Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
Stan Park, Kansas City, Kansas, was named to the dean’s list at Georgia State University for the spring semester.
Students on the dean’s list must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 for a minimum of nine semester hours of academic credit taken at Georgia State, with no incompletes. They must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 for all classes taken at Georgia State.
Georgia State is an urban public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, with 52,000 students.
The Kansas City Kansas Community College Foundation has announced the recipients of its summer 2018 and fall 2018 scholarships.
Students receiving the Summer 2018 R.A. Long Technical Education Scholarship :
• Walker Graham
• Carla Johnson
• Greg Renner
• Quinton Rose
• Maria Sandoval-Marrufo
Fall 2018 KCKCC Foundation Scholarship recipients:
• Nour Alhammami – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Toyana Anderson – Foundation Scholarship
• Tha Aye – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Si-Anna Barnett – Clarence L. Turpin Scholarship
• Crystal Baum – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Kemper Bednar – Vern’s Agape Nursing Scholarship
• Lester Biggs – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Antonio Bustamante – J. Paul and Fern Watkins Jewell Scholarship
• Cassie Callaway – Foundation Scholarship
• Perla Canul – InTouch Solutions Scholarship
• Susiveth Cervantes – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Talia Dao – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Caleb DeRoos – Foundation Scholarship
• Amanda Fletcher – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Kiera Forrest – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Walker Graham – J. Paul and Fern Watkins Jewell Scholarship
• Erika Gudino – Foundation Scholarship
• Shasika Gurung – Foundation Scholarship
• Treyvyon Harrison – Wyandotte High School Class of 1955 Scholarship
• Ashley Heeter – Dr. Lelia H. Alexander Memorial Scholarship
• Jessica Her – J. Paul and Fern Watkins Jewell Scholarship
• Cynthia Hernandez – Rita M. Ahart Nursing Scholarship
• Rebecca Hernandez – J. Paul and Fern Watkins Jewell Scholarship
• Brittany Hillman – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Zing Hlei – Asian American Chamber of Commerce Scholarship
• Ngun Hmung – InTouch Solutions Scholarship
• Alaina Howe – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Cing Huai – Wyandotte High School Class of 1955 Scholarship
• Jacob Jackson – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Kealya Jordan – Foundation Scholarship
• Zsamina Jordan – Foundation Scholarship
• Ciin Kim – Vern’s Agape Nursing Scholarship
• Amanda Kuhn – Clarence L. Turpin Scholarship
• Emily Langston – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Elizabeth Lee – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Jorge Lopez – Frances Speer Memorial Scholarship
• Angelica Maese-Solano – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Emiliano Martell – Foundation Scholarship
• Courtney Martinez – Foundation Scholarship
• Isaiah Matthews – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Amber Minchew – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Julio Minon – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Pyu Pway – Foundation Scholarship
• Claudia Ramirez – Foundation Scholarship
• Quinton Rose – George Powell Applied Skills Based Technology Scholarship
• Cesar Sanchez Davila – George Powell Applied Skills Based Technology Scholarship
• Maria Sandoval-Marrufo – George Powell Applied Skills Based Technology Scholarship
• Ehkeelar Soe – Foundation Scholarship
• Khin Sui Par – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Ram Thang – J. Paul and Fern Watkins Jewell Scholarship
• Hni Tial – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Ni Tial – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Ilse Torres – Foundation Scholarship
• Blessing Ugwuegbu – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Nadia Vallecillo – Foundation Scholarship
• Itzel Villarreal – Frank and Doris Schlagle Scholarship
• Kevin Warner – Foundation Scholarship
• Tonya Womack – Foundation Scholarship
• Khin San Yi – Foundation Scholarship
• Delanie Young – Foundation Scholarship
• LaMika Young-Bett – J. Paul and Fern Watkins Jewell Scholarship
The KCKCC Foundation Scholarship Application and Criteria and TEC Scholarship Application and Criteria are now available online at www.kckcc.edu/foundation/scholarships. A completed application and supporting documentation can be emailed to [email protected] or delivered to the Foundation Office in Mathematics Room 3500. Incomplete applications received on the deadline date will not be considered for awards.
The application deadline for spring 2019 Foundation scholarships is Oct. 1 and Oct. 23 for KCKCC-TEC scholarships. The application deadline for fall 2019 is March 1 for Foundation Scholarships and March 23 for KCKCC-TEC scholarships. Scholarships are competitive and funding is limited, so those interested are asked to submit applications as soon as possible.
Those who do not apply will not receive an award. For additional questions, contact Debbie Cowick, foundation scholarship coordinator, at 913-288-7369.
– From Kelly Rogge, KCKCC
by Mary Rupert
The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education went outside its own organization tonight to hire a new superintendent, Dr. Charles Foust, currently in Monroe, North Carolina.
The vote was 5-2, with board president, Brenda Jones, and board member, Janey Humphries, voting no.
A gasp went through some of the audience as the board made its selection tonight at the district’s Central Office, 2010 N. 59th St. More than 100 people attended.
The other superintendent finalist was Dr. Jayson Strickland, deputy superintendent of the KCK school district. Speakers who had supported Dr. Strickland during the audience communications segment of the meeting had received a lot of applause.
Randy Lopez, one of the speakers during the audience portion of the meeting, said the district has talked about growing its own candidates, and today it had the opportunity to walk that talk. He said the district needs someone in the superintendent’s position who is committed and shares the community’s values.
Neither of the candidates listed prior experience as superintendent, although they both have many years’ experience in administration and teaching.
Dr. Foust is the chief school performance officer from Union County Public Schools, Monroe, North Carolina. Before that, he was a school support officer for Houston Independent School District, supervising and mentoring principals and managing programs that 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. Julie Ford of Topeka will be the district’s interim superintendent in July, serving until Dr. Foust takes office. Board members were not sure when Dr. Foust will start.
“My vote was based on looking at his (Foust’s) experience, his credentials and looking at his dissertation, and knowing we will have to be clear about the goals,” said Dr. Valdenia Winn, board vice president, after the meeting. She and four other board members voted in favor of Dr. Foust. “We believe we made the right choice.”
Dr. Winn said her top goal for the district would be to increase student achievement, student assessment and ACT scores.
“We will have to serve as ambassadors and help the new superintendent build trust,” she said.
“There was a lot of emotion in the room this evening, and that’s understandable,” she said. “Our students have not been performing well for many years, so we have looked at facts.”
Dr. Foust had a plan, and his dissertation was on a college readiness program similar to the district’s Diploma+, she said.
“He’s going to have to win the trust of the community, and be open and honest,” she said. “The fear of change is people just don’t know.” One of the goals is to be open and honest, do what works, and keep it moving, she said.
Dr. Winn said she looked at Dr. Foust’s record of turning low-performance schools around, and his plan to come in and help provide dedicated resources for tutors, for hiring more teachers, and reducing class sizes, all the things they know that work to increase achievement, she said.
While a lot of people at the recent board meetings and meet-and-greet sessions supported Dr. Strickland, Dr. Winn said that they also have heard other opinions. She said other members of the community, who are not so emotional and were not there tonight, have said the district needs to change. They need to take what works, and keep doing it, but a lot was not working, she believes.
“We’ve got to give teachers resources, we’ve got to include parents, because parents have to understand and commit themselves to guarantee that their students are coming to learn,” she said. “Those schools have to be safe, the learning environment has to be calm.”
Dr. Winn said there is an undercurrent right now that probably will not go away.
“We’ll continue to get nasty emails, we’ll continue to get harassed,” she said. But at the end of the day, she said what will make a difference is that they will have to move that needle of the student scores.
One school board member, Wanda Paige, received a negative message telling her to resign last week, with the person who sent the message stating false information that she was not eligible for the board. However, Paige, who is eligible for the board, did not resign and instead reported the message to the authorities.
Dr. Winn said she knows there is a lot of work to do to bring the community together, and there will be more listening tours to communicate with residents and patrons, and ask their views.
“We have to be ambassadors and we have to deal with facts,” Dr. Winn said. “That’s part of the problem with the emotion in the room.” It’s something they will have to address.
Board president Brenda Jones and Janey Humphries were nearly in tears after tonight’s vote.
Humphries said during the vote that she looked at both candidates’ qualifications and thought both had very good qualifications.
“We always talk about how we grow our own, but we didn’t pick our own,” Jones said after the meeting.
“The majority of the board voted for Dr. Foust, and we need to work together for the best of our children,” Humphries said later.
J.D. Rios, a former administrator with the school district who was in the audience, said he was not surprised at the vote.
“What I’m hopeful of is that the community continues to be engaged, keeping vigilant on what the board and administration are doing,” he said. He is hoping that the district’s progress can continue.
“He is charismatic, he has had success in his previous positions and I hope success can continue here in Kansas City, Kansas,” Rios said about Dr. Foust. “I believe if the community and staff rally around the board’s selection, that will happen, because I have every faith in the teachers and staff.”
The Kansas City, Kansas, school district, besides losing Dr. Cynthia Lane to retirement, is also losing David Smith, who has served as chief of staff, to the Shawnee Mission School District, where he will be chief communications officer. During his 13 years in the KCK district, Smith, a former middle school teacher, served in roles that included being the spokesman for the district and chief of communications. He is a former assistant superintendent for communications of the Kansas City, Missouri, School District.
The board also called a special budget meeting for 5 p.m. July 3.
For earlier stories about the superintendent selection, visit
Analysis: Teachers on KCK school board quizzing administration, and getting backlash
