Dr. Monica Kelsey-Brown is no stranger to Dane County. Afterall, she completed her PhD right here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education. But her educational journey starts well before she pursued an advanced degree. A graduate of Milwaukee Public School’s Bayview High School, Kelsey-Brown headed off to college to become a business major at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Unfortunately, she and accounting were not a good match and Kelsey-Brown found herself moving toward a field that was already prevalent in her family—education. Her mother and her grandmother have worked in early education for many years. Indeed, her grandmother worked as a HeadStart teacher in Mississippi for about 50 years. When visiting her she remarked that it was not unusual for people to stop her grandmother in the community and say, “Hey, Ms. Willie Mae… I had you as a teacher!” Kelsey-Brown recalls her mother as a teacher in her 1st and 2nd grade classroom.
However, after completing her degree Kelsey-Brown did not go into a K-12 classroom. Instead, she remained at UW-Whitewater where she worked with pre-college students from Milwaukee, Beloit, Racine, Kenosha, and Madison. She also served as Director of Whitewater’s McNair Scholars Program. Today, she is proud that some of the students whose lives she’s touched are now holders of earned doctorates and are entrepreneurs and education leaders.
Kelsey-Brown did make her way to K-12 education where she started in Milwaukee Public Schools as a 2nd grade teacher despite the admonition of peers to not leave higher education. But Kelsey-Brown had a vision that would allow her to rise through the ranks as a public-school leader. She went from classroom teacher to building administrator to district administrator in Milwaukee Public Schools. Afterwards, she was recruited to Brown Deer School District where she was Director of Teaching & Learning and later became Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum. When the Brown Deer Superintendent retired, Kelsey-Brown became the logical successor. During her time in Brown Deer, she led the district through the COVID-19 pandemic and raised the academic metrics for each school in the district on the state accountability report card.
Now she finds herself in Waunakee where she is the first African American to lead the district. She has ambitious goals for a district that is already regarded as high performing with expressed goals related to equity and inclusion. In fact, according to Kelsey-Brown, “When I began researching the district I saw they had explicit commitments toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.” She hopes to continue the high academic legacy but acknowledges that even the best districts have gaps—from those students who are most academically challenged to the highest performers who may not be realizing their full potential. “My goal is to grow all children,” Kelsey-Brown declares.
On July 1, 2024, Dr. Kelsey-Brown took over the reins at the Waunakee Community School District. Her specific goals include a 100-day plan that she presented to the school board. With that plan she expects to first and foremost learn how things operate in the district, learn the culture and traditions, and learn what is working and what needs improvement. She has already scheduled and/or met one-on-one with each of the building principals. She is also meeting individually with all of the central office staff. She hopes to get the district back to its pre-pandemic levels on state report cards and create a sense of belonging for all students.
Kelsey-Brown is a pragmatic leader who is aware that in addition to her goals as superintendent, she has and upcoming referendum question on the November ballot and gaining the community’s support for them is crucial. On a different note, Kelsey-Brown is mindful that one of the most important aspects of the district is the social-emotional wellbeing of her staff members. She plans to deliberately focus on self-care for her teachers and administrators. She wants to promote a work environment where the adults realize it is okay to take some time and care for themselves.
Personally, Kelsey Brown is the wife of Steven Brown whose work at Molson-Coors keeps him traveling much of the month. The Browns are the proud parents of one daughter, Alexandria who is a 2024 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Law and is currently practicing law in Milwaukee.
Although Kelsey-Brown was born and bred in Wisconsin, there are a few things folks may not know about her. She is from a large extended family—her mom is one of 13 children—and she loves flower gardening. Her latest guilty pleasure is caring for a 19-month mini bernedoodle named Angel.
The Waunakee community is excited to begin its journey with Dr. Monica Kelsey-Brown and she is primed to lead an already successful district to greater heights and academic, social, cultural, and civic excellence for all students.
