Milwaukee Public Schools is expanding its Spanish Immersion School into a vacant city-owned building on the city’s southwest side.
MPS will accept bids from contractors to renovate the former 88th Street School at 3575 S. 88 St. beginning March 1. MPS plans to move the immersion school’s K-4 and K-5 classes into the 88th Street building this fall, and add 1st-grade classes by the 2017-18 academic year.
The school board has budgeted $4.1 million for the expansion project over the next four years. Spanish Immersion School Principal Marybell Nieves-Harris said the majority of that money will be spent on initial renovations and supplies, including text books, this year.
K-4 through fifth-grade immersion classes are currently located at 2765 S. 55th St. There are 570 students currently enrolled. Nieves-Harris said the program has an annual waiting list of around 100 students for its K-4 program and needs room to expand.
“We hope to see an increase in enrollment of about 170 students in just the first year,” she said. “By the time the 2019 school-year rolls around, our enrollment will hopefully be close to 800 students.”
Nieves-Harris said MPS will hire four new teachers and an undetermined number of support staff members to work at the school’s new location.
The former 88th Street School housed MPS’s French Immersion School until 2004, but the French Immersion School moved to another location and the building has been vacant for the last 12 years. The renovation plans call for larger classrooms, more bathrooms and upgraded utility systems.
“We know that the demand is there and parents are very interested in Spanish and an immersion language school,” Nieves-Harris said.
MPS spokesperson Tony Tagliavia said the expansion is part of MPS’s Regional Development Plan. The plan includes a $9.5 million addition to Fernwood Montessori that broke ground in October 2015, an expansion at Maryland Avenue Montessori and an expansion of the Italian immersion program at Victory School.
