Ten quotes that stick in my head from the panel discussion of former Milwaukee Public Schools superintendents at the Law School on Monday evening:

Robert Peterkin, superintendent from 1988 to 1991: “This is a town that loves politics as a blood sport.”

Peterkin on school reform when he was in Milwaukee: “We should have done it twice as much, twice as fast, and twice as deep.” 

Howard Fuller, superintendent from 1991 to 1995:  “I was in charge, but I wasn’t in control of nothing.”

Spence Korte, superintendent from 1999 to 2002: “Everyone has a great union except for the children.”

Korte: “It’s a lot easier to take something apart than to put it together again. . . . Yeah, take it (the school system) apart, but only when you have some notion of how you’re going to put it back together again.”

Peterkin: “I had a plan for building schools since I was a teacher. . . I never got a chance to dismantle what was in the way of building my vision for running schools.”

Fuller: It makes him angry when people say poverty has to be eliminated before children can succeed in school. There are other urban districts where there is more being done, with good impact, to bring children to success in school. “Why aren’t we doing that in the city of Milwaukee? What is stopping us?”

Peterkin: “How many successful schools does it take” to believe every school can succeed? “I’m sorry, there are just too many places where kids are succeeding” to believe kids from low-income homes and difficult neighborhoods are destined to fail.   If you don’t believe kids can succeed, “why are you teaching?”

Fuller: “It is outrageous that we (Wisconsin) have the lowest fourth-grade reading scores for black children in America.” He added, “We have a rare opportunity,” given factors such as the selection of a new literacy plan for MPS, to come together as a community to deal with reading. If that happened, “it could teach us a lesson that there are actually some other things we could do together as a community.”

Peterkin:  “The time has come to let the superintendent, call him the czar or not, to let him go for broke.”

The panel discussion, which included Barbara Horton, who was acting superintendent of MPS in 1997, drew a capacity crowd of more than 175, including many who were involved in school issues when the four were superintendents, many who are involved now, and many who came just to listen. Mike Gousha, Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy at the Law School moderated the session.

The most interesting person in the audience was Gregory Thornton, the incoming superintendent of MPS. The discussion was intended to give Thornton and the public advice and perspective from those who have held the job in the past. Current Superintendent William Andrekopoulos, who retires at the end of June, and four of the nine members of the Milwaukee School Board were also there.  

There was also good coverage of the event in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and on television.  Dean Bill Henk of the College of Education blogged about the event here.

The session was co-sponsored by Michael J. Spector, Boden Visiting Professor of Law at the Law School, and the Partnership for Public Schools in Milwaukee, a new non-profit headed by former School Board President Jeanette Mitchell.

Did anything get resolved? No. Were there thoughts there that can provide valuable guidance to anyone who cares about the state of education in Milwaukee? Yes. Thornton said afterward that he was taking notes. Let’s hope lots of other people were also.