Steering & Rules Committee - Regular Meeting

Elder woman Cogs is excused. I'm also joined by Alderman Spiker and Alderman Deandre Jackson and our staff assistant Shadida Melendez. It is Monday, 02/16/2026 about 01:37PM and would like to begin by reading into the record. Item number one, file two five zero seven nine eight. Substitute ordinance creating a Department of Equity Inclusion and Alderman Spiker asked that we hold this to the call of the chair.

Are there any objections to that? Hearing none so ordered. Item number two, file two five one four two eight, a substitute resolution relating to the collaboration between Port of Milwaukee, the Department of City Development, and the Innovation Office and City Clerk. This is sponsored by Elder Woman Cox who's she's not here today and maybe we could just talk a little bit about this and potentially hold it and make sure that Although MacArthur couldn't be here today so.

Was this derived from the budget for no. Yeah. Yes. Is.

Yeah. Alright. Yeah. If you you'd like

Good morning, mister president, committee members. Benjamin Tim, director of Par Milwaukee. So this was discussed during the budget, discussions as a footnote and I believe this is the resolution that kind of affirms that. Coming from DCD, I can assure you that DCD and the port have very active dialogue on a number of things, including the Milwaukee Estuary area of concern, the Gateway project on the Lake Shore as well as any many other economic development projects and we will absolutely continue that. I've also had a number of discussions with Jim Boll and those will continue as well.

And then when the new person is hired innovation person is hired for the common council, we will also engage with that person. So this is something we'll continue to work on and could report back to you. I believe there's a hundred and twenty day report period. And I Okay. Sam Lykling oh.

No, go ahead.

Yes. Sam Lykling, Department of State Development, was mostly coming to echo what Port Director Tim said. I know during budget amendment day, we had Commissioner Crump had some discussions with Alderman Cogs who is the lead sponsor of this footnote that committed that we were of course willing to work with the port at the time. I think the initial budget amendment had been when there was a new jobs growth advocacy role proposed within DCD, and we had committed that that individual would collaborate closely with the port. While that position ultimately didn't make it into the final budget, as a department, of course, we remain committed to working with the port on all things related to economic development, land use, water improvement.

It's something as port record Tim mentioned, we've done historically. We remain committed to do and we certainly look forward to honoring the intent of all the Roman Cogs' footnote and directing resolution. Be back in a 120, it sounds like.

Okay. Thank you. Stampier, you had a question?

Yeah. So the general purpose is to overall know what each other are doing or is there a purpose behind it?

I I think when when we initially started having some of

these conversations, it was just

to make sure that the port and DCD are collaborating on economic development specifically that we're looking to further, you know, new investment and new opportunities for the city of Milwaukee, and we will absolutely do that. And again, with my background, I Sure. Yeah.

So, Mitch, let me add the sister cities committee opportunity for collaboration with other countries to the conversation, please. Okay.

Okay.

Alright. Sure. Thank you. Absolutely. Okay. With that said, Alderman Stamper moves approval of the substitute resolution. Are there any objections to Hearing none so order. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item number three, file two five one three four nine. Appointment of Tracy Sparrow to the Charter School Review Committee by the mayor in the 3rd Automatic District. Okay. Perfect attendance, I take it. Alright.

Move approval.

Mister Jackson. It's pardon me?

It's appointment. Yes.

It's a person.

Okay. Alright. So, we move, we confirm appointment of Tracy Sparrow. Item number 3251. Any objections? Hearing none so ordered. Number four, file 251584 appointment of Tayini. I'm I'm going to get that wrong but N Davis, Tayani, N Davis to the Charter School Review Committee by the Common Council President. Hi, how are you?

Good morning. Sorry about that.

How are you? No, no problem. Tayani.

Tayani. Thank you.

Great. You want to talk a little bit about your experience for this position?

Yes. So, I recently received my doctorate in about 2023 in higher education leadership. So, I have a passion for education. My students, my children, myself. They attend charter schools. I work at a charter school. So, I'm very passionate about the importance and the work that charter schools do and I'm also in leadership at a charter school. So, I understand the concept behind them and the work that needs to go into making sure that they run smoothly and most importantly, what it is for the children and what they what the needs are for them.

Okay. Thank you. Any questions back in your Chair recognizes Older Stanford. Sorry about that,

mister president. Hey, miss David. Did you are you with

the charter school right now?

I am currently. Yes.

Which one?

Mong American Peace Academy. Oh.

Which one?

Mong American Peace Academy.

Okay. Okay.

Where's that located? On 84?

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Well, move approval. Thank you, mister president.

Hey. Hold on. Mister Stamper moves approval of item four. File two five one five eight four. Here are no objections ordered. Thank you. Thank you. File number five, communication from the Charter School Review Committee transmitting the findings of the annual report for twenty twenty four twenty five.

Hello. Do we have the PowerPoint right now?

Channel twenty five, we're going to present the PowerPoint.

You got some some up your sleeve? What about this

Okay.

Hello, everyone. I'm doctor Azia Baylor.

Thank you.

With Evident Change, I serve as the the monitor for the city charter schools. And we have all the school leaders here for any questions as we go. Let's see. Let's make sure. Okay. So the charter school review committee as it was prior to today, I know we have some additional people now, but they are listed here today. Also under the policy and monitoring, we have listed Ms. Gail Pay and myself. The schools monitored by the City of Milwaukee are listed there. Throughout the presentation, you'll see those acronyms being listed for the school names as we go.

And just to let you know that my role here today is to share the performance data for the twenty four-twenty five school year. I would like to request that you hold your questions until the end of the data presentation. At that point, I'll share the mic with the school leaders that are here with me today if there are specific questions. Also the chair of the charter school review committee is here for the final remarks as well. With that said, I'll start with the English language arts forward exam data.

In previous years there were requests to compare test scores with similar NPS schools. As you see the data points in blue are the city charter schools. The orange data points are similar NPS schools within the same zip code. The last three schools are Montessori schools. As you can see the city charter schools outperformed those comparable schools.

For the math forward exam, the same setup is here again with the math with the city charter schools in blue, the comparable schools in orange. And as you can see again that the city's charter schools did outperform schools in their neighborhood. And these exams, the forward exam, is a standardized test that provide a narrow measure of academic success. They fail to reflect the attributes that are vital for long term success such as critical thinking, leadership skills, perseverance, and such. They also do not reflect factors that impact test scores within a high need population such as socioeconomic status, food insecurity, and family stability.

And so while these standardized tests like the Forward Exam provide a snapshot of performance at a single point in time, it allows us to compare that performance across schools and districts. But growth based assessments are aligned with the state standards and focus on how much a student has approved over time. These growth based assessments tested students from fall to spring and they focus on how much a a student has improved over time. These tests emphasize progress, encourage a growth mindset, and reduce stress and fear of failure because they focus on learning rather than a specific score. They also help teachers personalize learning by prompting intervention strategies and varied instructional practices.

When we view the growth measures, as you can see on the slide there, we see that when students were tested in the fall, the spring score demonstrated that between 6187% of students met the growth targets in English language arts and math across all schools. This indicates that schools are implementing strategies, instructional strategies and interventions that support student progress. School leaders recognize that additional efforts and targeted strategies are necessary for continuous improvement to meet the needs of more students. Again, we see the standardized exam here with the preACT Secure where we compare performance with similar high schools within the same zip code of the city charter schools. And again, we see the growth measures for that same group of students where 51% to 78.3% of students demonstrated progress across both high schools.

For the ACT plus writing, in regard to the ACT test, the average score for African American students in NPS is around a 14.4. We understand that the ACT scores are meant to predict that if a student met these benchmarks, they have about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or better in their first year of college without without additional supports. However, colleges recognize the numerous challenges encountered by first generation students and students who are coming from low income households. It is not uncommon for colleges to not only admit those students but also offer additional support to assist students in navigating the academic and social experiences of college. When we take a look at the DPI four year cohort graduation rate of these charter schools, we do see by the again, the same setup with the color coding here that the city charter schools are in blue and the similar schools in orange.

And we see that the city charter schools do score have higher graduation rates. And also not listed there, we know that the NPS graduation rate is a sixty five point nine percent. When we view the data of the graduation class that started their school year during the 2024 school year, every student was eligible and did graduate from their school last year. Also, of those schools who graduated, students accumulated almost $5,000,000 in scholarships from these two charter schools. The charter school review committee members appointed by the mayor and the city council as we saw earlier today, they did develop a scorecard to measure school performance.

Schools are expected to score 60 or higher to remain in good standing. And we see all schools met that requirement. And you can find the breakdown of each school scorecard in the appendix that was forwarded to you prior to today. Are there any questions then for the school leaders?

Any questions by committee members? Mister president. Alderman Stanford.

Yeah. So in the comparison of the schools, is it by zip code or is it by population of the school?

The comparison that I provided today were schools within the same zip code.

Okay. And that's that's a chart like where you have the math forward and the ELA forward exam where you have the Clark Sherman Townsend. Those are all the schools and then you threw in the the Montessori ones as.

Right, because there is one city charter school that is also Montessori and those schools are also in the same zip code as the city charter school that is a Montessori school. Yeah.

So, Looks like the Montessori's are doing well.

Yes. Yeah.

They are.

Okay. Alright.

Mister chair.

All the person Samaripa?

Can we ask each of the school leaders to introduce themselves and indicate what school they represent?

Sure, please. Hi,

I'm

Crystal Bilmeyer. I'm the principal of Milwaukee Math and Science Academy.

I'm Kim Copeland. I'm one of the leaders at Escuela Verde.

Hi, I'm Doctor. Precious Smith. I'm the school executive director for the Duralin Highs Academy.

Hello. Anthony McHenry, CEO of Milwaukee Academy of Science.

Mary Wittmann, principal of Downtown Monterey.

Thank you. Any did you have a question?

I just have. Oh, hard night.

Repeat it. Please.

Mary Whitman, principal of Downtown Montessori.

Okay. Any other questions by committee?

Yeah, mister president.

I just had a comment.

I'm I'm meant to ask the population of each school. So, how many children are you guys serving?

Two seventy three.

1,900. You got a waiting list. Right? What's that?

Yes. Of about 900 shootings. Alright. Alright.

Now how are you how are you doing I know you got a robust transportation system.

Yeah. Actually, I actually don't have an answer for that because we don't do any mass marketing or recruitment of students. But, yes, we do pride nearly citywide transportation across the city. Excellent.

We have approximately two sixteen students, K four through eighth grade.

We have one hundred and twenty ninth through twelfth graders.

Approximately 240 ks four through eighth grade.

Okay. And you would say most of them in the competition of the zip code, they're all from the same zip area predominantly? Thank you, mister president.

You're welcome.

Alderman Moore?

Thanks so much, mister president. I just wanna say thank you all so much for this report. I tell people all the time when people talk about education that I'm pro education like. However form you get it is you know that you feel is best for your family should be what you go with and we should want to educate. All children and have a variety of ways that we can do that that's a beautiful thing here. About Milwaukee. Just some of the stats that we've seen today that it's working. And the work that you all are putting in, know, again to to this prescribed education area that you're that you're in. Keep up the great work. We have we have so much work to do here in the city.

But when it comes to educating our children, we should make it a priority and, you know, just from the data that we've seen today, I just want to commend you all. I know we're not quite there yet, right? But we're definitely well on our way. So, thank you all for for the work that you all continue to do. Thank you, mister chair.

You're welcome. Hold on, mister Stanford.

I share those same feelings. I'm also impressed by $5,000,000 of scholarships. So are we tracking the colleges they go to, and are they coming back? Are they leaving Milwaukee? I mean, are we are we are we following that, guys? What's like, how's that happening?

Yeah. For us, there there's a resource issue. For the first time in our twenty five years history, we're actually hiring we've hired someone whose responsibility is to support our young people as they're transitioning into their post secondary spaces Mhmm. And do the best we can to try to monitor those kids. We're we're we're one year into it. What I will say, we've got a number of kids that have graduated from UW Madison, Marquette, Rice, Duke, you know, you you name the prestigious college. We've had kids that have gone there and graduated. That's excellent. Thank you, mister president.

Yeah. I had just one question. When when you did the comparisons with the zip codes, I'm sorry the explanation you gave why you left out either Escuela Verde or the Darryl Hines Academy on the.

I didn't I didn't get your question.

My question was, when you look at the comparison you made by zip code, I I I see that there there's other academic growth where you include the Escuela Verde or in some of the other stats but I don't see em like altogether.

So, because. Well.

Like they're not.

Okay. So, these are all elementary schools here and then that other comparison, these are high schools. So, mass does have K through twelfth grade and so that's why they appear on both. Okay, I see. Alright. And so, yeah, these are all. Okay. K through eight.

Yeah.

Yeah, I wanted to see em see em all together. Okay. Okay.

K through eight.

And then the school the school scorecard results are part of the committee's evaluation of all the city charters, correct?

Correct.

It's what you guys evaluate the the charter review. So, here's the evaluation. Here's our scorecards.

Yes. At the end of each school year, we receive all the data from each school and we aggregate that data to determine the percentage of students who tested proficient, students who progressed throughout the school year. We also pull data in regard to stability of teachers and students, whether they retained. And all of those things have a score and then it results in a score for the school at the end. And I believe all of those indicators were measured with exception of I believe one of those measures was around the early literacy where it was the only the first year of testing. So we could not provide progress but we will do that for next year.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that clarity. It's true. Chair recognizes Alderman Jackson.

Thank you, mister chair. So as far as years ago, this is the last year of all the kids that had to stay home for COVID during the time. Just the last batch. Right? The seniors this year?

I think so. What that that was in 2021?

Think that was two years ago, probably.

Like, two years ago? Yeah. Well, some schools were out for two years. I just know my boy was eighth grade during the time.

Mhmm. So

So those kids are still in school. Yeah. Yeah. Those kids are still in school. I believe yeah. Those those kids who were, let's say, in the fourth grade when COVID hit are now freshmen in high school.

Mhmm.

If that gives you a perspective.

Mhmm. No. Perfect. I just

wanna make some big difference as far as the way they do with sports, the way they deal with their friends, everything. So that's all. Thank you, mister.

Okay. Any other questions?

Mister president.

Chair recognizes all of miss Stanford.

Yeah. On the graduation and and the the kids going to post secondary school, are they what's the what's the makeup? Is it male versus female makeup? What what would it be? How's our how's the how's the ratio?

I would have to get specifically that data to you, but I can say that as many of our students go

into curiosity.

Yeah. The one many of our students go into the trades and they but we can definitely get that data specifically for you. We do track that. I just don't have it in front of me today.

Okay. A lot of your students move to trades?

Many of our students, yes. They they they go to the trades. They they tend to go to the military. They we do have some students who go to college as well. Okay. But their focus often is on the trades, and understanding how they can make an impact that way in the city.

Anybody go to the fire department or the police department? Not

recently, but we have had kids interested. And we we try to provide every opportunity that they can see what what's available to them.

That's right.

So that they they know what's out there. So, we have visitors come in. We take students to the trades fair. They had one this past year and and we go every year to the the Brewers Stadium. And they get an opportunity to see what's out there and what they can get involved with.

Do you have a relationship with our fire department recruiting and police department recruiting?

If you have contact information, I would love

that.

Yeah. We'll connect you. Yes.

We'll we'll shorten all applications.

Good to know. Okay.

Alright. Any other questions?

Mister Chair.

Chair, recognize Alderman Spiker.

Thanks. A couple of quick questions for Doctor. Baylor. So looking at the slide on four number four and number five, have the forward exam scores. And then there's this kind of rough comparison to what the non charter schools in the same zip where their performances were at.

Was there an attempt in the report that I maybe missed to see if we're comparing apples to apples there with respect to demographic socioeconomic conditions, which I know your ZIP is trying roughly for and especially ESL and also folks with special needs percentages at the school because you often hear that you're taking you're serving and so that accounts for the difference. So is there any attempt to deal with that criticism or note in the report? No.

As you said that choosing schools within the same ZIP code, We just, you know, thought that that would be a similar demographic in terms of socioeconomic status. And so that was the rationale for choosing those particular schools.

But with respect to kids with special needs and how able the charters are to take on such kids, whereas the public schools are required regardless that obviously charter can be public, the traditional MPS schools. So was there any attempt to look at that to see if ex charter school in the same zip as this one was serving a similar special needs demographic?

You know, I did not take a look at that. However, charter schools, they do not turn students away based on special needs. To give you an example, EV, they have about forty five point one percent of students who are in a language instruction program. And so are a variety of students with specific needs that are not turned away and the schools do what they need to do to service those students.

Yeah. And so the policy might be the same but there still may be a difference in terms of the percentages served. It may be door is open, but are the same number of folks walking through it and it may be there's perceptions out there right or wrong about the welcomingness or the resources available in say an MPS school versus a charter. So it'd be just a note for the future, it'd be an interesting statistics to collect. And then the second and last thing was you'd noted, I think, as we all believe that slicing time on a standardized test is not the same as what matters the most for what you want to get out of your kids' education, although it's not nothing for sure.

You mentioned persistence, critical thinking skills, leadership skills, all skills that will serve you not just in college but just in life in general. Was there any attempt to and it's probably an impossible task, but was there any attempt to kind of metricize that or put that in a way that you could see what X school would offer on that realm versus the schools you're comparing with? Again, that's probably somebody's dissertation, but

Exactly. Yeah. That's difficult to measure in terms of what schools are doing, but I would say that the schools sitting here today, they have many programs in which they are growing students in leadership skills, also teaching students about social emotional learning in ways in which they can use restorative justice skills. So there are things that are happening in the schools where you'll see that happening, and it's not necessarily gonna show up in these numbers.

Yep. And I know I said it was last but my brain thought of another question while I So was asking the last

one of

the things I also hear is school climate may be different and that may be a big selling point for some of these schools. Was there any attempt to gather data pertaining to that for the purposes of this report or was that not?

Yeah. Every other year we survey the students, parents and staff and we do what's called the culture and climate survey. We actually just started rolling those out last week and they are in the report every other year. We'll have that data for you next year.

That's why it was deja vu. So I thought I'd seen that before, but okay. So it's every other year that comes back. Okay. Thank you very much for the answers.

Okay. Thank you,

mister chair.

Any other comments? Well, last

one last question for me, mister president.

Yes. Do you

guys have sports programs? You got used to? Yes. Basketball, football. What you got?

We have basketball for our students, and, actually, we're open to any sport that we have volunteers to cover. But currently, we do basketball. Okay.

Thank you. President. Alderman Brower.

Yeah, thank you so much. Appreciate you all being here. Thank you all so much and I can see from everybody here that there's such a strong dedication to the children of this city. I just want to offer just more of a comment that, you know, overall, like I can I can appreciate the effort that people are putting in in these different schools but I just want to offer that it's my opinion as an older that the city shouldn't be in the business of chartering schools? That our our public schools should be the foundation or the foundation of our democracy and should be supported as much as we as they possibly can. Right? And so when we have this avenue, now statutes give us this right but sometimes it's not right to take a right And And we're to that. And

And

we're

program for schools that are operated and owned, I guess, you could say by the school district and so I would encourage all these schools to seek instrumentality status with Milwaukee Public Schools. You know, I speak, you know, I speak on behalf of my constituents who have demanded both

my opponent and I in

the election were opposed to the city chartering our schools. And I speak from experience working in our public schools as a substitute teacher from 2014 up until just last year. And, you know, our public schools need all the support they can get and we need to be united. Public schools are what unites this city and so when we break up our district into different segments run by sometimes well meaning nonprofits, we do not have the unity that comes from the democratic approach by electing a school board. I would be curious.

My question to these people is is by what mechanisms do you choose your boards? Are is there any elections from parents or the community for your boards or how does somebody become one of the governing people or the governing body on your boards? And that'll be one of my first questions. But just overall, I I would actually be curious about that from each of these schools. And my overall point is that the school board is our democratic apparatus whereby the citizens and residents of this city can make their voices heard above public about how our schools should operate in the public education. You know, as Thomas Jefferson said is is the foundation of our republic but I would be curious specifically about how each of these boards is constructed and what the nonprofit or for profit status is of each of these entities that is running these schools. Thank you, mister chair.

Duke, you want to just quickly run through how many board members you have and how you choose them?

Yeah. We have 24 available seats. We have, I think, 21 board members currently. We actually do have two seats that are assigned specifically to parents. And then we have seats that are also for post secondary institutions. So, we have, you know, leaders in our community and education space on our board as well and then the remaining seats go to community members at large.

And just a follow-up, are those elected seats from the parents or how does that those parents chosen?

Typically, happens is the parents are involved and and highly engaged in our student and then they're recommended by principals as someone who could be on our parent committee which is a larger group. And then out of that, individuals will be promoted to the board if they so

choose. We

have eight board members and those are volunteer appointed positions, different community members, and we have teacher rep that's on the board as well as a parent rep as well.

And did you say they're appointed whom are they appointed by? And is the does the is the teacher rep elected by the teachers and the parent rep elected by the parents? Or by what method are we actually is somebody getting legally placed on your board?

Again, it's, you know, parents that's highly involved in the school, those that want to to have a voice, they're allowed and as well as the teacher.

Yeah. But usually on Wisconsin statutes, you gotta have bylaws and those bylaws have to say how people like the mechanics of how someone has chosen. So, I mean, you you know, I wouldn't be able to just walk into a board meeting and and sit down and join your board tomorrow or the next time you have a meeting. So how is somebody assigned, you know, to your legal roster of people on the board by what mechanism? Who appoints? You said they're appointed. They're involved. I mean, not every involved parent given that your board is only eight can be appointed to that board.

Those that are, again, you know, involved that want to have a voice. We allow them to have a voice and we do have bylaws.

And maybe and and I'll just interject as we continue down the path here. Maybe we can figure out a list of questions regarding governance and have a communication file specifically on elections and things like that that we can have a a better communication prepared for a Q and A on this be do do

So, we're Escuela Verde. Uh-huh. And we've been around fifty years. We are a nonprofit. We currently have nine board members and two student board members.

Our bylaws, we can have between five and seventeen board members. We just had our last round of voting and we open it to the public. Our governance, so the bylaws they have to first express interest, submit. We ask all of our community if anybody knows anybody that they'd like to recommend, our school leaders, our staff, our parents, and we and then anybody who comes in, they meet with us. By us, it would be somebody on the board already or anyone on the admin to say what what are the expectations etcetera. Then they have to attend one meeting before and then they present their if they're still interested what they would be interested in.

Ours is very similar to what Espuela Verde is using. We have seven current school board members. Again, they show interest. We reach out to community members that may be interested in supporting our school and then that information is brought to us and then is voted on.

Anything else, Alderman?

Well, just you know, I appreciate that. Well, we have, do we have one more?

Yes. Heather?

Mary Widman, Downtown Montessori. Much like many of them, we put out a call for those that are interested. So, we do have some parents. We have past parents and then we partner with local business and professionals that serve on our board.

No. This is this is really good. Yeah. No. And so I'll just say like democracy is the foundation of what we stand for here in this country. I didn't hear from everyone that there is a democratic process. So, you know, anybody in in what's great about Milwaukee Public Schools is anyone can run for the board who's over 18 and eligible. Unfortunately, we should be expanding the eligibility requirements for who can vote and run for office in this country, but we're not seeing that from every one of our charters. So we're not seeing democracy from all of our charter schools here in the city that we are choosing to charter, which is unfortunate because democracy is so important I think and I just really, you know, I want to underline that and yeah, no, that's there's I have so many other questions that I would have for these guys but I could introduce a communication file regarding governance, you know, where things are going. I know a few years ago too, there was an effort by some at rocket ship schools.

Now we don't charter rocket ship, but there was an effort by some at rocket ship schools, some of the teachers to unionize. Unfortunately, teachers in that effort were terminated or disciplined. So I'd also be curious what these institutions' stances are on their teachers unionizing. If they currently have a union. Would you commit right now to being neutral if your teachers filed for an election under the National Labor Relations Act?

Mister chair. Oh, sorry.

No. Go ahead. I pre mister chair.

Yes. I'm

so sorry. So I appreciate my colleague sentiments. He's so he's very passionate about just a a variety of different issues during in the city, including education, and I love that. I want us to be very careful because we need to build a structure. So when we talk about NPS and I'll get off my high box in a in a minute.

Until we, you know, get to a point where NPS schools can have, you know, sort of when we look at the metrics to get graduation rates, exam rates, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. My children went to a Montessori school. Highland shout out Highland Community School. And it was what was right for my family. And I was involved. They have bylaws and all those things as far as the governing body. You have to be a part of the school in order to be on the board. So they looped me in probably from my kids were there and, you know, k whatever all the way until they graduated eighth grade. And it taught me how to, you know, be an engaged parent. Right?

And so when we talk about just, you know, as far as where my colleague, may be going with this, you know, for for me and for, you know, our colleagues that are that are here, I want us to be able to build a structure that works for the the young people and the parents in the city. And and, you know, and NPS just hasn't gotten to the point where we can get rid of everything and put all the young people back into NPS. We just we're just not there. So I just wanna say that, you know, I value that we have options and that folks can choose where they want to send their send their children. And I know with many of you, the governing bodies are made up of parents that actually that that that children go to that school or, you know, or my children went to the school and I wanna be a part of that governing body.

You know, I appreciate that. So before, you know, we get into that detail of conversation that we may say that so that they're prepared to be able to answer, you know, those particular questions. But I just wanna, you know, just sort of put it on the record that

I appreciate that.

We should have that time. We should be prepared to be have them

as discussed. I think that the alderman is he has a lot of passion about this and. Absolutely. Has the right to ask his questions and I I think we should communicate that properly in a communication file for everyone to respond. So, you have anything else you'd.

Well, just that, you know, we have two schools up for renewal for their charter and yeah. And and and if and if we are chartering schools, if we are if we commit to being pro labor and these schools cannot commit to being neutral, if their teachers decide to form a union, then I I can't support these charters if they're gonna if they're gonna fire teachers who try to form a union. I was president of my union, the substitute teachers union for eight years off and on. And so it's so important for teachers to have a union. None of these schools have committed yet to being neutral or even encouraging.

They could invite a union in. There's nothing stopping any of these CEOs from calling up the the machinist. The machinist tried to organize rocket ship. Nothing calling from them, calling up after they leave this building from calling up any of the fine unions we have in the city and inviting them to organize their teachers so that the teachers can have a voice in the schools. There's absolutely nothing legally stopping them. They're private sector employers. They could actually have a collective bargaining agreement unlike our public sector teachers. So I just haven't heard that. So I don't think that question has been answered for us to grant them the the charter that meets our standards as people who support organized labor at this table.

This is this is this is a communication file. Wow. And each and the schools that are up Oh, okay. Individually.

I can ask that at each school

later then. We can do that at that point in time. Okay. Any other questions on the committee? All in member gov.

Thank you, mister president. Mister chairman, a few months ago, last year, we talked a lot about MPS's battle with lead paint. And when we had this meeting last year, I asked what are you guys doing in your facilities to ensure that your students also don't have exposure to the same hazards that were identified in MPS buildings. So I would like to hear what have you guys done in the last twelve months regarding lead paint testing, lead paint mitigation.

If I might go first, Joey Zucker, Trans and Freeze. Escuela Verde is a certified national green ribbon school. We've done all of the interior and exterior tests, evaluations and worked on greening the building. So we have no lead paint in our schools.

Crystal Bilmeyer, Milwaukee Math and Science Academy. We followed up. It's a yearly check. We follow-up.

For water testings is mandatory water? Correct. Mandatory testing. But so you've tested lead paint?

Yes. Thank you.

We have also done the testing for both lead and in the paint and in the water and we did the additional step of posting the results on our school's website.

Thank you.

We've had our building tested. We do test every year because we do have some space in one of the older buildings that isn't utilized, we want to make sure that we're being responsible.

And we've had the the testing with as well.

Sure. And maybe for our next annual review, we can include that in the in the annual review since it comes up every year. We'd appreciate that

ahead of time. Thank you, mister

You're welcome. Okay. With that said, president. Alderman Spiker.

One thing, I guess, before you decide to be an instrumentality charter chartered by MPS, you might wanna check with Carmen Northwest and see how that experience went. Obviously an elephant in the room here. Not to start a fight but it was put out there. So thank you.

Okay. Thank you. With that said, Alderman Spiker moves to place on file item number 5251040. Any objections to that? Hearing none so ordered.

File number 6251393 substitute motion approving renewal of a charter school contract with Esquila Verde for an additional five year term. Okay. Escuela Verde. Okay, who would like to take the lead?

Did did you, I could take the lead if do you want me to answer the question about unions first? Yeah.

If you know it's coming, yeah.

Yes. We, Escuela Verde, I was one of the, before my current position, one of the founding members of Escuela Verde. When we first started, one of the first things we did was meet with the MTEA to see if they would allow us into the union and we were declined. So, instead, what we did is took their current salary schedule and abridged it to work and we we when we compare salaries and things like that, we do our best to follow what they're doing knowing they do really good work and do what we can as a small school. You know, we have 120 students which limits our ability unlike some some of the massive districts around. So, I would not be opposed if there was some other union that would be more beneficial.

Okay. Great. Okay, thank you. Anything else we need to move forward? We have the file in front of us just giving the the details about the motion to renew the contract for a five edition of your term. Anything you'd like to tell us before we take a vote on that?

Anyone else want to advocate on behalf?

Can we have everybody, mister chair, introduce themselves?

I'm sorry. My apologies.

My name is Rusty Edland. I am the adviser to the senior class at Escuela Verde.

Michael Maxon, I'm the science adviser at Escuela Verde.

I am Eric Schultz. I am one of the general academic advisers and history teachers at Escuela Verde.

Jill Weber, I'm one of our special education teachers.

If I may, to advocate for the type of career and academic planning for the future with our students, as the senior advisor, one of the things I've been really focusing on is opening doors and opportunities to our senior class for pro union labor opportunities post high school. So post secondary options, we've been partnering with Big Step to get union trades opportunities available. There was a mention of more firefighting options going on. So I'm going to integrate that into our curriculum in the remaining of the quarter. And we also work together with families to complete FAFSA and any other financial aid for post secondary progress for our students.

Okay.

I would would like to add that as a teacher this is my third year working at Escuela Verde. I came straight from university, came straight to Escuela Verde as my one of the jobs that would pick me up in a year that was really difficult to find a job. And and the idea of working at a charter school when I first started, I was very nervous about that because in college of, you know, going from a liberal arts program, learning about pedagogy and everything, charter schools are kinda put on the back burner. They're you mostly learn about the public education system. And I just would like to say that in my opinion, I feel like I found a school that as a teacher, like, values my my voice, values me just being an educator at that school.

And I don't know if every public educator in Milwaukee would be able to say the same thing. I have family members that work in MPS schools who feel like they can never have a seat at the table. So the idea of unionizing never even crossed my mind because I know that I'm already being as for my input, I'm being right, you know, I also just wanted to add that when I'm thinking of our charter school and the idea of like possibly our license not being renewed or anything like that. I start thinking more of the students, not the teachers. Right?

And we have, you know, just our school is a small 125 120 to 125 students. And, like, we provide an environment for them that is safe, and they get an education that I wish that I would have gotten growing up in Milwaukee. And, yeah, I just I see the interactions that we have every day. We cultivate a community of really, really great humans, and I think that's what's important when it comes to school. So three years ago, I would have agreed with everything that you're saying, but seeing those interactions every day, making the connections that I've made with my students, and just seeing how we all work as a family at that school and everything.

It's something very special, and I so I hope that you guys renew our license.

Okay. Any other questions?

I just have one. Oh. Oh. He just left. I was actually going to speak to Alderman Spiker had mentioned a comment about special education and what students are allowed through the door and which students actually walk through that door. And I don't know our exact percentage at EV. I believe it's in the 30% range.

I think we're 25 right now.

25 or 26. I know personally that students on my caseload came from a much more restrictive placement when they were in the traditional NPS system and they are fully included now because we have the freedom and the flexibility to provide services that they need with their peers. So they're getting social experiences that they would have never had had they stayed in those more traditional placements. I don't know if that's true for all schools, but certainly ours, we are very inclusive of students that do have those higher needs.

Thank you.

I've been in education for about thirty three years and I've had the opportunity to both attend and teach in schools that are in rural, suburban and urban environments. And this is I did I did work in a postgraduate class on the ideal school that combines a lot of the things of democratic education to help students become educated for a democracy. The closest thing I have ever seen to what I designed in my head that this would be the ultimate democratic education is Escuela Verde. I retired from public education. I came back because of what they're doing.

Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm a high school drop outside. What I know about a school over how long you've around now?

Since 2012. Yeah. We moved. We're in our current space for ten years.

Yeah.

And so then and then I think we had three years over in your district.

Yeah, I know. So, I I always say that I may have graduated from high school life at school I've ever did was around.

So I

got my GED. Mhmm. If if And my mom's a retired principal from MPS. So

Yeah. Bless her. She is interested. I may, I just I would be remiss, I feel, to not speak up. Although my staff sitting here at the table have said, I think, probably everything that you need to hear. This school is a blessing for our students. So many of our kids come to us and education has not been for them. And I think without the opportunities that they find with us, and they're all unique, right? Like we, some of our kids are very interested in science, some of them are very interested in media. We have, in the middle of the day, we've got guitar lessons going on.

We've got kids doing multimedia presentations. We've got dancing. We've got celebrations of different communities and and beliefs and and thoughts that that we didn't get a chance to do that. I I think when I first started, had, you know, kids walking around with guitars during a wellness to celebrate being well, healthy, know, that's physical and mental. And it's such a unique experience to be able to walk into that and learning is going on, you know, while all of the things that students need to find.

Our cafe that we're able to place our students to work in really affords them opportunities and our special education students get an opportunity there to learn how to interact with the public as well as our students who maybe never could see themselves graduating from high school. We have opportunities within the community that we connect with different partnerships. It's something that I had never seen prior. I also had been in education in many districts prior to coming to Escuela Verde. And I actually thought that public education was no longer for me when I came And I will be here until I'm done because I think that it's right for our kids. Staff come here because they want to be with students. I mean, the relationships that we build are really, they just continue on.

Thank you.

Mister chair.

Aldeprizas Amariba.

Thank you. So, I have a long history with the Escuela Verde. Joey Zoker used to be the the principal or the lead. I forget what title you guys use but. Co co leader?

Yes. When when first day when first day came into contact with the school of Edre, they used to be in Walkers Point and Alderman Perez's district. They now are in the 8th Aldermanic District Pierce in my district and I have enjoyed a very positive relationship with the school. I have been invited to student presentations. I've I'm lucky enough to support their student run coffee shop in my district and I would invite my my colleagues to join me for a coffee there if if if you were so interested.

I can understand some of the issues that are being brought up today and absolutely I I support labor and organizing and I also absolutely support Escuela Vende. And so I I would like to move, for renewal

Yes.

Of their, charter school contract for an additional five year term. Thank you, mister president.

Okay. The motion by elder woman Samaripa is approving item number six filed two five one three nine three. Are there any objections to that motion? Hearing none so ordered. Congratulations. Congratulations. Moving on to.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to item number seven. File two five one three nine three substitute motion approving the renewal of a charter school contract with Milwaukee Math and Science Academy for an additional five year term. Come on down. Welcome. Thank you. Whoever's going to speak or present, introduce yourself for the record if you already have it.

Ashley Ellis, assistant principal.

I'll be on one of the administrations.

Okay.

The percentage of students at our schools. First off, we recognize that all students have value at our school. We currently have 12% to 15% of our students that are English language learners. So we do everything we can to address their needs. We also have fifteen percent to twenty percent of our students that receive have special needs that we address as well.

And that seems to be growing each year at our school. So Milwaukee is a very transient city and our enrollment continues to grow each year. So as we are getting new students, we find that they have more needs. And so we do what we can with what the money that we do receive. And those needs continue to grow each year and we continue to do our best with what we have.

I think that our students, you saw in the presentation earlier today that our students aren't at that achievement level that we're looking for yet, but our students are achieving, are growing each year. They often come to us lower than what our current students are. And so what our teachers are having to do is help them not only catch up or make that growth every year for whatever grade level they're in, but in order to achieve, they're going to have to grow even more. They have to show that high growth year after year after year to kind of hit that mountaintop. So they're climbing the mountain every year and our students are all climbing.

You know, there's not a student that's sitting at that bottom of that mountain not receiving the support that they need. They're all climbing toward the top of that mountain. But in order to achieve that, in order to hit those, that achievement level that the forward exam is looking for, we have to get them climbing at a faster rate because they are not at that level yet, but they're growing. And according to our state report card, they're growing at a faster rate than other students in the same demographic. And we're proud of that fact.

So our teachers are doing right by our students. The curriculum that we have chosen to use, we're doing right by our students with what we have. And so our students come, they make growth, they start to believe in themselves. You know, they take the NWEA MAP test, which shows their growth throughout the year, beginning, middle and end of the year. Confidence.

And when students build confidence in themselves, they take more chances academically and when they take those chances academically, that's when you really start to see them just take off. And so that's what we're really hoping to see every year. They may not be at that mountaintop yet, but they're still climbing that mountain. They don't give up. If you give up, now we're all defeated. Teachers won't let them. Students don't give up on themselves because they are gaining that confidence every year. So that's what I wanted to say. I think Doctor. Ali wanted to address something that Mr. Bauer had asked.

Yes. I think that was a question back in the earlier discussion about the unionization. I think charter schools in the nation, about 10% or 12% of them are unionized. Probably 80% to 90% of the nonpublic or the public schools are traditional public schools are unionized. So I

don't

know if there is a correlation between being a union versus not having like a strong impact on the student learning or the outcomes of those schools. But our school is very democratic. So if teachers wanted to feel the need to be supported or represented by a group that is going to be called union, we are open to it, of course. As the students, it's a school of choice for the teachers as well as they have schools that are union representation for them to go and work within that environment. And there are schools who work without the union as is, as currently, and some teachers choosing to work at those schools, they choose so.

So it is a choice for the teachers as well. But if our teachers decide that a group of, you know, they they should be unionized, obviously, we are open to it.

And and then just to clarify in the word open to it. So, you're saying you would commit to not having captive audience meetings, you would commit to not hiring union busting an attorney firm and you would commit to honoring and remaining neutral during an election period that was conducted by the NLRA. NLRB, excuse me.

Yeah. NLRB procedure. Yes. Was that a yes? NLRB procedure actually

I wonder would you commit to being neutral?

You know, in that process, it's a voting process, right? So administration has a right to talk about the polls and

the Okay. So you so you tell the teachers who were trying to unionize why it's a bad idea to be in a union. No. You Okay. Okay. Would you commit to being neutral then?

We will share what we think about

Which would be opposition then? No. Okay. But you will okay. Will you what what how would you react? Would you say, yes, you should join the union? Would you have a captive audience meeting and extol the benefits of unionization then to your employees? Or what would you say in something like that?

No. I think we will be neutral. So there's

our Okay.

You're committing. At this committee hearing right now to be neutral and a lower I'm

making any commitments. I'm not making any commitments. Oh, Okay.

You're not making commitments. That's fine, brother.

That's fine too. I I think you you can you got your answer of being open to the process and

Yes. It's a process. It is not a commitment.

Yes. You're not giving a commitment

from We the are committed to the process.

You're allowed to say what you want.

And that process is initiated by the teachers who would like to do that, right? So we have a lot of teachers who are coming back to the school year after year with a very high teacher retention rate, the Lakia Mathen Science Academy has. So it looks like they're happy coming back to the same school. And if they choose to have a union representation, then

Thank you.

That's that's their choice.

But you would oppose it. You would tell them not to.

Okay. I'm done.

Thank you, Alderman.

Thank you for your answer. Any other questions? Alderman Burgales.

Thank you. Looking back to your November appearance, there was some question of the number of licensed teachers that you have at the school. Do you have those numbers handy? Do you know how many of your teachers have a teaching certificate and how many are working towards that still?

Sure. We have five teachers currently from The Philippines. And so they have all applied for their one year license with stipulations. I'm sorry, four of them have applied for their one year license with stipulations. So it's just a matter of DPI processing those. The other one has her three year provisional license. And then I have one teacher who is currently in a program to get her license. And so she is working on a one year license with stipulations as well. And so everyone is in the process of going of getting their license.

And so how many are licensed and how many are not?

So the four teachers from The Philippines are working on getting that, just waiting for DPI. And then there's just one teacher that currently does not have that. She's working on her program.

But how many teachers do you have in

the school? There are 17 total.

17. So five out of 17. Yes.

Alright. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah, mister. Alderman Brower.

Yeah. So, if a if a parent or a member of the community wanted to attend your board meeting like our school board meetings are open to the public, could they attend and

Yes.

Okay. Cool. Thank you. Okay. In hearing no further questions, Alderman Jackson moves approval of file number seven or item number seven, file number 251394. Are there any objections to that? Hearing none, so ordered. Thank you so much. Okay. Congratulations.

Thank you. Moving on to item number eight, file number two five one seven five five. Communication from the office of the city attorney relating to a status update on the column settlement. Okay. The steering and rules committee may convene into closed session on February 16 at 2PM in Room 2000 or Room 301 B City Hall, 200 East Wells, Wisconsin pursuant to state statute one nine eight five, Wisconsin for the purpose of considering strategy for crime detection and prevention and conferring to the city attorney who will render an oral or written advice with respect to litigation in which the city is likely to become involved and then may go into open session for a regular agenda.

Good

afternoon, mister chair.

We're straight into close. Afternoon.

No. Are aware, we have a new case consultant in the Collins settlement agreement. Having a case consultant is a requirement of the settlement. Through an RFP process and with agreement of the plaintiffs in the case, we have selected twenty one CP, twenty one, twenty first Century Policing Solutions. They are here today as part of their first site visit to to Milwaukee and I would do a terrible job of introducing them.

So, I'll let them introduce themselves and their team. I I would just say before I turn it over to them, it has been really great to work with them thus far. They're still fairly new in this role to us but they bring a wealth of experience working with communities like ours on consent degrees and agreements like Collins. And so far, we've been, as I've said, very impressed and excited for the future of being able to work with not just the new consultant but with this consultant. I

think Mr. President will introduce senior consultant and one of the team leads for the Milwaukee work of twenty one CP, Tim McGatt and let him introduce rest of his team for introductions.

Please come. Yeah. Come to the table. Identify yourself for the record please.

Hello, everybody. My name is Tim McGat. I'm a senior consultant with twenty first Century Policing Solutions. As Julie just mentioned, I'm one of the team leads on this matter of the as the serving as consultant for the Collins litigation. We're very happy to be here.

Just briefly a little bit of background around me and then I'm gonna let my team introduce themselves as well to all of you. I spent eighteen years with the Justice Department serving in the Civil Rights Division and for the vast majority of my time there, I was in the special litigation section where I was a deputy chief overseeing policing pattern or practice investigations and litigation and ultimately the enforcement of consent decrees with a number of different jurisdictions around the country including the I led the investigation of the city of Baltimore's Police Department negotiated that consent decree and then worked with the city there to implement that consent decree as quickly as we could but also meaningfully to actually achieve the reforms that we're trying to get to in that city. Worked with the city of Cleveland, the city of Seattle, the city of New Orleans, and many others around the country. So I have a lot of experience doing police reform projects, and working successfully with cities and with communities to help them achieve the goals that an agreement like the one here in the Collins Legation is designed to achieve. So I'm going to turn it over to Ron Davis here on my right.

Let him introduce himself and then let other members of the team as well.

So, good afternoon. My name is Ron Davis. I'm a partner with twenty one CP Solutions. My background is close to forty years of law enforcement. I spent twenty years in the beautiful city of Oakland. Left Oakland to become police chief in equally beautiful city of East Palo Alto which is a small area in a smaller town in the Bay Area. I then was appointed by president Obama to serve as director of the cops office, the office of community policing services going back in 2013. And then later, he appointed me to be the executive director of the president's task force on twenty first Century Policing. So I did that for close to four years. I left government to come back to twenty one CP, and then I went back when president Biden appointed me and nominated me, and I got confirmed to be the director of the United States Marshal Service where I retired from that in January.

And during in between those years, a lot of my time, even when I was still working active in Oakland and others, I was one of the policing experts for US Department of Justice investigations from Virgin Islands to Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and others. So and Oakland had a a a agreement, something I will say I'm not gonna say similar because of twenty three years, they're and still in it. So we don't want it to be anywhere near similar. But the idea It wasn't a deal. Yeah, it wasn't a deal. But I look forward to working with you and to helping the department and the city move forward with this. So thank you for your time.

Good afternoon. My name is Eve Gushes. I have thirty four years of law enforcement experience where I retired from the city of Chicago from the Chicago Police Department as the Deputy Chief in the Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform. My duties included seeing the Chicago Police Department through their consent decree and working with them to meet the requirements of the monitoring team to gain compliance. During my tenure with the police department, we moved our compliance percentage from 7% and by the time I left, we were up to 42% for preliminary compliance as well as operational compliance in the unit that I oversaw.

So I have a lot of experience sitting on both sides of the consent decree process. I also was a consent decree monitor for the city of Baltimore and also with the city of Syracuse, New York. And I also worked on the monitoring team for Portland, Oregon. So I have a lot of experience on both sides of the table. I'm really looking forward to working with the city and working with their command staff at the police department and also hearing from all of you and to see how we can help you get to the finish line for your consent decree. So I look forward to working with you all.

Good afternoon. My name is Hassan Aden. I'm a retired Chief of Police. I'm the junior of all of them. I have thirty years of direct police experience.

So I served as I was in Alexandria, Virginia, right outside of DC and then ended in Greenville, North Carolina. After I left active policing, I was appointed director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, IACP, the world's largest law enforcement executive body. Served that in that capacity for a while and decided that I wanted to get back out into the field. Not in direct policing, but I started working on reform activities. So was deputy monitor overseeing the Seattle Consent Decree.

I was the head monitor overseeing the Cleveland Consent Decree. Currently serve as deputy monitor overseeing the Baltimore Consent Decree. And I provide, aside from that, guidance to several states' attorneys generals on policing matters generally around force, accountability and search and seizure. And I look forward to learning about Milwaukee because every city is different and moving pretty quickly right into the meat of what we are here to do.

Someone else with Theresa.

Hi, everyone. I am Theresa Tawi. I am the Director of Operations for 21CP. I am really supporting Tim and the rest of my team on this project as a project coordinator. I have a little bit different of a background. I've done a lot of community engagement work kind of from the community side, the nonprofit side, a lot of experience building youth program youth development programs in Baltimore as well as some work in Seattle. And yes, just really happy to be here with you all. I'm looking forward to getting to work with you and getting to know the city of Milwaukee and helping you all through across the finish line. Thank you.

There's a few other members of our team who couldn't be here today. Matthew Bars, our other team lead, was unable to be here but he has depth of experience doing this type of work as well. He served as the monitor of the Cleveland Consent Decree and also served as Deputy Monitor in the City of Seattle's Consent Decree and has a lead role in the Baltimore consent decree. So he has got a variety of different experiences and touch points as well as being a senior fellow with the NYU policing project where he does assist with research on policing issues. We also have on our team former Chief Kathy O'Toole.

She was Chief in the City of Seattle under that consent decree and helped lead them through that consent decree and bring them into initial compliance with the entire decree there as well as former Commissioner of the Boston Police Department and currently serves as a monitor in the Springfield Police Department consent decree. So she's got

a bunch of different kind

of like Eve, a bunch of different sides of this where she's both been under the consent decree and served to help ensure that a consent decree is successfully implemented. Two other, groups with us. One is, Michelle Le Young. She was a former assistant United States attorney, based out of Boston and worked on a couple of police investigations up there with the U. S.

Attorney's Office and is now with Harvard University Law School working on a clinic focused on racial justice issues. And then we have Georgetown Law Center for Innovations and Community Safety is serving as data analyst for us, helping us look into a lot of the different analyses that are required by this Collins settlement agreement and doing those for us. So we are working closely with them as well. And I'm actually also a senior fellow with Georgetown Law Center. So we kind of bridge across those two different things.

So that's a little bit about our team. Just really briefly, this is our first visit to the city of Milwaukee as a team. We're really excited to Thank be you. Excited to be here. I think most of us all arrived last night. So, we're just getting to know the city but we had had a chance this morning.

Thank you for the weather.

Not touring around. I can give you the best tour

in the Thursday. Alright.

We're looking forward to

we got a chance to meet this morning with the chief, with his command staff, and talk a little bit with them about where we are in this agreement and kind of the approach that we're taking to all of this and we have a number of meetings set up over the next couple of days that we're excited to to dig in. A lot of them with with the police department tomorrow. We're going to be with the training academy, with community liaison officers with the compliance division and then we're gonna go on some ride alongs tomorrow evening in order to kind of understand policing on the ground here in the city of Milwaukee. On Wednesday, we're gonna be meeting further with the Fire and Police Commission and also with a member of the plaintiff's council team and we have been trying to coordinate with the community collaborative commission as well to try and be able to connect with them while we're here on the ground. So trying to make sure that we're we're kind of touching with every stakeholders as we're getting into this agreement.

Obviously, there's more stakeholders even than we can do in just a two and a half day time period but making sure that we're really investing and getting to know everybody involved and really looking forward to working with the city to kind of chart the path forward here. We have been digging in to understand the issues that are surrounding kind of what's happening with the settlement agreement so far and trying to identify anything that looks like it might be an impediment to bringing this to a successful conclusion and then see if we can work with the parties and make recommendations to kind of focus everybody on a path forward and get this thing done in a way that yields I think what everybody's goal is here which is constitutional and effective policing that serves the the communities of the of of of the people of Milwaukee. So, we're diving in and we're looking forward to working with all of you.

Did you just want us to answer ask some questions here or?

Yes, I think, I mean, we're in open session. So I just ask members to be mindful of that. I think, Tim, you just did a good job of really high level summary of what the monitor does, reminding folks that the monitor is also working with plaintiffs. And this is not just they're working with us, but also with plaintiffs and the process is collaborative. There isn't we raise our hand and we say we want to do A, B or C and it is done overnight. It's a process. And Tim, I don't know if you want to expand a little bit more on

the role of

the monitor as 21CP sees it. We're happy to ask questions. But just again, I think it maybe better if you just take.

Yeah, I'm I'm going to ask what I mean. You talked a lot about consent decrees and seeing them to the end. All the ones you've mentioned, you've seen them to the very end then?

Not all the ones that I've mentioned have come to an end yet. I have seen the city of Seattle has come to an end. The city of New Orleans has come to an end. Others are still ongoing but there's others that I didn't mention that are have been completed already such as one with the city of East Haven in Connecticut and and others. So, I, you know, I've been a part of them through the entire scope of the process.

The Baltimore one which I think a number of us mentioned is still ongoing but they've already partially terminated substantial portions of that agreement. I mean, that's something that we're actually thinking about whether or not is an is an appropriate option here, where is there a way to kind of narrow the agreement over time that we could recommend to the parties. We can't decide it. We don't it's not our role, but we can help the parties try and think through how do we bring this to a successful conclusion and kind of focus everybody on the issues that are most important

over time. Because that was my other question. I mean, we talk consent decree. Technically, we're not in a consent decree. We've settled. We've like imposed our own. We've settled for our own consent decree. Yeah. Have you worked on similar settlements just

like this one? I have. So I've worked on on consent decrees as already mentioned and I think others at the table as well. I've also worked on entirely out of court agreements where there's no that the judge has not signed it at all and hasn't been involved in any way. And I've also worked on ones that are kind of like this one that is what I would kind of say is in the middle where it is both a settlement agreement that's entirely that's, you know, signed between the parties but it was submitted to a federal judge and he has signed it but then it's like not playing an active role in the case in any way and each of those kind of requires a different approach to help us kind of successfully navigate.

I mean, there's a sense of success if you're you're not in the consent decree or don't have a settlement hanging over you, correct?

I'm sorry. Say that.

There's a sense of success then if you've moved the needle enough for this to go away. I mean, is the goal, it's the goal for the councilman to to no no no longer be in place? Our goal

is for this agreement to be successfully implemented and to get it across the finish line so that the city is served well and then it is over and done with. We do not wanna perpetuate our own role in this case any longer than necessary. We wanna try and set this up so that the city can be successful, get it done, and do it in the right way that makes, you know, achieves all the goals of

the agreement. Yeah, because our constituents are waiting for a final product that we can say we've. This has led to this. Absolutely.

Go ahead. I I I didn't mention earlier, but I I spent time in a monitoring team in Washington DC. One of one of my partners at the firm was the police chief at the time. He's the first one to actually ask the Department of Justice to investigate the department. Now this was an agreement between DOJ and Washington DC Metro Police in the city. It was not a consent decree. It was not entered into court. It was agreed upon. And I think what we learned from that one is there, the parties were able to work together that came to a conclusion. The conclusion was more than just, quite frankly, that something ended as much as what continued afterwards.

And that is building this the systems, the strategies, and the infrastructure so that the constitutional policing that you're working on, that you're moving forward to getting across the board continues long after our handsome and beautiful faces leave, that you wanna still be able to continue that. So I think the question is a great question. And if I were you to be one that I'll be asking is, I mean, how long does this take? How long is it gonna be? What is the finish line

look like? Health. That's

why. It's been eight years. But is the finish line look like? Right? And what does the finish line mean to the communities that mean they have certain expectations after we leave. Okay. And it's the role of the monitor. There's no greater monitor than the community itself. And once we get to that point, that's something that everybody wants to that's what we think we can help doing so. So we've seen that gamut of a very a very large and comprehensive consent decree with court oversight where the judge makes decisions up to an agreement between the Department of Justice, whether it's at a state level or the DOJ, when it's not in a court where parties have agreed to a settlement on how to best move forward.

And each one of them requires a couple of things. One, obviously, leadership. Right? This leadership has already displayed by this this by this council, by the department, by leaders, collaboration with the stakeholders, and the commitment of the department to continue working that way so that it becomes when we get to that point, it is very clear that our time is up, that we need to move on because you now, as they excuse the phrase, you got the con. There's no reason to have a consultant unless you need that person from time to time for something else and it won't be won't look like this. So I I think it's a great question. So thank you for that.

Mister chair? Well, I'm involved. I'm curious about your structural organization. There's a lot of high priced experienced talent that's sitting in front of me. Are you all employees or are you independent contractors that are called in on an as needed basis relying on your particular expertise given the facts of the engagement?

Yes. So our firm, we have six partners. I'm one of the partners and some 30 plus associates or consultants and down down employees. So they're all independent. Some of them have their own consulting businesses and they're paid as we use them. To pay the different contracts that we may bring contracts together. So, one of the things that we respect completely is that this contract because it is with the city. There's a government which means it's a taxpayer's paying for this. Mhmm. And so we are all we owe you, you owe them.

That's right.

To be the most efficient with the tax day doll dollars we can. So you can hear a lot of names, but trust me, I say that. 20 people are not gonna show up here every month. You're not gonna get a bill for tens of thousands of dollars. So everybody I like the high price thing. I'm gonna use that later.

Where are

you at headquarter?

Do you

have office our physical office somewhere?

We have a business. Our business is located based out of Chicago, but everyone is usually working out of home because they're all independent consultants. And so that's what you say. You don't have an office we go to. Even the administrative support, the the director of operations and others are different places. Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona. So we don't have that kind

of Chicago is just a drop box basically?

Probably. But for hardware, that's where we got incorporated. We do have an office there, but we

don't report there. Store with a mail. I'm not gonna go there.

Yeah. He's he's from there. Next, we're gonna have to

go off in our boat in Chicago. But, no, I'm not gonna go there. But we do have a a location there, but it doesn't require people to go into the office. Everybody's worked from a different location.

Let me just add really quickly. For this team, one of the things that we've done is if we've gone through and kind of broken out the different areas of the different of the agreement, the different requirements of it and assigned different members of the team to be leading the review of different areas, we're going to do, you know, double check that it's not just up to one person or another, but it is we're also trying to be very efficient in how we're using people by assigning them to the areas where they have the greatest strengths and backgrounds. Hassan has a very strong background in internal affairs that will help with those requirements. Eve has a very strong background in training. She can kind of help take the lead on those areas. And so we are trying to use people to with where they really can bring kind of the greatest value to the city and to the process and get this done efficiently.

And I still live in Chicago so if you need me, I'm just

like, no, I'm forty minute drive away.

Take it you might. Okay.

It's our biggest suburb.

Right. Go Cubs. But I'm. Yeah.

Go Bears.

Oh, here she goes. Any other questions from committee members?

Mister chair, do we do we wanna go into any any substance issues or we wanna do that in closed session?

In closed session.

Very good.

Alright. Alderman Baumann, you make a motion to go into closed session? Yes. Okay. The motion by Alderman Baumann is to go into closed session. Roll call, please.

I don't want more.

I am not on the committee but, you know.

Alderman Jackson.

Excused. Chief probably can't hear you.

Alderman Perez.

Holder woman Demichievich. We have a vote to go into closed session. Excused. Aye. For me.

Okay. We'll go into closed session. Item number nine, file two four one eight six six. Communication from the housing authority, city of Milwaukee, the office of city attorney, department, and neighborhood services, and the Milwaukee Police Department and Housing Authorities Milwaukee recovery Milwaukee recovery plan. Alderman Spiker moves to place that on hold hearing no object excuse me.

Alderman Spiker moves to place on file. Item number nine two four one eight six six. Hearing no objections, so ordered and there being no further business before this committee, we are adjourned.