Charles Foust Should Be the New Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools

Charles Foust should be the new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS).


Throughout interviews with the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education, Foust revealed himself to be a person of great knowledge as to Strategic Plan: Acceleration 2020 of MPS, the inner workings of the Minneapolis Public Schools specifically, key factors in managing a large urban school district in general, and key actors in the greater community whose support and assistance can be a great asset in building public schools of genuine excellence.


Foust currently serves as an assistant superintendent in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and is School Support Officer for Secondary Transformation of Schools for that district, the seventh largest in the nation. Raised in North Carolina and educated at the bachelor’s and master’s degree levels at universities in that state, he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Houston; for the latter, his course work is complete, and he is currently at work on his dissertation.


Foust began his career in his home state, leading Brooks Global Studies to status as a top performing school of Guilford County. He moved to Houston as a turn-around specialist, transforming Fondren Middle School to become one of the top Apollo Middle Schools within the HISD. While serving as principal at that school, he sought and received authorization for Fondren to become an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle School, so that the school moved from its quandary as an academically struggling school to status as a fully accredited IB school within three years.


This sort of work is that which Foust now pursues with a passion in a network that includes seven middle schools in Houston. In public interviews with the MPS Board of Education, Foust gave indications of major factors in his success as a turn-around specialist that would translate well as Superintendent of MPS:


He emphasizes his ability to listen empathetically to people who are endeavoring to achieve objectives but are falling short, working to assist the person in making adjustments that lead to success; but if the person of note just does not seem up to the task, then Foust’s insistence that the professional do what she or he said that person could do becomes paramount, so that she or he is replaced with someone more likely to be successful in serving the students at the school or the schools for which the service under discussion is rendered.


Foust has inaugurated an aggressive tutorial program in a situation wherein 80% of students were found to need such tutoring, and he successfully sought and obtained an extra hour a day and ten extra days on the calendar so as to serve students having such needs. With continued monitoring as students began to improve, the students eventually moved out of the intensive tutorial program and manifested sustained grade-level or better performance. In securing the shifts in the school calendar, Foust worked with the local landlords to better match lease contracts to the calendric schedules of the students and their families.


In personal conversations with me, Foust demonstrated outstanding knowledge of those politicians, business leaders, pastors, and leaders in many other community positions of importance--- and an awareness of whom he would be similarly building relationships with in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the Twin Cities Metro. To this endeavor, as in his interaction with teachers, central office staff, members of the school board, and me while he was in Minneapolis, Foust radiated enormous personal charm, charisma, and energy:


After the most recent four-day round of interviews and public appearances, and in his concluding conversation with me, Foust gave no indication of nervousness or fatigue. He seemed as if he could go right in again for another demanding session of school board or public give and take, relishing the opportunity to do so. He gave evidence of having made such a promising beginning in getting to know teachers, students, and staff of MPS that he would be ready, with full energy, to begin his service as Superintendent that very afternoon. Foust was one of the few candidates to ask questions of the MPS Board of Education, and his inquiries were the most incisive.


In the round for semifinalists, he asked board members how they knew that Acceleration 2020 would work. Tracine Asberry smiled at the kind of question that she is always asking, but no school board member offered a verbal response. In the final interview, Foust asked the board a series of questions focused on their relationship with the Superintendent and with each other. Remarkably, this stimulated some spirited discussion among school board members, with Tracine Asberry, Rebecca Gagnon, Carla Bates, and Jenny Arneson all taking part.


Of high importance to me, my personal discussions with Foust revealed him to be a supporter of grade by grade academic standards (or standards for grade groupings such as Grades 9-12) such as we have in Minnesota, with objective testing to measure student progress, such as we have for with the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs). Foust stressed, though, that he believes in educating the whole child and offering students a well-defined knowledge-rich curriculum beyond those topics and skills covered on tests.


Foust recognizes that we must work much harder to implement the goals of Strategic Plan: Acceleration 2020. In his thorough tour of the schools and talks with teachers, principals, and staff, Foust found that very few had much idea as to how they were to help achieve majestic goals such as 5% annual growth in students registering grade level performance, a comparable 8% growth for students in categories of those who have been historically underserved, and 10% annual growth in the four-year graduation rate. He indicated support for the plan and energetic work toward its goals, with emphasis on the buy-in that he would be seeking among stakeholders, and with better articulation of a program for actually achieving the plan's lofty goals.


Charles Foust is an indefatigable and knowledgeable person with numerous qualities indicating likelihood of success as an empathic listener, excellent communicator, successful administrator, and fervent actor in the cause of excellence and equity in education. He should be the next Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.


Scroll on down for my previous comments on the other candidates, and look for an expansion of this article in the next day or two. Sergio Paez demonstrates many of the compelling qualities manifested by Foust. Michael Goar, to whose candidacy I was inclined at the beginning of the interview process, has experience with the Minneapolis Public Schools and great knowledge of the community; but he was not able to articulate a compelling vision of excellence in his appearances during the process, and his answers to questions in any public setting were imprecise.


So, for now, I want my readers to look to my other articles for information on the other two finalists-- knowing that Charles Foust should be the new Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.