Summer is quickly winding down. One big sign: Some students are already back in the classroom.
At Messmer High School, the first bell rang just before 8 Thursday morning. Seconds later, the school's principal greeted the students with a conversation about the riots and violence in Sherman Park. A topic he says he couldn't ignore.
"It's on the forefront of my kids' mind. We have students who come to us from the Sherman Park neighborhood. To ignore it, to pretend it didn't exist, would be a disservice to them. It's part of their reality," says Principal Todd Willems.
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730 students from all over the city are attending Messmer this year. The school is part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. It gives certain parents an option of what campus their child attends.
Ready or not, students are reminded to put on their thinking caps. And for any kids walking through the halls with butterflies, school leaders say they have that subject covered.
"The best way to do it - we start on a Thursday, come back on a Friday. We kind of let everyone get their feet wet. A lot of those butterflies go away by Monday and we're in a routine by then," says Willems.
And a reminder to all drivers, be extra vigilant when driving through school zones and neighborhoods as more kids are heading back to class in the next few weeks.
