New Leadership for Department of English Learners

Executive director Kevin Stacy brings years of international and language experience

Nashville, Tennessee - Metro Schools has hired a veteran and internationally minded educator as Executive Director of the Department for English Learners (EL). Kevin Stacy will lead the support for students and families who do not speak English as a first language. He will oversee work in the International Student Registration Center, English Language Development Curriculum and Instruction, and Translation Services.

Stacy’s career in language education began humbly: he worked in a home with a group of Nashville’s earliest Kurdish refugees in the early 1990s to teach them English. This experience ignited a lifelong passion for education and working with the international community that led him to teach in Cheatham County Schools and Williamson County Schools, as well as at Welch College and schools in China and Uzbekistan. These experiences gave him an in-depth awareness of cross-cultural relationships, and provided a richer understanding of linguistics through his personal language learning experience.

Stacy has been with Metro Schools since 2010, starting as a district coordinator of English Language Development (ELD). He was later promoted to the director position of ELD Curriculum. Since November 2013, he has served as the department’s interim executive director.

He graduated from Welch College with a bachelor’s degree and earned a master’s in teaching English and intercultural studies from Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina. Stacy later earned a master’s in educational leadership from Trevecca Nazarene University.

His long-term relationships with the international community, cross-cultural experiences, expertise in ELD Curriculum, knowledge of the MNPS programs, and years of providing services for English Language learners will support the department in learning from the past and being prepared for the future.  Stacy’s vision is to inspire and support students, families, teachers and the Nashville community to be innovative in working together to emerge as a national model in the achievement and success of English Learners.

Metro Nashville Public Schools

Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools is the nation’s 42nd largest district, preparing more than 83,000 students to excel in higher education, work and life. With the goal of being the first choice for Nashville’s families, Metro Schools is committed to providing a high quality education to every student. The district is earning a national reputation for urban school reform, its commitment to social and emotional learning and rising academic achievement, and currently ranks in the top 27 percent of districts in the state for academic performance. Its new strategic plan, Education 2018: Excellence for Every Student, sets the goal of becoming the nation’s top performing urban school system by 2018. The governing body for Metro Schools is the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education, a nine-member elected body. For more information, visit www.mnps.org.