Rebecca Abraham:
Milwaukee's First Filipino Principal
Milwaukee's First Filipino Principal
By Heidi M. Pascual
No mountain is too high for Abraham.
Rebecca Abraham is easily recognizable, even in a huge crowd of Filipino Americans in Wisconsin. She has a
certain presence that exudes confidence, authority and tons of experience. For good reason. She just retired as
school principal, after 37 ½ years in the Milwaukee Public Schools, and holds the unofficial honor of being
Milwaukee Public Schools’ "First Filipino Principal."
In her family, Abraham has always been "first" — first child, first in her class at the National Teachers' College,
and first to seek her fortune in the U.S.
"I was the pioneer in our family," Abraham said in an interview with Asian Wisconzine. "I was the first one
among cousins, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters in the Abraham and Molina clans who came to the United
States." She was quick to add that being the eldest of six children of a widowed mother, it was necessary for her to
leave the Philippines and work abroad to help her family survive. She was then only 20 years old. Her journey to
reach that goal was difficult initially, but her determination to succeed paid off handsomely years later.
"I sent many applications and I promised myself that I would accept the first school that would offer me a job; and
the first school that offered me a job was in Sparta, Wisconsin!" she recalled with a big laugh. "I didn't even know
where that was! I was born and raised in Manila with 15 million people, and when I went to Sparta, Wis., I was
shocked by the smallness of the city with 6,000 people and one bowling alley!"
For two years, Abraham taught 2nd grade at St. Patrick's Convent and lived with nuns in the convent, paying
minimal board and lodging. She admitted that it was a lonely place; and to combat the feeling, she volunteered
at a hospital behind her school as a receptionist and switchboard operator during off-school hours. It was the
thought that one day, she would meet her mother and siblings at the airport that really kept her going. That dream
was realized in 1975 when her mother arrived, and at the time, Abraham was already a teacher for the Milwaukee
Public School system. "My mother and I slowly petitioned all my brothers and sisters," she said and exclaimed,
"they are all here now!"
Abraham moved to Milwaukee where she earned a master's degree, taught for five years, became a reading
specialist and later a math coordinator. Soon, she was promoted to principal. "My first assignment was Garden
Homes Elementary School; it's from 4th to 6th grade," Abraham recalled, emphasizing that the school received
some national awards because of some of the programs that she initiated, such as "small class size." "That school
was at the bottom, and it became a top school." Her success was noticed right away by the superintendent, who
asked her to take over a bigger school on the south side, Lincoln Avenue Elementary School.
"It is another school where I'm known by my colleagues as someone who pushed academics. I put pressure on
the teachers to really have high expectations," she said. "The school soon earned a very high academic
achievement."
After 16 years as principal, Abraham "changed" career for a while by working in the central office's HR
Department, hiring teachers and staff in all elementary schools in Milwaukee, and coordinating the first-level
process of choosing or filling up principal vacancies. When a vacancy for principal occurred at a school located
three minutes away from her home, Abraham decided to become a principal once again. She said that Holy
Environmental School, a specialty school, would be a great place to retire from.
"Holy is one of the higher achieving schools in Milwaukee," she said proudly. "While I was there, we also
received quite a few awards for high academic achievements from State Superintendent Libby Burmaster."
Being a principal for Milwaukee Public Schools had some challenges and unforgettable moments for Abraham.
"Being a principal is very stressful," Abraham said. "I have to deal with seven bargaining boards, school safety,
discipline, budget, and test scores/academic achievement." She explained her constant focus on how to run a
safe school, how to motivate teachers so that children will achieve and continue to achieve academically, and to
make sure that she didn't breach the contract.
She likened the nature of the job to a corporation. "Imagine, if you have 700 students, you are dealing with
times two parents, and then sometimes you deal not only with parents, but also with grandparents," Abraham
observed. "Some children, usually those from low economic background, have 'absent' parents, so the
grandparents take over. Sometimes you also talk to the ex-husband or the present boyfriend. Then I have a staff of
100 in a school. The challenge is dealing with people because you are in between parents and teachers, and
teachers and the higher administration."
She also recognized the many complex problems of young students that hinder academic success. "Many of
the children that Milwaukee serves do not have as rich a background and experience as other children," Abraham
lamented. "Their problems stem from different factors: the home situation, poverty. The result: unmotivated
students, primarily due to lack of follow through at home, lack of parental support. Those are the challenges, and
yet we still have to teach them. They have to have high academic achievement. It is also a challenge to
motivate teachers so that they don't use the excuse of poverty for the children not learning."
Considering these challenges, however, Abraham felt that she succeeded as principal because she "ran three
very high achieving schools." "I had a good run in the Milwaukee Public Schools," she said.
On whether or not her being an Asian American principal posed a challenge during this "successful run,"
Abraham admitted that it did. "When I moved to the south side, there were quite a few rednecks there that time,"
she recalled. "I had to play the game. I had a White secretary, and they thought she was the principal and I was
the secretary. There was another mother who'd rather deal with the assistant principal than with me. So I had a
working relationship with the assistant principal, and told her 'If she'd rather deal with you, then deal with her, and
I'll deal with the ones that you cannot deal with.' You meet people like that. I like it when it's a direct thing,
because then I can deal with it; but when it's subtle, then I cannot tell you."
The bigger challenge she encountered in her career was her being a woman. "I think it's a bigger challenge
than my ethnicity," Abraham observed, noting that at the time she became principal, there weren't that many
women administrators. "It was just like the good old adage: the good old boys." But the 30-plus years experience
of teaching and being a principal puts her on a different level, giving her the confidence that earned her the
respect of others in the school system and the community.
Now a widow and a retiree, Abraham hasn't stopped working and helping others. She's very active in the
community as a member of the Filipino American Association of Wisconsin and the Kiwanis Club, and as a board
member of the Repertory Theater and the Revitalization Foundation for the Milwaukee River. She also volunteers
at a Ronald McDonald House and the Aurora Hospice. Recently, she was part of a medical mission to the
Philippines, with members of the Rizal-MacArthur Memorial Foundation.
Her new "dream"? To be a Peace Corps volunteer and serve as a child advocate, or to become a visiting
professor and help change the educational process in the Philippines. "I would like to offer staff development to
teachers about how to differentiate instruction in reading, how to build vocabulary, how to teach modern math,
how to manage the class size and best manage the school," Abraham revealed.
To her fellow Filipinos in America, Abaraham advises: "Don't be intimidated and don't see yourself as a second
class citizen just because you are a Filipino in a foreign land. If you have a question, ask; don't be afraid to ask.
Be resourceful. Find out where to go from people that you know. Also, integrate and assimilate. Sometimes, we
tend to just navigate with our own. But if we are going to live here, we have to be friendly; look at the good part of
the American culture, and not just transport yourself from the Philippines and remain Filipino. Be open-minded
because not all Filipino practices are good and not all American practices are bad."
No mountain is too high for Abraham.
Rebecca Abraham is easily recognizable, even in a huge crowd of Filipino Americans in Wisconsin. She has a
certain presence that exudes confidence, authority and tons of experience. For good reason. She just retired as
school principal, after 37 ½ years in the Milwaukee Public Schools, and holds the unofficial honor of being
Milwaukee Public Schools’ "First Filipino Principal."
In her family, Abraham has always been "first" — first child, first in her class at the National Teachers' College,
and first to seek her fortune in the U.S.
"I was the pioneer in our family," Abraham said in an interview with Asian Wisconzine. "I was the first one
among cousins, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters in the Abraham and Molina clans who came to the United
States." She was quick to add that being the eldest of six children of a widowed mother, it was necessary for her to
leave the Philippines and work abroad to help her family survive. She was then only 20 years old. Her journey to
reach that goal was difficult initially, but her determination to succeed paid off handsomely years later.
"I sent many applications and I promised myself that I would accept the first school that would offer me a job; and
the first school that offered me a job was in Sparta, Wisconsin!" she recalled with a big laugh. "I didn't even know
where that was! I was born and raised in Manila with 15 million people, and when I went to Sparta, Wis., I was
shocked by the smallness of the city with 6,000 people and one bowling alley!"
For two years, Abraham taught 2nd grade at St. Patrick's Convent and lived with nuns in the convent, paying
minimal board and lodging. She admitted that it was a lonely place; and to combat the feeling, she volunteered
at a hospital behind her school as a receptionist and switchboard operator during off-school hours. It was the
thought that one day, she would meet her mother and siblings at the airport that really kept her going. That dream
was realized in 1975 when her mother arrived, and at the time, Abraham was already a teacher for the Milwaukee
Public School system. "My mother and I slowly petitioned all my brothers and sisters," she said and exclaimed,
"they are all here now!"
Abraham moved to Milwaukee where she earned a master's degree, taught for five years, became a reading
specialist and later a math coordinator. Soon, she was promoted to principal. "My first assignment was Garden
Homes Elementary School; it's from 4th to 6th grade," Abraham recalled, emphasizing that the school received
some national awards because of some of the programs that she initiated, such as "small class size." "That school
was at the bottom, and it became a top school." Her success was noticed right away by the superintendent, who
asked her to take over a bigger school on the south side, Lincoln Avenue Elementary School.
"It is another school where I'm known by my colleagues as someone who pushed academics. I put pressure on
the teachers to really have high expectations," she said. "The school soon earned a very high academic
achievement."
After 16 years as principal, Abraham "changed" career for a while by working in the central office's HR
Department, hiring teachers and staff in all elementary schools in Milwaukee, and coordinating the first-level
process of choosing or filling up principal vacancies. When a vacancy for principal occurred at a school located
three minutes away from her home, Abraham decided to become a principal once again. She said that Holy
Environmental School, a specialty school, would be a great place to retire from.
"Holy is one of the higher achieving schools in Milwaukee," she said proudly. "While I was there, we also
received quite a few awards for high academic achievements from State Superintendent Libby Burmaster."
Being a principal for Milwaukee Public Schools had some challenges and unforgettable moments for Abraham.
"Being a principal is very stressful," Abraham said. "I have to deal with seven bargaining boards, school safety,
discipline, budget, and test scores/academic achievement." She explained her constant focus on how to run a
safe school, how to motivate teachers so that children will achieve and continue to achieve academically, and to
make sure that she didn't breach the contract.
She likened the nature of the job to a corporation. "Imagine, if you have 700 students, you are dealing with
times two parents, and then sometimes you deal not only with parents, but also with grandparents," Abraham
observed. "Some children, usually those from low economic background, have 'absent' parents, so the
grandparents take over. Sometimes you also talk to the ex-husband or the present boyfriend. Then I have a staff of
100 in a school. The challenge is dealing with people because you are in between parents and teachers, and
teachers and the higher administration."
She also recognized the many complex problems of young students that hinder academic success. "Many of
the children that Milwaukee serves do not have as rich a background and experience as other children," Abraham
lamented. "Their problems stem from different factors: the home situation, poverty. The result: unmotivated
students, primarily due to lack of follow through at home, lack of parental support. Those are the challenges, and
yet we still have to teach them. They have to have high academic achievement. It is also a challenge to
motivate teachers so that they don't use the excuse of poverty for the children not learning."
Considering these challenges, however, Abraham felt that she succeeded as principal because she "ran three
very high achieving schools." "I had a good run in the Milwaukee Public Schools," she said.
On whether or not her being an Asian American principal posed a challenge during this "successful run,"
Abraham admitted that it did. "When I moved to the south side, there were quite a few rednecks there that time,"
she recalled. "I had to play the game. I had a White secretary, and they thought she was the principal and I was
the secretary. There was another mother who'd rather deal with the assistant principal than with me. So I had a
working relationship with the assistant principal, and told her 'If she'd rather deal with you, then deal with her, and
I'll deal with the ones that you cannot deal with.' You meet people like that. I like it when it's a direct thing,
because then I can deal with it; but when it's subtle, then I cannot tell you."
The bigger challenge she encountered in her career was her being a woman. "I think it's a bigger challenge
than my ethnicity," Abraham observed, noting that at the time she became principal, there weren't that many
women administrators. "It was just like the good old adage: the good old boys." But the 30-plus years experience
of teaching and being a principal puts her on a different level, giving her the confidence that earned her the
respect of others in the school system and the community.
Now a widow and a retiree, Abraham hasn't stopped working and helping others. She's very active in the
community as a member of the Filipino American Association of Wisconsin and the Kiwanis Club, and as a board
member of the Repertory Theater and the Revitalization Foundation for the Milwaukee River. She also volunteers
at a Ronald McDonald House and the Aurora Hospice. Recently, she was part of a medical mission to the
Philippines, with members of the Rizal-MacArthur Memorial Foundation.
Her new "dream"? To be a Peace Corps volunteer and serve as a child advocate, or to become a visiting
professor and help change the educational process in the Philippines. "I would like to offer staff development to
teachers about how to differentiate instruction in reading, how to build vocabulary, how to teach modern math,
how to manage the class size and best manage the school," Abraham revealed.
To her fellow Filipinos in America, Abaraham advises: "Don't be intimidated and don't see yourself as a second
class citizen just because you are a Filipino in a foreign land. If you have a question, ask; don't be afraid to ask.
Be resourceful. Find out where to go from people that you know. Also, integrate and assimilate. Sometimes, we
tend to just navigate with our own. But if we are going to live here, we have to be friendly; look at the good part of
the American culture, and not just transport yourself from the Philippines and remain Filipino. Be open-minded
because not all Filipino practices are good and not all American practices are bad."
Rebecca Abraham is a
pioneer in her family
pioneer in her family