Assata High School, a Milwaukee school serving students at risk of not graduating, plans to close permanently on November 30, 2026, after 34 years in operation. The school sits at 35th Street and Courtland Avenue on the city's north side, and its principal says the decision came down to enrollment numbers that simply would not hold.
Principal Carlotta Pritchett attributed the closure to declining enrollment, including the school falling short of the required third-Friday enrollment count, according to WISN. In her letter, Pritchett said declining enrollment had made it increasingly difficult to sustain the education and support students deserve, and that the decision to close was made after careful consideration and extensive discussion.
That third-Friday count is not an arbitrary benchmark. Wisconsin public school districts are required to count pupils for membership purposes on the third Friday in September and the second Friday in January, then report that data to the state, per the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Helping Families Navigate the Transition
The station's report notes the school will work with families to find new schools for its students, offering guidance on choosing a school, completing transfer procedures, and obtaining necessary records. Assata will host both in-person and virtual information sessions to walk families through the process, per the same account.
One in-person session was scheduled for November 10 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the school, a date that had already passed by the time the closure was publicly reported. A second in-person session is set for November 17, from 1 to 3 p.m., also at Assata, and the school says it will announce additional virtual session dates soon. Families with questions can reach Pritchett at 414-345-6113.
A Shrinking School in a Shrinking District
Assata's roughly 78 students represent a steep decline. Public School Review reports the school's population has dropped 23% over five school years, and that its student-teacher ratio of 26:1 is far higher than the Wisconsin state level of 13:1, though the site does not specify the exact period its enrollment figures cover.
The slide is not unique to Assata. Traditional Milwaukee Public Schools enrollment fell by a third between 2006 and 2024, even as charter school enrollment more than doubled and private school choice participation climbed 90% over the same span, according to WUWM. The outlet also reported that Milwaukee's population under age 18 has dropped 27%, a decline tied to falling birth rates and net migration out of the city.
No District-Wide Closure List Yet
Assata's closure comes as Milwaukee Public Schools works through a separate, broader review of its building footprint. As of November 3, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said no school had been officially slated for closure, according to Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. A district tool had sorted 26 of 134 measured schools into a closure-or-merger category, though that number shrank to just three schools when the measure was narrowed to those operating below 30% of capacity, the nonprofit newsroom reported. Nothing in that reporting ties Assata to the district's ongoing closure-planning process; Assata's shutdown appears to be a separate decision announced directly by its principal.
School closures tied to enrollment declines have surfaced elsewhere in the country as districts grapple with similar demographic pressures, though the specifics of those cases vary widely from Assata's situation. For now, Milwaukee families connected to Assata are left navigating a short window before the school's doors close for good at the end of the month.
