Mike Stacy's retirement was announced back in March, and seemed (to some) as oddly timed, seeing as he had negotiated a 3 year extension onto his contract less than a year prior.

Yesterday LINKnky ran the following story:

Beechwood superintendent permanently barred from renewing certification

by Meghan Goth
June 23, 2025

Beechwood Independent Schools Superintendent Mike Stacy, who announced his retirement in March after a controversial contract extension the year before, has been permanently barred from renewing his certification to work in Kentucky schools, according to meeting minutes from the Education Professional Standards Board.

According to the board’s June 4 minutes, Stacy “shall not be employed in a certified position after July 1, 2025.” Stacy’s retirement from the district goes into effect on June 30, 2025.

LINK nky reached out to Beechwood schools and Stacy. They both sent us statements referring to an incident that happened in 2020, though the statements did not indicate what the incident was.

“This inquiry stems from a 2022 criminal investigation conducted by Kentucky State Police (KSP) about possible employee conduct in the first half of 2020,” the statement continues. “When Beechwood was notified of the investigation in 2022, Dr. Stacy took appropriate action to ensure the protection of both students and staff and ensured that district staff cooperated fully with the investigation.”

Though he still had two years left on his contract, Stacy abruptly announced his retirement in March.

This came after a controversial split vote last May ended in a three-year contract renewal for Stacy.

LINKnky will update this story as we uncover more information, including what the 2020 incident was that led to the settlement.

https://linknky.com/news/education/2025/06/23/mike-stacy-beechwood-teaching-certification/

There are more details about Stacy's retirement and comments from Stacy at the above link.

Well, we now know the real reason behind his sudden "retirement."

Leadership at Beechwood has a TON of questions that need to be answered about this.  The Board of Education, their HR people, and anyone that had any knowledge of whatever incident caused a superintendent to permanently lose his license. It had to be extremely bad, especially from what it sounds like for him to take a "deal" where he lost all his credentials.

This is over some incident that happened with an employee in 2020, and a criminal investigation 2 years later of that incident.  So the Board knew about all of this, and decided to not only, not put the superintendent on leave, or investigate in any way, but instead renewed his contract and gave him a FAT raise. 

There are so many levels of cover-up that have to happen for this to go on for 5 years and still be "hush hush."  Public school employees records are supposed to be public.  The public should know exactly what the incident was in 2020, who was involved, and what the details were.  The public should also know exactly Stacy's involvement that led to him getting the axe essentially from the state. Was the board meeting in secret regarding all of this?  If so, that's possibly criminal in nature.

Members of the Board had to know what was going on.  And whatever this incident was, had to with kids, otherwise the state wouldn't have taken his license away permanently.  Beechwood clearly cares more about their image than protecting kids.  This is all very fishy.

  And then to give him a raise after said criminal investigation is a clear dereliction of duties by the members of the Beechwood Board members.

Beechwood deserves better and I'd be really concerned if I had a student in the Beechwood school system.  What else has been covered up?

4 hours ago, New Colonel said:

This is over some incident that happened with an employee in 2020, and a criminal investigation 2 years later of that incident.  So the Board knew about all of this, and decided to not only, not put the superintendent on leave, or investigate in any way, but instead renewed his contract and gave him a FAT raise. 

I have heard some rumors about the involvement of a teacher in the music/band department, but I cannot confirm or deny whether or not they are true.

The Beechwood School Board had a fairly hot-topic vote back in June 2024 to renew Superintendent Stacy to a three-year contract worth approximately $775,000. The school board passed the contract renewal with a 3 to 2 vote. Per the Dept of Education, Stacy's 2024-25 salary was $250,000 which was the 6th highest in the state. (1st-Fayette $381K, 2nd-Jefferson $351K, 3rd-Kenton $290K, 4th-Boone $265K, 5th-Warren $262K).

Per WKRC 12, Beechwood's attorney stated that the school district did fire Superintendent Stacy, and that it was his own independent decision to retire. A newspaper article from the Cincinnati Enquirer back in mid-April confirms that:

Beechwood superintendent: No, I was not 'run out' of school district

From the article:

"There was a rumor put out there that I was run out," Stacy told The Enquirer. The reality, he said, is less interesting.

Stacy is eligible for retirement after 28 years in the Kentucky education system – and he accepted a job offer. It's in the "education realm" and won't be in a K-12 setting. That's all he'd say about it for now."

18 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

A newspaper article from the Cincinnati Enquirer back in mid-April confirms that:

Beechwood superintendent: No, I was not 'run out' of school district

From the article:

"There was a rumor put out there that I was run out," Stacy told The Enquirer. The reality, he said, is less interesting.

Stacy is eligible for retirement after 28 years in the Kentucky education system – and he accepted a job offer. It's in the "education realm" and won't be in a K-12 setting. That's all he'd say about it for now."

If he has been permanently barred from renewing his teaching and administration certificate in the state, it will be interesting to see what "education realm" job he will be working in. Stacy has not yet updated his LinkedIN profile with what his new job is going to be:

EXPERIENCE

Superintendent
Beechwood Independent Schools
Jun 2015 - Present · 10 yrs 1 mo

Chief Academic Officer
Woodford County Public Schools
Jul 2010 - Jun 2015 · 5 yrs

EDUCATION

Spalding University
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Education Policy
2007 - 2010

The University of Kentucky
Master of Education (MEd), Education
1995 - 1997

Georgetown College
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Sociology
1991 - 1994

1 hour ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

If he has been permanently barred from renewing his teaching and administration certificate in the state, it will be interesting to see what "education realm" job he will be working in. Stacy has not yet updated his LinkedIN profile with what his new job is going to be:

EXPERIENCE

Superintendent
Beechwood Independent Schools
Jun 2015 - Present · 10 yrs 1 mo

Chief Academic Officer
Woodford County Public Schools
Jul 2010 - Jun 2015 · 5 yrs

EDUCATION

Spalding University
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Education Policy
2007 - 2010

The University of Kentucky
Master of Education (MEd), Education
1995 - 1997

Georgetown College
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Sociology
1991 - 1994

It's likely, given his doctorate, that he will become an adjunct professor for a University teaching in educational administration courses. That's where many of them with that level of education end up post state retirement. It's a pretty sweet gig on top of your pension. 

5 hours ago, 1stand3rdNoOuts said:

It's likely, given his doctorate, that he will become an adjunct professor for a University teaching in educational administration courses. That's where many of them with that level of education end up post state retirement. It's a pretty sweet gig on top of your pension. 

What university would want him?  I mean have a guy teaching about education who is permanently banned from teaching?  

What would the course be, "What Not To Do As An Educator 101?"

This also gives the appearance that Stacy was trying to hold on until he got enough years in for his full retirement before the hammer came down from KDE.  Whether the Board was helping him in this endeavor is not clear.

2 hours ago, cincyswords said:

This also gives the appearance that Stacy was trying to hold on until he got enough years in for his full retirement before the hammer came down from KDE.  Whether the Board was helping him in this endeavor is not clear.

Of course the Board helped him.  They knew about this in 2020 and in 2022.  They helped him even more by giving him a huge raise to raise his pension payout.  The Board should all be recalled for their role in covering this up and helping him out financially.....all at the expense of Ft. Mitchell taxpayers.

Seriously, how many other things in the district have been swept under the rug?  This could be the tip of the iceberg if people keep pressing and investigating.

10 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

If he has been permanently barred from renewing his teaching and administration certificate in the state, it will be interesting to see what "education realm" job he will be working in. Stacy has not yet updated his LinkedIN profile with what his new job is going to be:

EXPERIENCE

Superintendent
Beechwood Independent Schools
Jun 2015 - Present · 10 yrs 1 mo

Chief Academic Officer
Woodford County Public Schools
Jul 2010 - Jun 2015 · 5 yrs

EDUCATION

Spalding University
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Education Policy
2007 - 2010

The University of Kentucky
Master of Education (MEd), Education
1995 - 1997

Georgetown College
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Sociology
1991 - 1994

My understanding is his new job is in the municipal bond market, helping with bond issues to fund projects. He probably will make as much if not more in the new job. That is likely why he moved on and negotiated a retirement deal with the state board rather than continue to fight it. He said as much in the news articles.

4 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

My understanding is his new job is in the municipal bond market, helping with bond issues to fund projects. He probably will make as much if not more in the new job. That is likely why he moved on and negotiated a retirement deal with the state board rather than continue to fight it. He said as much in the news articles.

Must be nice...

4 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

My understanding is his new job is in the municipal bond market, helping with bond issues to fund projects. He probably will make as much if not more in the new job. That is likely why he moved on and negotiated a retirement deal with the state board rather than continue to fight it. He said as much in the news articles.

Right, and I'm surprised the state is allowing him to collect a pension.   Every other time I've heard of someone's credentials being permanently revoked, that's come with inability to collect pension.   

17 minutes ago, New Colonel said:

Right, and I'm surprised the state is allowing him to collect a pension.   Every other time I've heard of someone's credentials being permanently revoked, that's come with inability to collect pension.   

I know nothing, but it seems possible that the eruption could potentially be the non-reporting of a teacher’s alleged actions toward a student.  He might have chosen to self investigate and came to a conclusion that has comeback to bite him.  Allegations (if false) can literally destroy a teacher’s career.  

11 minutes ago, Oldercoach said:

I know nothing, but it seems possible that the eruption could potentially be the non-reporting of a teacher’s alleged actions toward a student.  He might have chosen to self investigate and came to a conclusion that has comeback to bite him.  Allegations (if false) can literally destroy a teacher’s career.  

That certainly sounds like something similar to Dr. Stacy's position/defense based on this statement in the LINKNKY article:

“The school system and I are being accused of not reporting what we didn’t know,” Stacy said in his statement. “Therefore, I’ve always held and will continue to hold to the fact that no one affiliated with Beechwood did anything wrong with the information we were given in 2022.”

15 hours ago, New Colonel said:

What university would want him?  I mean have a guy teaching about education who is permanently banned from teaching?  

What would the course be, "What Not To Do As An Educator 101?"

Granted, I'm not in education, but in healthcare. I had a professor in grad school who didn't have a license to practice because of a drug/dui related offense. Online graduate-level education, especially at the doctoral level, is more about doing your own research, writing papers, being able to formulate and defend an argument, etc.