John Henry Stanford, retired Army general, named Seattle superintendent of schools

Jet, August 28, 1995

John Henry Stanford, a retired U.S. Army major general, was recently appointed superintendent of schools of the Seattle (Washington) Public Schools.

Stanford is the first Black superintendent of the Seattle school district which serves more than 47,000 students.

Stanford came to Seattle from Fulton County, GA, (which includes Atlanta) where he served as Fulton county manager. He managed an employee force of more than 5,000 and oversaw a budget of approximately a half-billion dollars.

He also enjoyed a 30-year career as an officer in the United States Army before he became Fulton County manager. While he was in the military, he held the rank of major general and was director of plans, programs and policy of the U.S. Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

He told JET that his leadership experience in the military will serve him well as superintendent of schools. "They hired me because I am able to lead. That's my strength, to lead in this business of education. I bring a business leadership approach to solviing educational problems."

His philosophy is "to love them and lead them," and he intends to be "the children's czar" as superintendent of schools. "You have to bring children to school ready to learn and you need a system to do that." He plans to focus on day care, health counseling, immunization, the business community and other programs and services to ensure that each child in Seattle receives a quality education.

A native of Yeadon, PA, he graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He earned a master's degree in personnel management and administration from Central Michigan University.

His military education includes the Infantry School, the Army Aviation School, the Transportation School, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of Armed Forces.

He served in the Pentagon as military assistance to the Undersecretary of the Army during the Carter administration (1977-1979); executive assistant to the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (1981) and special assistant and executive secretary during the Reagan administration to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger (1981-1984).

Stanford is married to Patricia Corley. They have two children, Steven and Scott.