Stacie Stanley GS’13 returns to lead the district that shaped her

When a recruiter called asking if Stacie Stanley GS’13 was interested in becoming superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools, she initially declined. She was happy in her role as superintendent of Edina Public Schools. But she kept returning to St. Paul’s website to investigate different programs and efforts. Over time, and during a season marked by spiritual discernment and profound loss, Stanley felt a pull and finally applied on the night of the application deadline. 

This spring, Stanley—who earned an educational administration Ed.D. at Bethel—is beginning her new role as superintendent of Saint Paul Public Schools. She isn’t just leading Minnesota’s second-largest school district with more than 60 schools and 30,000 students—she’s returning home to the district where she grew up. “Saint Paul Public Schools taught me how to read. They taught me how to do math,” she says. “I’m on this call with you right now because of Saint Paul Public Schools.”

Stanley’s journey into education started with a life-changing moment. While subbing as an occupational therapist, she interacted with a young Black student who looked at Stanley and marveled at seeing an adult who looked like her in a teaching role. As Stanley held her arm up to the girl’s, the student asked a question that changed Stanley’s life: “Are you smart?” Stanley replied, “Of course I’m smart.” The girl took it in, and said, “You’re smart and you’re Brown.”

That night, Stanley changed her career plans. “I went home and I told my husband I was going back to school to be a teacher,” she says. After becoming a middle school math teacher—a subject she loved and where she saw a need for more representation—Stanley moved into instructional coaching and teacher leadership. From there, she became a principal, then took on district-level roles focused on curriculum, instruction, assessment, and equity. Her leadership trajectory continued to rise, eventually leading her to serve as superintendent in Edina Public Schools beginning in 2021. She joined the district during a time of transition and challenge. Over nearly four years, she focused on community healing, strategic growth, and elevating academic programming. 

Stanley loved her time in Edina and thought she would retire in the role. But something about the job in St. Paul stuck with her. Then came a season of loss. In December 2023, her second-oldest brother died of heart failure. Ten months later, her oldest brother passed away from the same cause. “I haven’t pinpointed exactly how that made a difference,” she says. “But I know in my heart that in some way, shape, or form, that made a difference.” Amid her grief, Stanley turned to her journal, her prayers, and her faith. Despite her initial pull to stay, she felt God’s plans changing. “But I always say, ‘Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but God’s purpose will prevail,’” she says. 

As she wound down her time in Edina, Edina’s mayor presented Stanley with a key to the city during their final joint State of the Community address. For Stanley, it was a confirmation that her season in Edina had run its course—and that it was time to begin a new chapter in Saint Paul. “That let me know Edina is on its way to the healing it needed at that time,” she says. 

Stanley is now leading the district that helped shape her.  “It is my family’s school,” she says. Her mother, siblings, and dozens of nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews have all been part of Saint Paul Public Schools. That legacy drives her commitment to serve every student, every educator, and every family with compassion and purpose.

Stanley steps into leadership at a critical time for Saint Paul Public Schools. Like many large districts across the country, St. Paul faces significant financial challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal COVID-era funding, known as ESSER dollars, brought nearly $200 million in temporary relief—but that support has now ended. Coupled with inflation and new state mandates, the district is navigating deep budget reductions. While she wasn’t at the helm during the budgeting process, she’s been in close contact with leaders and has begun planning for the road ahead. 

But financial stewardship is just one part of her vision. Stanley is equally focused on academic achievement, particularly literacy, which she credits as foundational to her own success. “I am about strong academic achievement,” she says. “Like I said, I’m sitting here talking to you because Saint Paul Public Schools taught me how to read. We have to make sure that all of our kids know how to read.” For Stanley, improving outcomes like literacy and graduation rates is essential to helping students thrive. She’s encouraged by recent district efforts to increase high school graduation rates, and she sees an opportunity to build on that momentum.

She also sees the work ahead as an opportunity to rebuild morale and expand a sense of belonging across the district, ensuring that staff, students, and families feel valued. “When you go through budget reductions like that, it has to impact morale,” she says. “I look at it through a lens of dignity. And when you look up dignity in the dictionary, it means worthiness.” 

Stanley continues to draw on the training and perspective she gained through what is now Bethel’s Ed.D. in Leadership K-12 Administration program. From her very first day on campus, a central theme left a lasting impression. “Foundationally, the very first day in the Bethel program, they talk about you being a public intellectual,” she says. “That sticks with me.” In recognition of her impactful leadership and commitment to equity in education, Stanley was named Bethel University’s 2022 Alumna of the Year.

For Stanley, that idea—of being present in the community and shaping it through both intellect and character—remains core to her leadership. She describes herself as a present leader: one who listens first, who builds trust and shared vision, and who creates space for others to lead. “At the end of the day, what I do know is that people want their voice to be heard,” she says. “How you make that happen when you have 34,000 kids and 17,000 families has to be different than when you have 9,000 kids. But the outcome is the same.”

Stanley’s faith in Christ has been a steady foundation throughout her personal and professional journey, especially in recent seasons of loss and change. After the deaths of her two brothers, she leaned deeply into prayer and scripture to find strength and clarity. “My faith in Christ is everything,” she says. “It gets me through everything. There are scriptures that I have to lean on to first make sense of things, and then there are scriptures that I lean on to get me through every day.” 

Looking ahead, Stanley is returning to Saint Paul with a deep sense of mission. She envisions a collaborative effort that includes staff, students, and families working together to strengthen the district. “We are going to link arms, and we’re going to get this done,” she says. As she steps into this new role, she brings decades of leadership experience, deep spiritual grounding, and a lifelong connection to the community she now serves. More than anything, she brings hope—and a belief in what’s possible. “We are going to come out on the other side in a good place,” she says.

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