keith Posley, MPS Superintendent.
"Also, we are coming out of the pandemic, where the bus companies have not been having bus routes running, and those kinds of things. So therefore the bus companies are also ramping up. But I feel very comfortable about where we are right now as a district and providing transportation. Monday should go very smoothly," Posley said.
By Monday morning, MPS seniors can go back to in-person learning along with underclassmen struggling academically.
Some parents are concerned that only allowing underclassmen in danger of failing to come back, and leaving others in a virtual setting, is the wrong approach. Posley said they are working to make sure all of their students are successful.
"We have a number of our young people that are virtually doing exceptionally well, but we won’t interrupt that if we have individuals that need that additional support and we are there to support them," said Posley.
It is not clear yet how many students are estimated to return on Monday. District-wide, nearly 60 percent of MPS families opted to return to the classrooms.
