Saying ‘Yes’ to Possibilities

Profile: JANE STAVEM

“When opportunities present themselves, it’s always worth consideration,” says Jane Stavem, superintendent of the 24,000-student Sioux Falls School District in South Dakota.

Stavem’s initial ambitions to be an educator may have been triggered in elementary school when a 2nd-grade teacher let her sit in the special classroom “blue chair” to lead the class. It didn’t take long for her horizons to broaden.

During her undergraduate days at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., Stavem says “I saw women who were principals in larger districts [who] spoke to me in the future tense, ‘when you’re a principal.’”

Starting as a music teacher in St. Paul, she moved up the ranks through multiple Midwestern communities.

“Opportunities have always come my way at the right time,” she says. “Change is a positive for me.”

The chance to become a first-time superintendent in her home state of Nebraska was appealing. “Blair was a great district — a nice size, well-functioning, a perfect first superintendency,” says Stavem, who grew up in a small town with 28 students in her graduating class. She formed a student advisory group in Blair, a K-12 district of 2,300 students, to monitor “a pulse on what was happening in the schools.” The experience burnished her desire to help other students through a stronger service-learning component.

“There’s value in having kids working on behalf of other kids,” Stavem says. “It’s action focused, if we equip students’ hands and feet to do this work.”

Stavem’s ego was unfazed at trading the Blair superintendency to become an associate superintendent in a larger district, the Lincoln Public Schools, where she focused on instruction and expanded her skillset and expertise in other areas. Her boss, superintendent Steve Joel, called her “masterful at building a team.”

That experience set her up well for the superintendency of the Lake Washington schools in Redmond, Wash., where Stavem faced the challenge of opening two new schools her first year, five in the second year and what she termed “keeping up with the growth” while managing politics, bonds and tax levies in the upper-middle-class school district.

Since coming to Sioux Falls, also a system with steady growth, she has been overseeing the opening of the district’s fourth high school and sixth middle school.

“I love the work of coming in and seeing what’s possible,” Stavem says. “In Lincoln, we needed a technology plan and getting technology into the hands of the kids. In Washington, we needed a new strategic plan. In Sioux Falls, it’s COVID and having a strategic plan with a fresh set of district priorities.”

She adds: “What I love about this work is getting to enjoy the fruits of the labor and mentoring people along the way. … One of my passions is supporting new administrators with young families as they navigate the complexities of school administrator roles, as they learn how to deal with those responsibilities as well as the time it takes away from your own family.”

Nor has she forgotten her classroom roots.

As Teresa Boysen, assistant superintendent of academic achievement in Sioux Falls, says, “She can walk into a classroom and identify successes and how they can take it to the next level. She can see the larger picture.”

Ultimately, Stavem says, “I’ve always thought leadership is about doing the most good for the most people.”