Meet Our Principal

MaryAnn Suhl is beginning her sixth year as principal of Alex W. Spence Middle School & TAG Academy. Under her leadership, Spence has experienced a significant increase in positive climate and culture, increased student achievement, earned a Public-School Choice designation, and established new community partnerships. Suhl credits the success at Spence to student-centered, data-driven decisions that increased equity and fostered a strong culture and climate with passionate educators committed to the success of all students. Principal Suhl was recognized as the Dallas ISD Secondary Principal of the Year Award for Region 3 in 2024.

Principal Suhl began her career as a teacher at Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy, and then she moved to Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy where served in the role of English 1 teacher, leadership coordinator, and assistant principal. While at Bryan Adams, she was instrumental in the design and launch of the Leadership Academy and was on the steering committee for the P-TECH Collegiate Academy. In 2019, she was named as a Distinguished Assistant Principal for the Northeast Network.

Afterward, she joined School Leadership as a coordinator, under the leadership of Deputy Chief Jolee Healey, where she was instrumental in developing tools, systems and structures to create professional development, data tools, leadership training programs and systems that focused on increasing student achievement and culture and for implementing the unified vision and goals for the School Leadership Department of Dallas ISD.

Principal Suhl is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelor and Master of Arts in History. She also earned a Master of Education in Secondary Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M Commerce and completed the Educational Leadership Program at the University of North Texas. She also brings with her a unique global perspective having studied abroad at the Leo Baeck Institute in Berlin, Germany, as well as having taught English and Government Studies in Beijing, China.