Charles Foust Calls for Sharper Priorities in Public School Leadership

• Executive Leadership Coach Charles Foust shares a practical case for narrowing district focus to a small set of high-impact goals.

Why Scattered Priorities Stall Progress

North Carolina, USA, 14th May 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Public school districts often try to address every challenge at once. Charles Foust, an Executive Leadership Coach with Leadership Plus and a former superintendent of New Hanover County Schools and Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, argues that approach is one of the biggest reasons systems struggle to improve.

Foust has spent more than 20 years in public education, leading districts serving over 24,000 students and managing budgets up to $600 million. He says the leaders who deliver real change are the ones willing to cut their priority list down to what actually moves outcomes.

A Three-Part Standard for District Focus

Foust outlines three commitments he believes every district leadership team should hold itself to:

Pick a small number of priorities. Three to five high-impact goals, not fifteen. Anything beyond that becomes noise.

Align people, resources, and strategy behind them. A goal without funding, staffing, and a clear plan is a wish.

Stay with them long enough to see results. Transformation is a process, not a single initiative or school year.

In New Hanover County Schools, this approach coincided with academic proficiency moving from 50% to 61.1%, placing the district in the top 10 academically proficient districts in North Carolina. In Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, several schools achieved double-digit growth in one year.

What School Boards Can Do This Quarter

Foust suggests boards and superintendents take three concrete steps before the next planning cycle:

1. List every active strategic priority on one page. If it does not fit, the list is too long.

2. Rank each priority by direct impact on student outcomes. Cut anything that does not clearly connect.

3. Assign a single accountable leader to each remaining priority and review progress on a fixed monthly cadence.

The goal is not more activity. It is fewer initiatives executed well.

What Leaders Need in Return

Foust also points to a second pattern. Districts often ask leaders to deliver strong results without giving them the structure or coaching to succeed. He believes that has to change. Investing in principal and central office leadership development, he says, is one of the highest-return decisions a district can make.

About Charles Foust
Charles Foust is an Executive Leadership Coach with Leadership Plus, based in Wilmington, North Carolina. He previously served as Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools and Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, and held senior roles in Union County Public Schools and Houston ISD. He was named Southeastern Superintendent of the Year for 2024-2025 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Leadership Caucus-Southeastern Region in February 2026. More information is available through his LinkedIn profile.