Jani Koester has been the Lead TEP Resource Teacher in the Madison Transition Education Program (TEP) since March of 1989, before that she was a Special Education Teacher for 7 years. As an educator of children and youth for over 39 years, she has spent the last 32 years as a TEP team member implementing McKinney-Vento and supporting families experiencing homelessness in the Madison Schools. She actively supports Madison’s 4K – 12 programs. Jani is also an active participant in the community through chairing the Early Childhood Homeless Workgroup (0-5 year-olds) along with co-facilitating the Doubled Up Workgroup. She is an active member of the local CoC, providing leadership through board participating and supporting committees through co-chairing and participating. She is an active advocate within and outside the district providing community awareness/education whenever possible.
One of her favorite projects is the “Who We Are” program that provides students and families experiencing homelessness an opportunity to share their voices. This is a collaborative program with the UW Greater Madison Writing Project and occurs once a year on the UW campus. Their voices, stories and words are written down and shared throughout our community to help build awareness and support.
Jani is supported by a spouse of 32 years and her 2 daughters. Her oldest daughter is a recent graduate from Northland College in Ashland, Wi and the other is currently a Sophomore at Ripon College in Ripon, WI.