Greenlit by city panel, Carmen charter network looks to build new school by 2026

The Carmen charter school network has received a key approval from a city panel to build a $55 million south side high school as it prepares for the possibility of losing its current space at two Milwaukee Public Schools buildings.

The school could open as early as fall 2026, when its leases with MPS are set to expire. The Milwaukee School Board is considering a resolution to not renew Carmen's leases at two of its its buildings, which are shared with MPS schools that have become overcrowded .

The project was approved Thursday by the city's Board of Zoning Appeals, clearing the way for Carmen to obtain necessary permits. After the vote, Ivan Gamboa, chair of Carmen's board of directors, said Carmen would move ahead with purchasing the property, 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave., from Wheaton Franciscan. He said Carmen hoped to begin construction early next year.

"It’s still possible to potentially open school by August of '26, but that’s if everything aligns," Gamboa said.

Leaders of the Carmen Schools of Science and Technology network have said they don't want to move their campuses out of the MPS buildings. Ideally, Gamboa said, the new building would be a new home for its South Middle School and could enroll additional high school students.

But if Milwaukee School Board members decide to non-renew the leases for Carmen's South and Southeast High Schools at the end of the 2025-26 school year, Carmen leaders plan to move those students into the new building. The Milwaukee School Board is scheduled to discuss the non-renewal idea in October.

Milwaukee School Board member Missy Zombor, who presented the idea of non-renewal , said MPS needs to make space for the growing district-run schools that operate in different rooms of the same buildings: Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA) and Pulaski High School. Both buildings are already over capacity.

Brenda Martínez, the lead teacher at ALBA, said the school has grown because there’s a high demand for the bilingual education ALBA offers from kindergarten through eighth grade. If she can expand the school, which carries a waitlist, Martínez said the school would gradually add a class to each grade level.

Pulaski, which also has a waitlist, is also short on space, staff said. The school has grown since adding an International Baccalaureate program . Administrators said they're working on building the state's only bilingual International Baccalaureate diploma program .

At the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Thursday, Alderman Scott Spiker, whose district includes the site for the new building, said the project had his enthusiastic support. He said neighbors had some concerns about traffic but were generally supportive of having a school there.

"I’m very excited Carmen’s going to be coming into this spot and livening a rather dead intersection right now with something that’s going to serve the kids and the citizens of Milwaukee," Spiker said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Greenlit by city panel, Carmen charter network looks to build new school by 2026