Dear Immersion School Families,

We continue to be grateful for the unique opportunities your schools provide to our students and the Milwaukee community.

Milwaukee Public Schools loses more students in the transition from 5th to 6th grade than almost any other point. Recognizing this, and the need to look at grade reconfiguration as noted in the district’s Long-Range Facilities Master Plan, we offered K–5 elementary schools with physical space the opportunity to add 6th grade as early as this fall (September 2026). Schools without physical space still had the opportunity to consider this move for the future.

Additionally, Milwaukee Public Schools has transitioned to a centralized budgeting model and has established a standard of care to address class size throughout our school system. These changes have impacted staffing and have led to many questions. Given the strong pipeline from immersion elementary schools to Milwaukee School of Languages, we know this discussion is of interest to you.

Please join us for a meeting on May 18 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Milwaukee School of Languages, 8400 W. Burleigh St., with principals, academic superintendents, and our multilingual team. During this meeting, we will address: the option for a 6th grade expansion, the standard of care staffing model, and the projected enrollment process. We will also discuss the possibility of establishing an Immersion working group to guide our Immersion programs districtwide.

Thank you for all you do to support students and schools.

Sincerely,

Aaron Shapiro

Academic Superintendent