Longtime Tri-Cities educator is hand selected to serve on an important WA state commission
A long-time Tri-Cities and Walla Walla teacher and administrator was recently appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to serve on the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs.
Stacy Estes, an assistant principal at Kennewick High School, will serve on the nine-person board through November 2026.
Estes said he feels that serving in that capacity and actively advocating for Black communities all over Washington enables him to better serve all students and staff in the Tri-Cities.
“When our African American community is stronger, it makes every individual in it stronger by providing more power, more opportunities, more role models and more hope,” Estes said in a statement.
Created in 1992, the commission’s purpose is to advocate for the Black community by examining and defining issues and needs, and by making recommendations to the governor, state agencies and the Legislature.
He will represent Central Washington communities.
Estes holds a bachelor’s in psychology and special education from Eastern Washington University, and started his career as a special education teacher in the Bethel School District in Pierce County.
After moving to the Tri-Cities, Estes became the dean of students and an interventions coordinator at Pasco High School.
He worked a combined 20 years as assistant principal at McLoughlin Middle School and later at Wall Walla High School.
He moved back to the Tri-Cities last year after accepting a job with the Kennewick School District.
Estes also is a member of the African American Community Cultural and Educational Society, serves as outreach for the Riverview United Methodist Church in Pasco and is involved with Men in the Middle, a Walla Walla mental health advocacy network.
