At least one of two Wisconsin National Teachers of the Year from Milwaukee Public Schools is currently in Washington, D.C., where she visited the White House with other Teachers of the Year from around the country and met President Joe Biden.
A total of five teachers from Wisconsin were honored this year, including with Susan Richardson, who teaches third grade at Milwaukee German Immersion School, and Koren Jackson, a special ed teacher at Milwaukee’s Transition High School.
Richardson made the trip to the nation’s capital, where she is spending a week as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden, who is also a teacher.
She visited the White House and was photographed with her colleagues. She also took a selfie with the President.
An MPS spokesman was unsure if Jackson made the trip to Washington.
“This week I am carrying with me our students in Wisconsin, who continue to relentlessly show up every day through the pandemic,” says Richardson. “Students who missed their classmates and are eager to learn.
“I carry with me the teachers in Wisconsin, who are tirelessly making miracles happen during a time that feels like the work never ends, when the needs of our students extend beyond the classroom. When I’m especially proud to be carrying with me the staff at Milwaukee German Immersion School. Our whole MPS community is incredible and I am honored to be representing our state and my district which is full of passionate teachers.”
The state’s honorees were selected by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and were announced in September by State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor.
Richardson earned a degree in German from Kenosha’s Carthage College and completed an ESL certification at Seattle University before heading to Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where she taught for seven years. She also taught at the Volkshochschule Landkreis Neumarkt, in Bavaria.
After returning to Milwaukee, she studied at Mount Mary University and earned a Master’s in German language, linguistics and literature.
Jackson, earned a degree in physical education and health at Carroll College and was certified in special education at UWM. She earned her Master’s in curriculum and instruction from Concordia University, where she also earned an alternative education certificate.
She’s been teaching in MPS since 1999.
Congratulations to Richardson, Jackson and all the 2021 Teachers of the Year.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
