In Memoriam

Susan Klaw was an award-winning adult educator, who welcomed
immigrants in English classes and programs she built from the
ground up, including the Family School in East Boston. In 2011 she
joined English for New Bostonians (ENB) to develop a curriculum
that would be customized to helping parents learn English and
have a voice in their children’s education. The result was Susan’s
21-unit ESOL for Parents and Caregivers Curriculum. (click to view)
Currently, the curriculum is used in ENB program sites as well as
other adult English learning programs across Boston and other cities and towns in Massachusetts and the U.S.Susan’s classes and the teacher cohort meetings she ran were lively and engaging, serving as a showcase for ENB, with the only challenge being that people never wanted to leave.
  She kept the Curriculum up-to-date with changing Boston Public School policies, emerging education and health information, and new guidance on smart phones, TV
and screen time.
  Immigrant parents in Susan’s classes practiced and went prepared to School Site Council meetings and Parent/Teacher Conferences, often for the first time being able
to communicate with their children’s teachers in English without a translator. She gave outsized attention to parents whose children had special needs, empowering them not only to navigate the complexities of school services but to take their children—sometimes with significant disabilities--on a boat to the Harbor Islands, to the Children’s Museum and to a holiday performance of The Nutcracker. Her students’ children went to summer camp; they also went on to college and the State House.

  Susan delivered extensive training locally and nationally on Family Literacy and has been named “Literacy Champion” by the Massachusetts Literacy Foundation, Parent Educator of the Year by the Children’s Trust Fund, and Adult Educator of the Year by
the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education. At ENB’s 20th Anniversary Raising our Voices Gala, Susan was presented by ENB and Councilor Julia Mejia on behalf of the City of Boston with the “Parent Education Visionary Award.” 
Click here to view the short obituary and memorial service information posted by her family.