District 1
Michelle Robinson McKissack of the Shelby County Board of Education has served on the Board since 2018. McKissack is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with a passion for helping children and supporting public education.
McKissack is the former editor of “Memphis Parent” magazine where she provided parents with guidance through articles and the tools to promote healthy families. But many local TV news viewers know her as, “Michelle Robinson, the news lady.” She worked for years in Memphis as a news anchor and reporter at ABC 24, News Channel 3, and even began her broadcast career as an intern at Action News 5.
McKissack has also worked as a reporter in Washington, D. C., and Chicago, covering events such as the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention nominating Barack Obama, who became the first African American U.S. president.
Born and raised in Memphis, McKissack attended Campus School, then White Station Middle/High School, graduating in 1987. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
She married her college sweetheart, John P. McKissack, and they have four children. Her only daughter and youngest child, Bliss, is in the second grade at Downtown Elementary, where all of her children attended their neighborhood school. Her sons, Peter and Everett, are in 10th and 11th grades, respectively, at White Station High School. Her eldest son, John, attends Yale University after graduating from White Station.
McKissack enthusiastically served in roles as a room parent, PTA president, and on the leadership councils at her children’s schools. She is especially proud of two programs she helped establish at Downtown Elementary—the annual Turkey Trot hosted at AutoZone Park and the Heart 4 Art fundraiser, which have both raised thousands of dollars for art programs and technology improvements at the school.
McKissack has also worked to design the school of the 21st century with the XQ Project and served as a founding board member of Crosstown High School, which opened in August 2018. Over a three-year period to create Crosstown, she helped to develop the curriculum and hire school leaders.
In August 2024, the Unified Boards Alliance (UBA) appointed Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board Member McKissack to its national board.
UBA falls under the umbrella of the Consortium of State School Boards Associations (COSSBA), the new national school boards organization, of which the Tennessee School Boards Association is affiliated. The organization serves thousands of school districts by empowering their school boards through training, resources, and networking.
McKissack, who represents MSCS' District 1, has also served in education at the state level. She was appointed to several advisory councils including the inaugural Tennessee Board of Education Parent Advisory Council while representing Shelby County Schools in 2016-2017. McKissack has been a constant voice for educators, students and their parents and will continue to do so in her new role.
