Michelle Robinson Mckissack

Michelle Robinson McKissack is the Board Chair of the Shelby County School Board of Education, and has served on the Board since 2018. Chair McKissack is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with a passion for helping children and supporting public education. Michelle 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 recall 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. Michelle 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, Michelle attended Campus School, then White Station Middle/High School, graduating in 1987. She received bachelor and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

Michelle 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.

Michelle has enthusiastically served in roles as a room parent, PTA president, and serving 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. Michelle 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. Michelle has also served in education at the state level being appointed to several advisory councils including the inaugural Tennessee Board of Education Parent Advisory Council representing Shelby County Schools in 2016-2017. Michelle has been a constant voice for educators, students and their parents and will continue to do so in her role as a member of the Shelby County School Board.