On May Day, MPS students highlight Palestine, school meals and school police

While University of Wisconsin-Madison students were getting arrested Wednesday morning on their campus as they called on the university to cut ties with Israel, Milwaukee high school students took up the call outside the Milwaukee Public Schools central office.

The Milwaukee students, who were picketing for May Day with Youth Empowered in the Struggle, held a “Free Palestine” banner in the center of a display of their demands, which also included better school lunches and police-free schools.

Youth Empowered in the Struggle is the youth arm of Voces de La Frontera, an advocacy organization for the rights of immigrants and workers, which also called attention to the war in Gaza on Wednesday in its annual march on the international labor holiday of May Day.

Several students said Gaza was the top concern on their minds: "If we don’t say anything about it, who will?" asked Analicia Tovar, a 17-year-old Hamilton High School student.

Hamilton student Serenity Thomas, 17, called for Milwaukee to cut ties with Israeli national water company Mekerot, echoing other organizations that have brought the demand to the Milwaukee Water Council . The council lists Mekerot as a collaborator but said it's not invested in the company.

Students also highlighted their ongoing campaign for higher-quality school meals , which they've been seeking for over two years. They have called for fresh meals cooked in their schools, more options and accommodations for religious practices, larger portions, higher wages for cafeteria workers and regular meetings with board members and administrators about the issue.

YES students enter third year of campaign for 'school lunch justice'

Students launched their "school lunch justice" campaign in March 2022, after many schools had lost their production kitchens since the pandemic began.

More: How school cafeterias can shape student mental health, and what Wisconsin is doing about it

Before the pandemic, more than 60 MPS schools had production kitchens, according to Omer Abdullah, director of school nutrition services for MPS. Then, schools closed, the district lost staff and supply chains broke. With 250 vacant staff positions, the district relied heavily on packaged meals. At the end of the 2020-21 school year, the district had only 21 production kitchens, Abdullah said.

In the last school year, Abdullah said, the district has worked to hire more staff, reducing the number of vacant food services positions to 150 as of February. The district also relies on a staffing service, Goodwill TalentBridge, to temporarily fill most of those vacancies.

Abudullah's goal was to have 50 production kitchens restored by the end of this school year. As of Wednesday, there were 42 kitchens open, and the district was on track to have 54 by May 6, said MPS Communications Director Nicole Armendariz. MPS is using a chunk of its federal pandemic relief aid for equipment for the kitchens.

Students called on MPS to increase pay and benefits for food service workers, which they say would help the district retain more staff.

“I’d like to give an honorable shout-out to kitchen staff for showing up to school every day no matter the weather," Hamilton student Yazmari Perez, 17, said in a speech Wednesday. "Thank you for providing us with food to fuel our bodies, and saying good morning to us every day even if your morning hasn’t been the best.”

Students call for police-free schools, while MPS stalls on state requirement to return police to schools

Students on Wednesday also called on MPS to "keep police out" of its schools.

A state law passed in June 2023 required MPS and the Milwaukee Police Department to sign a contract to place 25 police officers at MPS by Jan. 1, 2024, though lawmakers did not provide funding for those officers.

Since that deadline passed, officials have said they're working on a plan but one has not been presented to the Milwaukee School Board for approval.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com . Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: On May Day, MPS students highlight Palestine, school meals and school police