Today, we are proud to profile the extraordinary charter leader, Sean Stalling, Executive Director, DeLaSalle High School in Kansas City, MO.
Sean Stalling says he is going to write a book about baseball.
Not just about the game, which he loves, but also about the mechanics of baseball and how they mirror teaching. In the mind of the Chicago Cubs fan, the connection is obvious, drawing on his own experience coaching baseball and basketball, and later reading.
He talks about baseball, the way some educators talk about curriculum, a system of fundamentals, precision, and repetition.
“From every aspect, being fundamentally sound, from the way you set your feet to the way that you hold the ball, to the way that you catch, the way that you hit, everything can be broken down into very specific mechanics,” said Sean.
A baseball swing and a young reader are both developed through fundamentals and breaking down small, precise steps, practiced until automatic. Field and classroom connect not as a metaphor, but as Sean’s method.
“That is exactly what we do with readers,” he said. “There are certain skill sets, certain things, the way we pronounce words, the way we understand, the way we construct meaning that we do, and people who are proficient and advanced.”
This idea of fundamentals, repetition, and belief is at the core of how Sean now leads schools and how he has shaped DeLaSalle High School.
Built on Fundamentals
But skill isn’t only about drills. It’s also about the teachers.
“It has a lot to do with who taught you, who had patience, the compassion, the joy in which it was taught to you,” said Sean.
Despite being surrounded by a family of educators (his mother, grandmother, and aunts were all teachers), Sean never planned on becoming an educator. He went to college because it was expected, not because he had a clear vision. Law school was his natural next step. Right before it was time to step into the batter’s box at law school, Sean decided it wasn’t for him.
He realized he didn’t want to go to law school. At the same time, a professor suggested he’d make a great teacher.
A Coach at Heart
Sean began his career in education in 1994, but he never stopped thinking like a coach. Over the years, he worked as a teacher, athletic director, dean of students, and director of admissions. Later, a parent and Chicago Public Schools leader encouraged him to apply to the New Leaders program. After completing his fellowship in 2004, Sean stepped into public school leadership, serving as principal and Chief Area Officer with Chicago Public Schools, overseeing a network of 10 schools. He subsequently became a principal resident at Manly Career Academy and later worked in a for-profit education model.
“I’ve been connected to education ever since. It’s the only job I’ve ever had,” he said. “It’s the only thing I’m probably good at, doing things with my mind. If I didn’t do this job or if my mind suddenly failed me, I’d probably be a truck driver and coach baseball.”
Rebuilding What Was Broken
When Sean arrived at DeLaSalle Charter School in Kansas City in 2019, the school was on the brink, with low enrollment and instability, and only two staff members remaining following a leadership change. The school was known as the place “where bad kids go,” and students had internalized that last hope as just trying to graduate.
“When I first walked into this school, I felt duped,” said Sean. “This was not the school that I think people had kind of told me it was.”
Sean began not with a quick turnaround but with a steady rebuild grounded in the principles he had always believed in. Founded in 1971, DeLaSalle was Kansas City’s first accredited alternative high school. The school serves students facing significant challenges like domestic violence, homelessness, foster care, teen pregnancy, or substance abuse.
“We never changed the kids we served,” Sean said. “We didn’t say we’re only going to take certain kids. We said all children are welcome, and we’re going to do everything we can to help them get there.”
That commitment is harder than it sounds.
“I think people struggle with the idea of never giving up on a young person,” he said. “But that’s the work.”
A Second Chance Built to Last
After the difficult early days, Sean’s steady leadership brought new opportunities and a vision for lasting impact at DeLaSalle.
In just a few years, the school has expanded to serve nearly 700 students across multiple programs. In 2024, it added Kintsugi Academy to support students in the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center. Kintsugi is designed for children who need a second chance, offering academic support, social-emotional care, and pathways to college and career.
Academics rose from near the bottom to among Missouri’s top charter schools. All students who began at DeLaSalle in 9th grade graduated, and nearly 40% of juniors and seniors earn dual-enrollment college credit. Just as important as the numbers, the culture shifted. The school became a place where students feel seen and supported.
In 2025, after Lee A. Tolbert Academy failed to renew its charter, DeLaSalle began plans to absorb it and expand into lower grades by adding an elementary and middle school. This expansion included programs housed in the current Tolbert Academy building, as well as Breakthrough Academy, an elementary school connected to Operation Breakthrough— ultimately transforming into Tolbert Academy at DeLaSalle.
Including Tolbert in DeLaSalle gives younger students access to the successful strategies in place, while also creating a strong feeder pathway into the high school. The vision is for an expanded DeLaSalle K-12 system serving approximately 800 students.
No Three Strikes
In baseball, you get three strikes, but at DeLaSalle, students get more chances than that. Sean doesn’t believe that there is a special sauce to the school’s success, only consistency, fundamentals, and belief in students. It is important to him that students experience not just consistency and fundamentals but also feel coached.
“The work is important,” said Sean, who emphasizes with students that teachers say, “I am here to support you. I will never give up on you.”
A father of two daughters, Sean holds himself to a personal test. Is this good enough for my own children? If the answer is no, the work is not done. Sean currently serves as a board member of the Missouri Charter Public School Association, expanding his vision to other schools.
Decades into teaching, Sean misses the closeness and connection of coaching. The chance to build skills that add up to something bigger.
That’s the book Sean will write someday. In so many ways, he’s already written it, one student at a time.