The Kansas City T-Bones will face former major leaguer Rafael Palmeiro, age 53, this weekend in home games with the Cleburne Railroaders.
Palmeiro, a first baseman, formerly was with the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles.
He is one of six players in Major League Baseball history to be a member of the 500-home run club and the 3,000-hit club. He was a four-time All-Star and a three-time Gold Glove winner through his career.
According to a T-Bones news release, Palmeiro is making a comeback with the Cleburne Railroaders, where he joins his son Patrick on the club’s roster.
On May 21 against Fargo-Moorhead, Palmeiro hit his first professional home run since July 2005, when he was with the Orioles.
He has since added another long ball on the season, hitting one on June 15 against Lincoln. For the year, the left-handed hitting slugger is batting .263 (15 for 57) with two home runs and seven RBIs for Cleburne.
Game times this weekend are 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1:05 p.m. Sunday, at T-Bones Stadium.
Tickets to T-Bones games are available online at tbonesbaseball.com, by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting in person the T-Bones Stadium box office.
The two finalist superintendent candidates for the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools were selected from 65 applications that were received, according to a spokesman for the district.
Much of the process occurred in closed meetings, until two finalist candidates, Dr. Jayson Strickland and Dr. Charles Foust, were announced.
Ray and Associates, the consultant, contacted 1,165 individuals about the vacancy, the spokesman stated. There were advertisements and recruitment through a national network of associates. The 1,165 individuals contacted were in 48 states.
Sixty-five candidates completed the application process, the spokesman stated. Then the candidates were evaluated and screened based on administrative experience, academic background and alignment to the district’s profile of the next superintendent, according to the spokesman.
Each candidate was screened through references, state officials, other school administrators and individuals who knew the candidate’s abilities and strengths.
Then the top 10 candidates were brought forward to the board, according to the spokesman. The candidates were from Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas. The board reviewed each candidate’s application materials and viewed a videotape of the 10 candidates during an executive session on June 2, the spokesman stated.
The board then narrowed the field to five candidates to interview on June 11 and 14, the spokesman stated. The board then invited two individuals to interview as finalists on June 20 and 21.
Dr. Charles Foust, a finalist for Kansas City, Kansas, Public School superintendent, spoke with the public at a meet-and-greet session on Thursday evening at the Central Office, 2010 N. 59th, Kansas City, Kansas. (Staff photo)
A finalist for the superintendent position in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools, Dr. Charles Foust, met the public at a meet-and-greet session Thursday evening at the district’s Central Office, 2010 N. 59th St.
He said he has worked to improve reading levels and graduation rates in other districts.
“I believe it doesn’t matter where you come from,” Dr. Foust said, “no one gets to determine your future except you.”
He is the chief school performance officer from Union County Public Schools, Monroe, North Carolina. Prior to that, he was a school support officer for Houston Independent School District, supervising and mentoring principals and managing programs increased the number of graduates while improving reading and math scores.
He also has served as a principal, assistant principal and curriculum facilitator, besides classroom teaching experience.
Dr. Foust said he had analyzed data from the school district and has watched the school board meetings that are posted online.
Other districts are improving their student graduation rates and literacy rates, and he asked why couldn’t the KCKPS also do that? He said he had success in improving these rates in school districts where he had worked. He offered several ideas on how to do this.
“We have to do a better job of building relationships with our kids to make sure they can graduate,” he said.
Dr. Foust said he did his doctoral work on what the KCK district calls Diploma+. He said the program is great, but it would be better if they could add two years to it, allowing high school graduates to go into college as juniors.
Dr. Foust felt certain that he could have a good relationship with the school board. He said the staff should update the board in advance, in committee meetings, so that they have an opportunity to understand the issues before they come to the board meeting level.
On the question of school finance, Dr. Foust said he would encourage everyone to vote. He said he would bring legislators to the schools so they could see the classrooms, and he would convince them to support adequate school finance. In his current school district, the schools receive more than $7,000 a year per student as compared to Kansas’ $4,400, he said.
“I’ll fight for the kids,” he said.
David Smith, of the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools, said that the school board is expected to make its decision on a new superintendent within several days to a week.
While Dr. Foust received applause after his remarks on Thursday, Dr. Jayson Strickland, the other superintendent finalist, received more applause, with a standing ovation on Wednesday at his meet-and-greet session.
More information about the finalists is at www.kckps.org/index.php/news-releases/982-meet-the-finalists-for-kckps-superintendent-position.
A crowd listened to Dr. Charles Foust, a finalist for Kansas City, Kansas, Public School superintendent, on Thursday evening at the Central Office. (Staff photo)
