It's not all doom and gloom for schools in Milwaukee. Check out these noteworthy schools.

Looking for Milwaukee schools with positive momentum and rising prospects for accomplishing good things? Fortunately, there are places to look. The six schools spotlighted here are not the only praiseworthy schools in the city. Each has taken big steps forward in the last several years or is taking such steps now— and each of them is less than 20 years old, which makes them still fresh faces.

In only its sixth year of existence, St. Augustine Prep, a private kindergarten through 12th-grade school on South Fifth Street, has an enrollment of 1,500 students in its beautiful building. It got a five-star report card recently from the state Department of Public Instruction. A large second building is going up a few feet away. By 2027-28, the school expects to have 2,400 students.

Reagan High School, a Milwaukee public school founded two decades ago and offering an international baccalaureate curriculum, is using federal pandemic funds and private donations to undertake more than $20 million in expansion. The school opened with several hundred students and is bursting at the seams with its current enrollment of more than 1,300.

Hmong American Peace Academy, a charter school serving more than 1,800 kindergarten through 12th-grade students on the northwest side, has grown rapidly since it opened about 15 years ago. In 2021, it added a large high school addition to the former Milwaukee Public Schools building on North 84th Street that is its main facility. It recently received an unsolicited $3 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropic ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Speaking of MacKenzie Scott, she also made a $3.5 million donation to the Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, a charter school network that also has boomed over the last 15 years. Carmen has more than 2,100 kindergarten through 12th-grade students at five locations in Milwaukee.

Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy held a ceremonial groundbreaking event Nov. 15 for a new building in the Bronzeville neighborhood north of downtown. The charter high school, which had 331 students in the official count in September, is expected to grow when it moves into the new space next fall.

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School at South 18th Street and West National Avenue is in its eighth year and the third year in a beautiful new facility. With 418 students as of September, it has been operating at close to capacity in recent years.

Things all of these schools have in common: Strong leaders, clear goals, high standards, commitments to finding ways to improve, and strong senses of community.

Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Contact him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.  

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Praiseworthy schools have positive momentum