With tensions rising over school mission MPS board transfers High School of the Arts principal

Milwaukee High School of the Arts, which has been embroiled in an existential debate over the mission and future of the school, will have a new principal in the fall.

Barry Applewhite, who has led the arts school since 2007, was removed by the Milwaukee Public Schools board on a last-minute vote Thursday. He'll be transferred to Marshall High School, and Marshall's principal, Larry Farris, will replace him at MHSA.

Efforts to reach Applewhite were not successful Friday. A Milwaukee Public Schools spokesman said it regularly reviews principal assignments and makes changes as needed "to improve student outcomes."

Parents and alumni — supporters and detractors alike — suggest Applewhite was a casualty of a bitter battle among parents, teachers, students and alumni over the balance between academic and artistic instruction at the struggling school.

About 300 current and former parents and alumni signed a letter to the board voicing concerns about Applewhite's leadership, vacancies in key arts positions and what they see as a growing effort to prioritize academics over the arts at the school. Case in point, they say, is the recent decision to limit students' access to arts instruction if they fail to perform academically.

"To these kids, art instruction is just as important as academic instruction," said Amy York, whose son transferred from the high-performing Rufus King High School specifically for the arts emphasis at MHSA.

Lori McRoy, a Whitefish Bay parent of a recent grad who has served on the school governance council, said Applewhite "has had to make difficult choices," including those needed to close a $600,000 budget gap.

"Not everyone has been happy with those choices. But he has always had the best interest of the school at heart," she said.

Milwaukee High School of the Arts features an arts-centric curriculum offering majors in creative writing, dance, theater, music and the visual arts. Students are admitted on the strength of their auditions, rather than academic performance.

Push for stronger academics

But MPS has been under intense pressure to improve academic performance at most of its schools, and the School of the Arts has failed to make the grade. It scored a "Fails to Meet Expectations" on its latest report card, with 29% of students proficient in language arts and 18% in math.

And some have suggested that the school impose a minimum academic standard for admission. 

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Parents and alumni said there has been bad blood between Applewhite and some staff and students for some time, but that tensions have spread in recent years. They said the teachers union filed a grievance against Applewhite last year — on behalf of one teacher or dozens, depending on the source — and that a petition was circulated online calling for Applewhite's dismissal.

In recent months it has morphed into a battle over the governance council — some parents see it as an arm of the administration — and dueling Facebook pages.

Friction mounted this year as key arts faculty members retired or resigned without being replaced and it was suggested that Applewhite might instead hire a science instructor.

Critics were especially perturbed about a recent tweak of the school's website. As recently as June, it had stated that students receive "at least two hours of dedicated arts instruction daily." It now says "up to two or more hours, pending the individual student's academic and artistic progress."

"Academic success is a moral imperative for any high school," McRoy said. "A goal of this school is to ensure that its students are capable of competing ... in the global marketplace. And to do that there are fundamental skills that kids and adults need to have," said McRoy. "But that does not mean it's to the exclusion of the arts."

But York and others argue that an over emphasis on academics would change the very nature of the school, causing it to overlook students who may struggle academically, but excel at painting or dance or music.

Madyun Wilson, a choreographer and former student now living in France, said he had been a poor student in his three years at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, but that the standardized tests used to measure academic performance failed to capture his artistic talent or drive.

"These do not measure true intelligence," said Wilson who left his senior year for Brookfield East, he said, because of Applewhite.

"This is an art school, and artistic education is the way we learn," Wilson said. "That is the true measure of our merit — our true talent."

Rory Linnane of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin contributed to this report.