School Board Appoints New Chief of Staff

At its June 25 meeting, the School Board approved the appointment of Brian Stockton as Chief of Staff.

“Brian is an experienced executive leader with a proven track record, leading organizational change, and executing business and financial strategies,” said Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán. “He has vast experience identifying and applying the strengths and opportunities of an organization’s operations to implement change, confront problems, and create a positive and productive workplace.

Stockton is passionate about advising front line management and executives in ethics, project management, culture, and leadership.

Stockton graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and holds a management certificate from Georgetown University. He is also a graduate of the National Superintendents’ Academy. In addition, Stockton brings over 20 years of experience coaching leaders in the area of corporate culture and managing the day-to-day operations for large organizations, school districts, and governmental agencies.

Stockton served as Chief of Staff for Shelby County Schools, the largest school district in Tennessee, serving more than 100,000 students and 14,000 employees. During his tenure, he created a progressive improvement culture of change that employees welcomed as a valuable opportunity and not something to resist. He influenced the financial turnaround of the District by employing his financial and business acumen, benefiting all employees, and the organization.

Leading the executive team, Stockton spearheaded an economic turnaround effort from a $28 million budget gap to a $60 million surplus. This allowed significant investments in 28 schools instead of full closures and negatively impacting the overall community. Stockton is also an outspoken leader for immigrants’ rights and led efforts to ensure families registered their children in school without fear of deportation during a difficult time in the community. More notably, he created a teacher pipeline specific for underrepresented groups for elementary schools and created the first-ever school district leadership program for high potential employees and management.

Beyond that, Stockton worked tirelessly with community groups to build partnerships as well as educational organizations to help create a more equitable and accessible education system. He also led the creation of a comprehensive Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) program, which resulted in an increase of school district expenditure from 3-percent to 32-percent.

Stockton also served as Assistant Commissioner of District Operations for the Tennessee Department of Education, where he oversaw the development and implementation of school and district plans as needed by the federal and state laws and rules for transportation, safety, physical health, and nutrition services.

Stockton’s appointment begins July 15.