Education
BY SAMANTHA DOUTY
Q&A: Meet Frisco ISD’s new Superintendent Todd Fouche Frisco ISD named Todd Fouche as the district’s newest superintendent. Fouche stepped into the role in April after his contract was approved by the board of trustees. Fouche replaced Superintendent Mike Waldrip, who served in the position since 2017. Fouche has served in several roles during his 10 years in the dis- trict, most recently as the deputy superintendent. Community Impact sat down with Fouche to talk about his vision as superintendent. Responses have
How do you define success beyond test scores? Hopefully lots of ways. Test scores aren’t unim- portant, but they’re a data point. They don’t tell the full story about a student or a school system. Really, our job is to grow young people, and our job is to grow them academically, certainly, but also personally and in any other way. We want them to grow athletically, we want them to grow performing arts. Basically, we use this term ‘whole child.’ We use this term ‘whole child.’ What that means to me is we want the whole child, all parts of them to grow while they’re with us in Frisco ISD, and I talk a lot about confidence. To me, it’s kind of the X factor. What are your top priorities when it comes to campus safety and security? I kind of think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs a little bit when I think of safety and security and that students really, before they can learn, they need to be fed and they need to feel safe. Our priorities, they’re pretty layered, so strong physical security measures, well-trained staff. We also have recently started the School Marshal program at our elemen- tary level. Our secondary schools have always had school resource officers. As Frisco continues to evolve, how do you preserve what families value about the district? That really kind of jives with what I feel like my strengths are and where I want to go from here. People talk a lot about communication, and to me, communication starts with listening. And so, listening to families, what do they want? Why are they here? What do they want from Frisco ISD? One of the things that’s been a draw for Frisco for years is what we call the Student Opportunity Model. It starts with our high schools being a little smaller than other high schools, so that students can participate in more things. We know that
COURTESY FRISCO ISD
been edited for length, clarity and style. What is your vision as superintendent for Frisco ISD?
students who are engaged in extracurricular activi- ties ... they’re going to be more successful and have a more well-rounded experience. What are you hearing from students, and how does that shape your leadership? Students are awesome to interact with. Students are interesting because they want to be challenged. Students want to be supportive. They want their thoughts and opinions to be valued. It can be through academics or extracurriculars or career pathways. Dr. Waldrip had this group that he called the Superintendent Student Advisory Commit- tee—it’s four students from each high school—so it’s 48 students. I just asked them some open-ended questions. I had so many of them come up to me afterwards and say, ‘We love that you’re asking those questions.’ They want connections. They want it with their teachers. They want it with their schools. I think their need for connection com- pletely reinforces the idea that relationships are what we’re all about.
The first thing is to build on what’s already a great district. Frisco ISD is a very strong school district. At its core, that means ensuring every student feels known, supported, prepared for their future. We want the district to value relationships, meaningful opportunities and academics, fine arts, athletics, career pathways, and stay innovative on what we’re doing. I also want us to be adaptable. Where do you see the biggest financial challenges ahead? Our biggest challenge right now is declining enrollment. Property taxes are the funding mech- anism for the state, and then the state takes all that money and basically funds school districts on average daily attendance. We’re funded when students are enrolled in the school district. We’re seeing this trend right now of a little bit of a decline in enrollment, which means dollars for us.
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