Meagan Hahn watched her third-grade son walk through the school doors alongside eager classmates high-fiving their new principal. Then she stepped back into the crowd of parents and marveled at how everything worked out for the school their families love.
Over a year ago, the Wauwatosa School Board decided not to renew the Wauwatosa STEM, or WSTEM, charter contract. The idea was to introduce STEM curricula to all district schools, instead of having just one school specializing in it. That meant closing down WSTEM, which shared a building with Wilson Elementary, a Wauwatosa School District school.
Families, including Hahn’s, wondered whether they could preserve the special culture they and their children had become attached to at the specialized school. Specifically, they explored the possibility of creating an independent public charter school in another location.
In January 2026, parents involved in the school’s governance council announced that WSTEM would be authorized by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside as an independent charter school in fall 2026.
That set off a flurry of steps over the next nine months that became an education of its own for those behind the effort. Parent leaders hosted meetings, hired staff and figured out how to lease, furnish and organize space in a Milwaukee County Research Park building on Innovation Drive. They recruited families – those already in the WSTEM community and newcomers – to send their children the new iteration of the school. Many former WSTEM faculty agreed to teach at the new school.
All that led to the morning of September 1, when 173 students – including some from outside the Wauwatosa School District – began the school year in the new, independent charter school. The new WSTEM school serves students in 4K to 7th grade with plans to expand to 8th grade next year.
Students like Hahn’s son got a front row seat to their parents’ commitment.
“For them to know that the community worked so hard to save their school and build something new, I think it really helps validate for them how important school is, and how important education is,” Hahn said.
The inside of the school buzzed with all the first-day excitement. An art teacher prepared flower vases for a drawing activity. In a large classroom, sixth and seventh grade students began a science experiment on one side of a tall room partition. On the other side, fourth and fifth graders circled up in discussion groups. A teacher posed a question about the process to run for president.
It’s this lively, collaborative environment that families wanted to hold onto when WSTEM was in danger of closing. Kids from different grade levels work together. Hands-on science projects are a typical. Parents get heavily involved in the school through volunteering on its governance council and by running day-long engineering competitions or field trips a couple times a year.
Principal Sachin Pandya himself is a newcomer to the WSTEM community, but he has a vision for the school’s goals: adapting to student needs, following their interests, and supporting a wide range of learners.
“We can meet students where they are, rather than forcing them to meet what the school asks,” Pandya said.
That’s what drew Sherika Motley to send her daughter Skylar Motley, 11, to the new school for 6th grade.
“It’s a different take on school, it’s not traditional,” Sherika Motley said.
Back in 2025 when WSTEM’s future was up for debate, some folks in the community supported the idea to close down the school to not draw away resources from the Wauwatosa School District.
If people in the community still have those thoughts as the school reopening under a new charter authorizer, Libby Woodard, governance council president, doesn’t see it that way. Under the new charter, kids from across Wisconsin are able to apply to come to the school.
Woodard has also heard from residents who wonder how this would affect their property taxes. The short answer is, it won’t, she said. Funding for this type of charter comes from state generated revenue, not the local levy, according to Woodard.
Decades ago, it may have been strange to find a school in Milwaukee County’s Research Park. But the school now fits right in with plans to revive the office-heavy area into a mixed-use district. More residential developments and pedestrian-friendly additions are planned for the area.
Students will be able to visit the nearby Wisconsin Avenue Park, which has been transformed into an 18-acre universally accessible park, according to Ben Cady, the WSTEM physical education teacher.
Even in his field, Cady is looking forward to having the students try new things. Maybe they’ll try miniature golf while studying angles in geometry. He has plans to incorporate yoga and frisbee golf too.