A few weeks ago we quietly launched a new Milwaukee website; one with a tight focus on pre-K-12 education in the Milwaukee area with an eye on the wider Wisconsin scene.
You've likely noticed that for the past few years we've paid more and more attention to education in Milwaukee. It's an issue that affects all of us, as parents, as neighbors, as employers, as taxpayers, as fully engaged citizens of Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
At the same time, we've realized that it's difficult to follow all of the media schools coverage and all the myriad education issues. Wouldn't it be a good idea to create a place interested folks could go to try and get a handle on this giant subject, we thought.
The result is SchoolMattersMKE.com and its Twitter and Facebook alter egos.
On the site you'll find OnMilwaukee.com's education content aggregated alongside content that does not appear on OnMilwaukee, including some press releases and a number of exclusive bloggers.
We currently have five voices – parents, teachers, principals, advocates – that are unaffiliated with OnMilwaukee and we're talking to a handful of others. SchoolMattersMKE.com is open to a variety of voices in the broad landscape of Milwaukee and Wisconsin schools.
There are links to education coverage in other Wisconsin media outlets, blogs, and school district and other websites. There's a Twitter feed to help keep the news flowing all day long. (Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to see other regular updates.)
But the key voice in all of this YOURS. If you're passionate and committed and want to blog, drop me a line.
But even if you don't want to make that commitment, read the site, comment on the stories, tell your friends, respond to the questions in the "Join the Conversation" section on the top right of the page or add your own question to get a dialogue going.
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.
