MMSD talks Forbes Feature: Honoring Experience and New Perspectives

At Glenn Stephens Elementary, Carrie Turner knows how to bring calm to a room full of kindergarteners. She’s firm but gentle and meets kids at their level–literally.

“I just love the little ones. They come in and they’re just excited to be here,” Turner said. “They’re so eager to learn and they’re just like little sponges.”

Turner has been a teacher since 1994, and her entire career has been with the Madison Metropolitan School District. Since she began student teaching at Lapham, Turner was encouraged early on by the collaborative culture at the district.

“I learned a lot from the people in the building, and there were many veteran teachers that had been with the district 25, 30, 30-plus years,” Turner said. “I could just tell that there were a lot of really good things going on that I wanted to be a part of.”

Turner said it’s these relationships, with other staff and students’ families, along with competitive pay, health benefits and the work-life balance she needed to raise her own family that have kept her around year after year.

So when she learned MMSD was named to Forbes’ 2026 list of America’s Best Employers by State, among 75 chosen in Wisconsin, the recognition made sense.

“It makes me pretty proud to be part of this district,” Turner said. “Every district has some struggles at times, but I think we're doing a lot of things right and we keep striving to do better.”

She credits MMSD for tackling head-on the turnover challenges and teacher shortages experienced by schools nationwide. In recent years, MMSD has made significant progress in employee retention, seeing turnover decline among teachers, supportive education employees, food service workers, and bilingual resource specialists.

Recent salary enhancement, substitute bonus programs and a streamlined hiring process – which also focuses on building a representative staff–have not gone unnoticed.

“Especially compared to the areas around here and other teachers that I know that are in other districts, it's still pretty competitive,” Turner said. “So I think it's lived up to its reputation.’

MMSD’s commitment to continuous improvement and fostering belonging is part of what drew new third-grade teacher Julia Bado to the district. 

“When I was a student, we would talk about different representations, we would talk about speaking a different language, but there weren't any actual people in the room or peers that could be like, ‘yeah, me’. You know, ‘I'm here,” Bado explained. “MMSD is a great place to be able to actually see the things that you're wanting students to learn, wanting students to participate in.”

Bado has been on the job at Van Hise Elementary for just a few weeks but already she understands the Forbes recognition serves to keep pushing MMSD forward.

“I'm honored. I'm really happy to be here. However, with every star accolade, there's always work to do,” Bado said. “There will always be ways to improve. I think that's what MMSD knows as well.”

Bado admits that work isn’t always easy, especially as a newcomer.

“It is very, very challenging for sure,” she shared. “Just getting your own self in order and feeling like you're ready for the next day. Let alone getting 21 other students ready for the next day.”

What’s helped her through is the support she received from MMSD at every level. Teachers willing to share resources, open lines of communication for questions, and a great experience student teaching at MMSD are all helping Bado find her stride.

“From my perspective, coming into MMSD, the common thread between the orientation, between my principal, between each layer of admin was very much like there are people here who want to help you,” Bado said. “There are people here to support you. Just ask.”

That sense of community support isn’t limited to educators or school staff. 

In the district’s Purchasing, Budget, Planning and Accounting department, Suzanne Nicholson-Fiske is entering her 42 year at the Doyle Administration Building. Since 1984, she too has felt the support of fellow employees and leaned into growth opportunities.

“Our department always got along well,” Nicholson-Fiske said. “If you made a mistake, you weren’t condemned for it or anything. Just ‘okay, let’s see how we can fix it,’ you know.”

Nicholson-Fiske’s connection to the district also extends beyond her own employment. Both her mom and sister taught at MMSD, her children attended district schools, and now so do her grandchildren.

While she didn’t catch the teaching bug from her mom, like her sister, Nicholson-Fiske agreed MMSD was the place to be. 

Back when jobs weren’t posted online, Nicholson-Fiske would spend her lunch break, from her downtown job, checking the corkboard at Doyle for job postings until she landed one in purchasing.

For Nicholson-Fiske, the Forbes recognition is just another point of pride to help others understand what makes MMSD special and why she’s chosen to stick around.

“People just couldn't figure out why I would last so long. I said, ‘Well, I like the variety’, she shared. “There's always something new to learn.”

She said that despite the constant change and technological advancements, she has been able to keep up because MMSD made sure there were tools and good leadership in place to support her development.

To help empower employees to grow in their career of choice, MMSD invests in programs geared towards leadership, educator development and more. Opportunities for professional learning and advancement are intentional at MMSD.

The district also offers a broad range of career pathways spanning education, student services, health care, transportation, finance, facilities, and technology.

MMSD was one of only two school districts in Wisconsin to earn a spot on the 2026 Forbes list.