Foudy, Sanchez make their cases to be next BCSD superintendent
By Eric Valentine
It will be five Blaine County school board trustees who get to cast votes, but a two-hour virtual town hall held Jan. 7 with both superintendent candidates figures to be one of the biggest influencers of that decision. The board’s search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, hosted and moderated the forum wherein both finalists were given an hour to introduce themselves, deep-dive their past accomplishments and future goals, and take questions from the community regarding all things education. The finalists are James Foudy and Heather Sanchez. Foudy is superintendent of the McCall-Donnelly School District in McCall. Sanchez currently serves as executive director of schools of the Bellevue School District in Washington State.
Candidates were asked to speak to four prompts and then take questions from the community. The prompts were:
- Introduce yourself and share your story.
- Say why you want to be BCSD’s next superintendent.
- Highlight a few professional accomplishments.
Provide ideas and thoughts about what they could do to rebuild a culture of trust and respect that will benefit students, staff and the entire community. “The last prompt we thought was particularly important,” said Max McGee, president of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. McGee, who hosted the session, had interviewed district stakeholders regarding their priorities for hiring a successor to once embattled and now resigned superintendent GwenCarol Holmes. Since the entire town hall can be viewed on the district’s website, we’ll focus on the candidates’ overall approach to the answers and their specific handling of prompt number 4.
Finding Foudy
Foudy acknowledged that a virtual environment where he could not look his audience in the eye was not in his comfort zone. And, at times it showed. Yet Foudy was able to provide examples of impressive accomplishments, some of them from very recent years as the head of the McCall-Donnelly School District.
“Everything I’ve been able to accomplish over the last 18 years over the course of my career has consistently been due to and part of a team effort,” Foudy said.
Foudy also stressed the importance of family in his life and the importance of taking full responsibility when mistakes are made.
“The greatest challenge to building a culture of trust and respect is that it takes thousands of actions and moments to get to that point, but it only takes one to fracture it,” Foudy said.
Over the course of his presentation Foudy emphasized a willingness to take educated, healthy risks and a desire to create an environment of curiosity and passion for learning at all levels of the district.
“We are in a business of teaching and learning,” Foudy said. “In thriving school districts, the students are not the only ones learning every day.”
Sanchez Says
Sanchez, on the other hand, came across as someone who could give a how-to on virtual meeting etiquette. Her answers, even on a sensitive issue about her views on anti-racism education, was a thoughtful and articulate response.
“It’s not enough to tolerate differences. We have to truly work toward being inclusive,” Sanchez said. “I believe that’s a moral imperative I have as an educator.”
Sanchez demonstrated her understanding of inclusiveness early on in her presentation when she spent roughly a minute addressing the community in Spanish.
Like Foudy, Sanchez was clear about her accomplishments being due to collaborative efforts from multiple stakeholders. And for BCSD, Sanchez emphasized her belief that the district is in a position to reach what she called “the next level”—one of the higher performing school districts in the nation.
“Are we always going in the right direction? And are we going in the right direction at a good pace?” Sanchez said, regarding what the district has to ask itself each year. “And if not, what are we going to invest in to reach those goals?”
Sanchez explained her belief in the importance of district culture and how BCSD’s is clearly in need of some “healing,” she said. While Sanchez showed she is well-versed and experienced in strategic planning and strategy support, she noted that it doesn’t work if there isn’t a comprehensive cultural buy-in.
“Culture eats strategy for lunch,” Sanchez said.