Paul Fregeau, the Fox C-6 School District’s new superintendent, has a simple question when he meets people – “How can I help you?”
“It is about how I can help a person or the district as the superintendent,” said Fregeau, who had been the superintendent at the Decatur Public Schools in Illinois, but took over the top job at Fox on July 1.
He replaced Nisha Patel, who is now superintendent at the School District of Clayton.
Fregeau’s introductory question elicited a blunt response March 24 when he met with parents and teachers at Rockport Heights Elementary School in Arnold, not long after his hire had been announced.
“The first parent stood up and said, ‘Stay,’” Fregeau recalled.
Fregeau, 58, said he’s heard a lot of district residents say they are looking for a superintendent who will stay in the job long term.
Patel was the district’s superintendent for two years, and her predecessor, Jim Wipke, left Fox after four years to become the superintendent at the Ladue School District.
“I think there is a sense there have been two short-term people,” Fregeau said, “and I think people want someone who has bought in, wants to stay and be here for a while.”
Fregeau, who has moved to Arnold with his wife, April, said he plans to do just that.
“I want this to be my last position as a superintendent. This is the final stop of my career, and I am only 58. I want to be here a long time and make a big difference for our 11,000-plus kids,” he said. “I want to be a person people trust and understand is here to help kids for a long time.”
In his first six days at Fox, Fregeau said he visited several school buildings, met with principals and Board of Education members, attended an Arnold Rotary Club meeting and participated in a blood drive.
He was scheduled to meet with members of the superintendent’s cabinet the week of July 12 and was setting up times to meet with each of the district’s employee groups or employee-group leaders to discuss the state of the district, and, of course, ask how he can help.
“I like to get everyone together to meet and talk with them,” Fregeau said.
He said he will block out time during the 2021-2022 school year, which is set to start Aug. 25, to visit every school building to meet with staff members and students.
Along with meeting people in person, Fregeau also uses Facebook and Twitter (@foxc6super) to reach out to the community.
He said he plans to create a committee made up of a freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors from both Fox and Seckman and meet with them once a month so their voices can be heard.
“It will be to get the pulse of what is going on, and I want to get them to attack an issue they would like to see changed,” Fregeau said. “For example, in Decatur, one thing they got adjusted was the dress code. We worked on it all year, and they brought it to the board and got it approved. They also got the high school schedule adjusted to allow for more time during the day to meet with teachers or clubs.”
Fox issues
Fregeau said he already has started looking at the district’s budget issues.
The Fox budget outlook is better than it was a year ago since the district was able to leave more money in its reserve fund because of lower costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the district also is eligible to receive $12.9 million from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, commonly referred to as ESSER, in reimbursements for COVID-19-related costs.
“I like to look at three years of expenditures and revenues, but those are skewed right now because for 18 months, we haven’t had a normal budget,” Fregeau said. “It will take a lot of monitoring, getting up to speed and numerous conversations with people about things they are seeing that we are doing well with the money and why we are spending it in these areas.”
Fregeau said he also will reassemble the district’s curriculum and instruction department after the executive director of curriculum and instruction position was eliminated after the 2020-2021 school year and most of the other members of the department have moved to different positions at Fox.
“Everything is on the table right now,” he said. “I have to get the people who have been here and doing the work day-to-day to find out the best way to support the work of teaching and learning.”
Fregeau said when school resumes, it should look like it did before the pandemic struck.
He also has his eyes on the improvement projects to be funded with the $43,668,560 the district received from selling bonds after residents voted in June 2020 to approve Prop P, which did not increase taxes but extended the district’s debt for 20 years.
“We need to get the public’s confidence that we are doing what we said we would with the money,” Fregeau said. “I have seen (bond issues) go awry in other districts, and it is hard to recover. We have to live up to what we promised with Prop P.”
Fregeau said he also will focus on the four goals the Board of Education has developed for him – to improve student achievement; promote a positive culture and climate throughout the district for all employees; develop a proactive communication plan for all members of the district; and create a five-year budget plan to address needs around the district.
“They are general, but they will be fleshed-out action steps and metrics to measure our progress,” Fregeau said. “There will be quarterly updates.”
Handling criticism
Fregeau said he understands some community members might feel uncomfortable with his $222,500 annual salary and additional benefits, like the $12,255.36 health insurance costs the district will cover for him and his wife.
Patel was paid $182,500 last school year and didn’t receive all the same benefits.
“I am well compensated, and I understand people’s angst when that happens,” Fregeau said. “Some people will question it, and I will have to operate with high integrity and build people’s trust in me moving forward.”
Fregeau also knows it’s important to raise student performance on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), and some people have pointed out that student test scores at Decatur, where Fregeau last worked, were worse than Fox’s.
“We were not where we need to be in comparison to the state,” Fregeau said of Decatur, where every student is eligible for a free lunch.
Fregeau said he likes to monitor progress on the tests for each class throughout its time at a district. He calls those classes cohorts, and he said he compares how that group scores on the test as third-graders then fourth-graders and so on, instead of how third-graders from one school year compare to third-graders from the following school year.
“In my career, when we have focused on cohorts and how they are progressing is where you can make a difference,” Fregeau said. “A lot of times, people will look at grade level to grade level. Those are not the same students.”
Fregeau said what he asks from district residents is patience and grace as he starts his work at Fox.
“Effective, impactful change does not happen overnight,” he said. “It takes everybody. We will get things going better.”