Stern is an assistant professor with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies. ​He is a historian of education and the author of a 2018 book titled, “Race and Education in New Orleans: Creating the Segregated City, 1764-1960.”

WUWM’s report gives background on the Chapter 220 program, which fostered some integration in certain schools, but didn’t change racial balance in Milwaukee.

The report notes that while integrated schools benefit both black and white students, Milwaukee’s city and metro area schools are as segregated today as they were in the 1960s.

Stern suggests to WUWM that many have lost hope in desegregation because the resistance to desegregation was so great. He explains that this leads to “more emphasis on living with segregated schools and communities and trying to promote equity within those settings.”

Read the entire WUWM report here.