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Parents and staff tell MPS committee Fratney school is losing teachers and needs leadership change
Summary
Multiple parents and staff told the MPS finance committee that Fratney school has experienced a large staff exodus tied to leadership culture; commenters said roughly a dozen teachers are leaving this year and urged the board to reassign school leadership and pursue restorative supports.
Several parents and staff who spoke during the consent‑agenda public comment period urged the Committee on Finance and Operations to address what they described as a leadership crisis at Fratney, a bilingual neighborhood school in Milwaukee.
Ann Mansfield, who said she taught at Fratney for 26 years, told the committee she retired after a deteriorating culture and said “we have had 40 staff members leave in the last four years.” She asked the board to read documents staff and families submitted and to help “find a way forward.”
Antimo, a community speaker, focused on the fiscal and instructional consequences of losing experienced educators, saying the departures — “12 excellent educators” in the current year, he said — cost the district in recruiting and training and erode institutional knowledge. “Our staff deserves a leadership that fosters a climate of respect and appreciation,” he said.
Parent Sarah Vanderhagen described choosing Fratney for its anti‑racist, bilingual program and said recent departures and a “high control environment” threaten the school’s mission. The written statement submitted on behalf of Rebecca Null (read aloud by another parent) expressed solidarity with the teachers and asked for restorative processes to rebuild the school’s culture. Julie Kersting, the school’s library media specialist, said restorative practices are “lauded on our social media page” but not practiced in the building and described micromanagement and constrained staff input.
Board members acknowledged the concerns and reminded public commenters that personnel issues involving named individuals may require closed‑session discussion and due‑process safeguards; Director Zomber asked administration for a recruitment update, which administration provided later in the meeting, noting ongoing staffing cycles and an anticipated approximately 200 vacancies on July 1. The board did not take immediate personnel action on the basis of the public comments during this meeting but thanked speakers and acknowledged that the Fratney community had been heard.
