After pointing out that she was at the helm of an operation
with a budget approaching a billion dollars, 50,000 students, 8,000 employees
and 82 buildings, Renee Foose responded that she “is just a teacher on special
assignment.”
She probably knows a thing or two about special assignments.
She’s a former state trooper too.
Dr. Renee A. Foose is the first female superintendent of the
Howard County Public School System and if I had to pick one word to describe
her I’d go with genuine. There is something that seems very grounded and honest
with her and that made conversation and discussion easy.
We talked about redistricting, grant monies, testing and the
apology that the system made for promoting segregation ten years after the
Supreme Court outlawed the practice in public schools. HCPSS may be the first school system in the country to apologize for what was then a pretty widespread practice. According to this story
by Joe Burris in The Sun, “a historian with the Brown vs. Board of Education
National Historic Site in Topeka ,
said he recalls many apologies for slavery and segregation, but he could not
think of one that specifically addressed segregated schools.”
Dr. Foose told us that school board member Allen Dyer was particularly passionate about this. Is it just me or does anyone else notice that Allen is becoming more agreeable now that his board days are numbered?
So if you are looking for something to listen while driving
to Alice's Restaurant for a Thanksgiving dinner, you can download the 78th episode
of “and then there’s that…” here.
