OK, so there wasn't really a line at all. But I'm proud to say I was the first to enroll our youngest child at our eldest child's MPS school this morning. The district's three-choice enrollment period for the upcoming school year begins today and runs through Jan. 27.
I understand that not all schools are created equal and the fact that we're eager to enroll our child in an MPS school is due in large part to the fact that we were lucky enough to get a spot a few years ago in one of the district's best.
However, even the best MPS schools face challenges in terms of funding and other issues. So, I believe that we public school parents are all on the same ship. And our kids are on that boat because we believe in public schools and we believe that we can only be part of the solution – part of working to make our schools equal – by being on board.
Until you're a part of the district – until you get to know the faces and see a school first-hand on a daily basis – it is difficult to fully appreciate its successes and its challenges.
That our kids are in MPS fuels my concern not just for our school but for the entire district. And that means for kids in all schools. We serve our school as volunteers and in other ways, but we support other programs, too.
We attend fundraisers, we give to projects via Donors Choose, we advocate, we sign petitions.
We could likely find the money to send our kids to a private school. Many at our economic level do. But our school is diverse – racially, economically, linguistically, culturally – in the true sense of the word. It is a reflection of the world in which we live, not a padded escape from it, and there's more to an education than math and reading, though our program does quite well in those areas, too.
I am confident that my kids will do well in MPS because I won't have it any other way. I will fight to make sure they get the best teachers and that they get the resources they need. They will get a good education.
In exchange for my demands on the district, I will send my kids to school ready to learn and I will ensure that the learning continues after the bell rings. They will arrive rested and prepared.
And we will do our part as parents to work within the four walls of the school. Because while the district holds the deed to the real estate, the school is ours.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
