OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Charter School Review Committee Meeting – March 26, 2026

Common CouncilThursday, March 26, 2026
BodyMilwaukee, Wisconsin
SessionCommon Council
DateThursday, March 26, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:27:37

Transcript — Verbatim
0:01

I'd like to call the order the charter school review committee meeting for Thursday, March 26th at 5 p.m.

0:13

And I'll start with the roll call with myself as chair.

0:19

Bill Christensen.

0:22

Here.

0:34

Oh, Dr.

0:35

Chair Terry Brookshire.

0:37

Yeah.

0:38

Okay.

0:39

Tracy Sparrow.

0:41

And Tyana Davis.

0:44

Hopefully we'll join us later.

0:46

Okay.

0:48

Second item on the agenda.

0:51

Review and approval of the minutes from November 3rd, 2025.

0:58

Have you had a chance to review the minutes?

1:01

And if so, I will entertain a motion to accept the minutes from November 3rd, 2025.

1:17

This is a bill, I'll make that motion.

1:19

Is there a second?

1:26

Um any questions or comments on the minutes.

1:31

Seeing none, I'll move for approval.

1:34

All in favor say aye.

1:36

Aye.

1:38

All right.

1:40

Okay, the minutes have been accepted.

1:43

Next item on the agenda is communication related to the administrative matters of the Charter School Review Committee for 2025-2027 school year.

1:56

Sponsored by the chair.

1:58

And those items for discussion will include will be limited to the following.

2:04

A vote may be taken either on either of these items.

2:09

The first item we're going to discuss is the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, one-year contract renewal.

2:17

Gail.

2:22

Okay, thank you.

2:23

I'm gonna pass it along to the director of the Institute of the Transformation of Learning, and she's just going to um briefly share with you ITL and the services that we offer and what we've been doing lately.

2:38

Thank you.

2:39

Thank you, Judith.

2:40

Hey everybody.

2:41

Um Judith Romless here for those I have had not had the opportunity to meet.

2:45

Um hi, hello.

2:47

Um enjoying this wonderful Thursday.

2:50

Um enjoying your background of the nice wonderful be setting.

2:56

Um just wanted to kind of just send my greetings to you guys.

3:00

But um again, Judith Romulus with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, and um I'm the director.

3:06

And the institute for the past, I don't know, 20 something plus years have been providing the administrative oversight uh for the uh CRSC.

3:15

Um pretty much we do a lot of the stuff from administration to serving as a liaison to the financial pieces in terms of matching the budget and just overall really anything that you can think of that would require for us to be a functioning uh organization.

3:30

So we do all the administrative pieces.

3:32

One of the things that we try to do every year is we try to um almost uh not almost, we actually try to find a way in which we can complement the work that RuPas and Dr.

3:42

Baylor is kind of already doing.

3:44

Uh this year, last year, for example, we did something with uh providing the schools with some stakeholder engagement training where we work with our student uh schools to learn how to work with their parents, learn how to work with local business leaders, engage their aldermanic automatic people.

4:02

The whole idea is that it takes more than just the people inside your school to make your school successful.

4:07

You really need the whole community working with you to advance your missions of your school.

4:12

So we provide a lot of focus work on that.

4:14

This year we did a um did more training on working with teachers and how to work with their students and supporting and strengthening school culture, as you know, we serve a lot of students of color, and a lot of our staff members don't necessarily come from their communities.

4:29

This was a training that allowed our staff members to get more foundational sense about the needs of our students and how to best support them.

4:36

In the next coming month, uh we're going to be doing something with the board members.

4:40

Um we're asking all the school leaders to have their board members come to a workshop where we're talking about how can board members support their schools.

4:48

It's more than just sitting in around a room and voting on things.

4:51

There are things outside the school building, inside the school building that the board members can support.

5:00

We want to make sure that the board members not only know how to support the school, but understand their role in making the school stronger, uh, not only in terms of you know uh legislation, but also just in terms of even the community.

5:08

Um I'm not quite sure what else it is.

5:11

I'm pretty sure you receive the memo that um Gail has written up as a director of um policy.

5:17

Uh we have also on staff, uh uh Cheryl Oak, who was the director of operations and myself.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procurement and Contracts█████████████████████████████████████████████59%
Public Education Funding████████████16%
Procedural█████████12%
Technology and Innovation████████10%
Personnel Matters██2%
Education1%
Summary of Proceedings

Charter School Review Committee Meeting – March 26, 2026

The Charter School Review Committee met on Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 5 p.m. (per the transcript) to discuss contract renewals, a new school performance report format, and the annual financial scorecard report. The meeting included approval of prior minutes, contract extensions for two service providers, adoption of a revised report template, and review of the financial health of all charter schools in the portfolio.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes (November 3, 2025): The committee unanimously approved the minutes from the previous meeting via a motion by Bill Christensen, seconded by Terry Brookshire.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were made during the meeting.

Discussion Items

Institute for the Transformation of Learning (ITL) One‑Year Contract Renewal

Judith Romless, ITL Director, described the organization’s administrative oversight services, including stakeholder engagement training, school culture support, and upcoming board member workshops. She emphasized the importance of community involvement and adapting to the changing political climate. The committee approved the one‑year extension for the 2026–2027 academic year.

Evident Change One‑Year Contract Renewal

Dr. Azia Baylor, a representative from Evident Change, outlined the organization’s work in data‑driven decision‑making, including the ongoing culture and climate surveys, DPI compliance monitoring, teacher licensure tracking, special education audits, and school walkthroughs. The committee approved the second annual renewal (contract B18948) for the 2026–2027 academic year.

Recommendation for Revising the Annual School Performance Report Format

Dr. Baylor proposed moving from individual, narrative‑heavy reports (around 20 pages per school) to a unified “City of Milwaukee Charter School Profile Report” that reduces redundancy, uses more charts and visuals, and includes footnotes for issues such as teacher certification. The new format is 15 pages per school compared to a 74‑page combined old report. Committee members suggested adding a side‑by‑side scorecard comparison (Bill Christensen) and exploring AI training for document reading (Dr. Terry Brookshire). The recommendation was approved.

Annual Financial Scorecard Report from ML Tharp (Presented by Rupesh Gupta)

Financial performance for each charter school was reviewed:

  • Downtown Montessori Academy: Deficit of $38,000; excellent cash position ($826,000); scorecard remains excellent with one point deducted.
  • Central City Cyber School: Surplus of $223,000; enrollment dropped 39 pupils; scorecard excellent but with adjustments for ESSER fund expiration concerns raised by Bill Christensen.
  • Darrell Hines College Preparatory Academy: Deficit of $324,000; auditor noted three expired teacher licenses; scorecard excellent with two points deducted.
  • Milwaukee Academy of Science: Deficit of $1.9 million; enrollment up 289 students; a material weakness in internal controls (account reconciliations) was noted from the prior year. Committee requested a follow‑up on corrective actions.
  • Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy: Surplus of $7.6 million; enrollment up 279 students; school opted not to renew its city charter, ending June 30, 2025; scorecard excellent.
  • Milwaukee Math and Science Academy: Deficit of $4,400; slight enrollment increase; scorecard consistent with prior year.
  • Escuela Verde (part of Transcenter for Youth): Surplus of $64,000; low enrollment but solid financial position; scorecard excellent. The committee accepted the financial scorecard report.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved minutes of November 3, 2025 (unanimous).
  • Approved one‑year contract extension for ITL for the 2026–2027 academic year.
  • Approved second annual renewal of contract with Evident Change for 2026–2027.
  • Approved the revised annual school performance report format, with a request to add a comparative scorecard page.
  • Approved the annual financial scorecard report from ML Tharp.
  • Welcomed new committee member Dr. Tyana Davis.
  • The meeting adjourned after a motion by Zayna and second by Dr. Davis.

Meeting Transcript

I'd like to call the order the charter school review committee meeting for Thursday, March 26th at 5 p.m. And I'll start with the roll call with myself as chair. Bill Christensen. Here. Oh, Dr. Chair Terry Brookshire. Yeah. Okay. Tracy Sparrow. And Tyana Davis. Hopefully we'll join us later. Okay. Second item on the agenda. Review and approval of the minutes from November 3rd, 2025. Have you had a chance to review the minutes? And if so, I will entertain a motion to accept the minutes from November 3rd, 2025. This is a bill, I'll make that motion. Is there a second? Um any questions or comments on the minutes. Seeing none, I'll move for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Okay, the minutes have been accepted. Next item on the agenda is communication related to the administrative matters of the Charter School Review Committee for 2025-2027 school year. Sponsored by the chair. And those items for discussion will include will be limited to the following. A vote may be taken either on either of these items. The first item we're going to discuss is the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, one-year contract renewal. Gail. Okay, thank you. I'm gonna pass it along to the director of the Institute of the Transformation of Learning, and she's just going to um briefly share with you ITL and the services that we offer and what we've been doing lately. Thank you. Thank you, Judith. Hey everybody. Um Judith Romless here for those I have had not had the opportunity to meet. Um hi, hello. Um enjoying this wonderful Thursday. Um enjoying your background of the nice wonderful be setting. Um just wanted to kind of just send my greetings to you guys. But um again, Judith Romulus with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, and um I'm the director. And the institute for the past, I don't know, 20 something plus years have been providing the administrative oversight uh for the uh CRSC. Um pretty much we do a lot of the stuff from administration to serving as a liaison to the financial pieces in terms of matching the budget and just overall really anything that you can think of that would require for us to be a functioning uh organization. So we do all the administrative pieces. One of the things that we try to do every year is we try to um almost uh not almost, we actually try to find a way in which we can complement the work that RuPas and Dr. Baylor is kind of already doing. Uh this year, last year, for example, we did something with uh providing the schools with some stakeholder engagement training where we work with our student uh schools to learn how to work with their parents, learn how to work with local business leaders, engage their aldermanic automatic people. The whole idea is that it takes more than just the people inside your school to make your school successful. You really need the whole community working with you to advance your missions of your school. So we provide a lot of focus work on that.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com