Whither Milwaukee French Immersion School?

I have the good fortune to be able to pick up my son when his school lets out for the last couple of months.  Parents wait for their children in the auditorium.  I usually arrive a bit early and have time to observe the process.  It is uplifting to see the younger kids' eyes light up when they spy their mom or dad (or grandparent).  I am not certain that there can be more clear and unmitigated joy than that precise moment.  Witnessing it privileges me.

As lovely as the excitement of kids meeting their parents is, I write this post for another reason.  Chiefly, I worry about this place that has become a sort of family for my son.  My son attends Milwaukee French Immersion School, which is part of Milwaukee Public Schools.  The staff and students are a mix of races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc.  Sitting in the auditorium and watching this group of kids smile and goof and pout is heartening.  I am, however, painfully aware that this group of students and staff is all too unusual in American society where segregation, intentional or not, is the norm.

I am worried because the instances of integration in American society, when they do occur, tend to occur in urban areas.  Even in a hypersegregated city like Milwaukee, a place like French Immersion School can and does exist.  There are few, if any, other places in the State of Wisconsin where a place like French Immersion School would even be a possibility let alone an actual school.  Unfortunately, the things that make Milwaukee French Immersion School possible and other opportunities for integrated experiences in urban centers are under assault from state and federal legislators.  What is truly disturbing about the assault on urban self-government is the historical antecedent.  A similar assault occurred in Austria in the 1930's, pitting the left-leaning urban center of Vienna against the right-leaning central government.  As historian Timothy Snyder notes,

The central government (controlled by conservative Christian parties) lined its artillery pieces up on the hills above Vienna and set about quite literally shelling socialism:  firing down upon the Karl-Marx-Hof and all those other nice working class Hofs, with their kindergartens, their daycare centers, swimming pools, shops and so on--municipal planning in action and despised for just that reason.

 Judt, T. with Snyder, T.  Thinking the Twentieth Century. Penguin, 2012, p. 30.

It is difficult not to note how this parallels the struggle going on the U.S. between urban centers and the rest of the country.  The City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin are good examples.  Milwaukee has enacted municipal regulations designed to benefit residents such as mandatory paid sick leave for employees of employers located in the city limits.  The measures are favored by a majority of residents and liberal politicians.  The regulations are opposed by businesses and conservative politicians, almost none of whom represent the city.  Rather than allow the city the privilege of self-governance, the conservative controlled state legislature passes state laws prohibiting municipalities like Milwaukee from enacting local laws to which conservative state legislators are opposed, such as mandatory paid sick leave.  Similarly, conservative legislators have attempted to wrest local control from local school boards such as Milwaukee Public Schools to push school districts to adopt policies conservatives favor but residents do not.

I am not entirely certain from where this animus towards local control proceeds other than the fear that the policies will prove successful and thereby undermine the conservative legislative project to privatize and deregulate virtually every aspect of civic life.  Regardless, the worrisome consequence is the stark derogation of urban residents' self-determination such legislative action represents.  The exercise of state legislative authority to trump local regulation and governance is blatantly paternalistic and infantilizes municipal residents whose political will is treated without deference or respect.  Although the legislature is not lining artillery around the perimeter of the city, politically their actions gut our kindergartens and shops and effectively shell municipal planning in action.  It is as if they despise urban communities simply for having a different vision of how to achieve the good.

What this hostility toward urban places means for Milwaukee French Immersion School is not yet certain.  Nevertheless, the historical antecedents for rural antipathy toward urban centers is disturbing.  Historically, rural populations are driven by resentment of that which makes urban centers desirable and a misguided fear that urban centers are more powerful than they in fact are (as exemplified by the results in the recent Presidential election).  Rather than allow urban centers to flourish, examples such as Vienna of the 1930's demonstrates that persons and politicians from outside the city will do what they can to cripple urban centers.  The Milwaukee Public School District has made many strides and weathered a significant assault from conservative legislators to take over the district.  Nevertheless, the question remains, for how long can it continue to do so?  Five years hence what will another father see when he sits in the auditorium and waits to pick up his child?  I fear he will see something different and less extraordinary than the sight I see because some conservative from the countryside saw the same thing and couldn't abide it.