GOSHEN — More than 400 Goshen High School seniors will be awarded their high school diplomas today inside the school’s gymnasium. Whether they know it our not, Bruce Stahly has been with most of them through their entire academic journey the past 13 years.

Hopefully they understand just how lucky they are. The Goshen Community Schools Superintendent will retire this month after giving 45 years of his life to educating children.



Stahly graduated from Wakarusa High School in the early 1960s and went on to earn college degrees from Goshen College, the University of Wisconsin and Indiana University Bloomington.

After teaching chemistry as a graduate assistant in Wisconsin, Stahly took a job teaching math at Middlebury High School in 1968. After two years he went to Muhoho High School in Kenya where he taught chemistry and math. He returned to Middlebury in 1974 and resumed teaching math and science at Northridge High School.

As Stahly gravitated into administration he moved on to Wabash County Schools, School City of Mishawaka and the South Bend Community School Corp., where he served as executive director of support services from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998, then GCS Superintendent Kent Evans hired Stahly as the deputy superintendent. Evans said last month that it was one of the best decisions he ever made for the school corporation.

It was a good one.

Stahly would succeed Evans in 2002 and has skillfully piloted Goshen Schools through the challenging waters of the No-Child-Left-Behind era. Through his leadership, Goshen schools have managed to strengthen both their curriculum and image while meeting the challenges of shrinking revenues along the way.



Today West Goshen Elementary School is held up as a model for early reading initiatives in younger grades. Goshen High School boasts one of the most respected International Baccalaureate programs in the state and is considered Indiana’s 12th best public high school by U.S. News & World Report.

Good stuff like that doesn’t happen by accident. We can safely say that Bruce Stahly left this community in better shape than what he found it. Goshen is a stronger place because of his hard work, compassion and dedication. But you don’t have to take my word for it. There are plenty of people lining up to say good things about Bruce Stahly.

Joe Sabo

Working with Dr. Stahly on the Governing Council of the Elkhart County Special Education Cooperative and on the Head Start Consortium Board has been a great experience. He is very knowledgeable in financial and school funding matters, and was quickly recognized as the “resident expert.” One thing I’ll remember about Dr. Stahly is that he always put children first in his decision making and planning. I’ve enjoyed working with Dr. Stahly and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

— Joe Sabo is superintendent of Wa-Nee Schools.

James Brenneman

I believe that years from now when we understand the full implication of the absolute necessity of linking a good education to an equally necessary immigration surge for the rebirth of the entire industrial Midwest, Dr. Stahly’s leadership will be even more appreciated at that time than it is today. Dr. Stahly’s forward-thinking, creative, practical, fiscally responsible guidance has made the Goshen Community Schools models of intercultural teaching and learning, where every student is considered an asset, where every student has the opportunity to be wonderfully prepared for life in the 21st Century. As a GCS parent, I could not be more pleased with the hardworking teachers, administrators, and staff who have served our children so well under Dr. Stahly’s leadership. To borrow a phrase, he has been an uncommonly great superintendent for the common good of Goshen, the region, the state and beyond. I wish him the very best in his retirement.

— James Brenneman is president of Goshen College.

Noah Tonk

Dr. Stahly is a man of integrity who is a careful manager of corporation resources while also taking calculated risks when he feels that the payoff would result in an overwhelming benefit to students. He has driven our TAP program and led in our re-evaluating what instruction looks like in Goshen Community Schools, as well as served as a big supporter of our transition to laptops in the high school. He will be missed.

— Noah Tonk is an assistant principal at Goshen High School.

Jim Kirkton

Dr. Stahly is well known for keeping the corporation solvent in difficult times, but from the school level, it was very important to us that no matter how difficult the times, he found ways to support essential initiatives. This allows schools to provide interventions needed to move all students forward.  

He trusted and supported school level leaders.

We always understood that education here was about making whatever we do be about the kids.

— Jim Kirkton is principal of Goshen High School and is also retiring this year.



Thanks, Dr. Stahly, for your lifetime of service helping young people learn.