After nine years at Gaenslen School, I am honored to serve as Acting Principal in Charge for the 2023-24 academic year. Please call me Mr. Walker, and please come visit our new school playground and gardens, drop by an open-house event at Gaenslen or find another opportunity to check out one of Wisconsin’s most welcoming – and hardest working – school communities.

Gaenslen educates more than 600 K4 through eighth-grade students from neighborhoods across Milwaukee. Students arrive at our school each day from different zip codes and each child contributes something unique to our caring, creative school culture. For example, more than fifty percent of our students have special-education needs. For a fact, Gaenslen School has decades of experience and expertise in meeting the diverse learning needs of students who have Individualized Education Plans to address orthopedic, vision, and/or other health diagnoses. Spend a few moments reviewing our staff page to understand what a dedicated, expertly trained staff of educators, therapists, and specialists Gaenslen School provides to Milwaukee.

Something else Gaenslen School has to offer: a safe, stable, neighborhood-school atmosphere. Our accessible, recently renovated building is located in a quiet corner of Riverwest but we’re in the heart of everything:

• Redesigned and restocked, our Barb Campbell Media and Technology Center (what we used to call a school library) features furniture, learning tools, and breakout spaces that draw from our state’s Indigenous cultures, and help students make learning connections to Wisconsin’s northern woods and precious waterways.
• Our heated, all abilities pool – including a wheelchair ramp – reopens in 2024, and will be a hub of athletic activity for athletes of all ages and abilities.
• Gaenslen School’s Project Lead The Way laboratory is an epicenter of STEM education and new learning technologies that give every student an opportunity to explore engineering careers.
• Yes, we provide affordable after-school programming that prioritizes academic enrichment, structure, fun and friendship.

Gaenslen School is here for Milwaukee, and we’re here for our Riverwest community. When you’re thinking about a walkable, welcoming school community that educates and inspires all children, please think about Gaenslen School. We do great things here and we want you to be a part of it.

Sincerely,

Richard Walker, APIC