Golda Meir

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The Golda Meir School for gifted and talented students is a Milwaukee Public Schools district elementary, middle, and high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school offers classes for students in grades three through eleven. It was renamed in honor of Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, who attended the institution from 1906 to 1912. There are two campuses: the lower campus and the upper campus. The lower campus building is a National Historic Landmark, designated in 1990 for its association with Meir.DescriptionSituated next to the historic Schlitz Brewing Complex of the same era, the Fourth Street School, now the Meir School lower campus, was designed in 1889 by noted Milwaukee architect Henry C. Koch in Romanesque Revival style. It was completed by 1890 and opened its doors on September 2, 1890.H-shaped in plan, the school building has four stories (basement included) and contains 16 classrooms along with an auditorium. A single story heating plant was added in 1915, with a fuel room to follow in 1937. Fire escapes and enclosure of the stairways brought the building up to code in 1957. Renovation of the interior and exterior took place in 1976, during which a cafeteria was added.Golda Meir had three classrooms in grade 3, grade 4, and grade 5. That left it with only enough room for one class in grade 6, grade 7, and grade 8. As a result, there were about 90 students in each of the elementary grades but only 30 students in each of the middle school grades. The 60 other students had to go to school somewhere else after grade 5. In 2011, parents asked the school board to allow grade 6 though 8 to move into the closed Milwaukee Education Center middle school, which is adjacent to Golda Meir's property. The building previously housed the Malt House of the long-closed Schlitz Brewery. The expansion has allowed all of Golda Meir's students to remain in the school. Golda Meir added grade 9 in 2014 and will continue to add grades until the Schlitz building has a high school population of 600 students.