Karhi Phelps-Okoro
Voting for Kahri Phelps-Okoro, 5th District School Board Candidate, on April 4th matters and here’s why.
Phelps-Okoro believes every student should have equal access to an excellent education! As a parent of four, she had to face the tough decision of where to send her children for the best education. While there are some MPS schools excelling, MPS urgently needs redirection from the board.
As a community, we know that MPS needs to be more competitive. It was never acceptable that we as a community allowed MPS to be on the WI DPI failing schools report card year after year and still change nothing.
That is how we have lost many students to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. We have a chance to get it right this time with someone who is serious about student achievement. We cannot afford another four years of 20% literacy rate! The focus of the incumbent has not been in the interest of our future leaders or student achievement. Phelps-Okoro realizes that passing board resolutions requires follow through. She plans to expand the Black Lives Matter Curriculum, which includes culturally responsive and an accessible educational program that meets our children where they are educationally.
Phelps-Okoro knows the beginning of MPS success is ensuring all students can read by the end of the 2nd grade. It is difficult to learn after 3rd grade without first learning to read. Reading is critical for every child’s educational success. Reading ensures self-confidence and personal growth. If we as a community want to increase the graduation rate, then we need to help increase the number of children that can read, since research shows a correlation between literacy rates and incarceration rates because reading matters.
Community stop the MPS to prison pipeline, increase reading scores for students, if we want to increase to productive members of our community, then voting for Kahri Phelps-Okoro April 4th matters!
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About Kahri Phelps-Okoro: She is an entrepreneur, a MPS parent and proud MPS graduate of Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School. Phelps-Okoro currently serves as the Assistant Project Manager for Equity Supply Group; a family owned and operated business. She is sister of the Phelps brothers who own JCP Construction. Prior to serving in this capacity, Phelps-Okoro worked as a Response to Intervention reading teacher with Milwaukee Public Schools. Phelps-Okoro has years of experience serving as a K-12 Reading Specialist, school-community liaison, and financial literacy advocate.
Currently, she is on the organizing committee for the Riverwest-Harambee Credit Union.
Phelps-Okoro is a proud graduate of Concordia University (Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education, 2000); Alverno College (Compton Teacher Certification program, 2001); Concordia University of Wisconsin (Master’s degree in Reading Specialist, 2005); and lastly, Concordia University (MBA in International Business and Risk Management, 2015)
