Foss

Foss has great teachers who work really hard to make a positive learning experience for the students.
--Submitted by a parent

I came to Foss from Curtis high school, and I have to say, I was quite impressed. I had a wonder time there, and the teachers are amazing. A lot of diversity, which helped me a lot, and fairness in grades as well.
--Submitted by a student

Foss is a large, diverse urban school with students from all backgrounds, economic status, ethnicity, country of birth, and academic ability. Teachers are committed and caring. When our son was struggling, every one of his teachers and his counselor came to a 7 a.m. conference with us to talk about how to best help him. We have two students there with totally different learning styles and for the most part, both have received excellent instruction. The school is going through a lot of changes and staff morale is low, but I don't think that has affected the teaching. Communication from the administration can only be described as inadequate. In an effort to bring up WASL scores, the administration is quietly weakening the prestigious International Baccalaureate program, which draws ambitious students from all over. This is disheartening and could result in bright students choosing to go elsewhere. Overall, many plusses and minusses!
--Submitted by a parent

A very nice school, with great acedemics, but the students aren't the greatest, and there are many students in gangs.Parents are not very involved, but this school has many elective class choices.
--Submitted by Proud Parent, a parent

I think Foss is the best school in the surrounding area hands down (including all the private schools). Although the school has had some problems with student-administration relationships, I have throughly enjoyed my time here. I agree that the gates grant has overall lowered attention on certain aspects of the school, however, now that it is instated, the school should support the program to it's fullest (as long as it does not interfere with the IB program).... 1 thing the school could do is focus more on the IB program, because from what I see, Foss has excellent college placement among IB students (Within the last couple years students from Foss have gained admission to; Havard, Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Cornell, Georgetown, Stanford, etc.).... The school could reward these high achiving students more than they already do. But those are just my general comments. Overall, it is still the best school.
--Submitted by a student

I would like to say that the quality of Foss has greatly gone down. My son graduated in 2001 and he loved it. The people were great and Mr. Lange was the greatest. My daughter is a junior and she despises Foss. The principal is never there, her counselor doesn't even know her name and she has been there for 2 years. She has one teacher that actually cares what happens to the students.
--Submitted by Alycia, a parent

I think one of the best decisions I have ever made was to enroll my daughter in Foss. The Academic Standards set by the staff are wonderful. We also have completely enjoyed the Girls Basketball Program. The coaches are some of the best I have ever seen. They set the stakes and expectations high. Thank you Foss for the wonderful experience.
--Submitted by a parent

Foss High School has good students and bad faculty. The principal and the staff needs to concentrate on the students and curriculum more than the construction of the building and meeting with each other. Quit talking and let's see some action being made.
--Submitted by a student

My daughter loves Foss and its diversity. The staff is very caring, but firm with the discipline when needed. She loves the cross country and track program. She is in the IB program and it is very challenging, but she receives the support she needs from the staff. She participates in the chamber orchestra and it is an excellent program. I have my son at Bellarmine Prep around the corner and I can say overall she is receiving the more challenging program and has more compentent teachers. The temptation of drugs seems to be not as high at Foss as it is in some of the surrounding schools.The principal treats everyone like a long lost cousin and the counselors have been wonderful. My daughter has received great information about college testing and admissions and has heard more than her brother at the expensive private school. Whenever I have contacted the staff they have been very helpful and they treat parents very well. I am very very pleased with Foss.
--Submitted by a parent

The 'new schools' concept has greatly interfered with the academics of the present population of junior & seniors. Too much time spent on that has affected the teachers' time they should be spending on the current student body.
--Submitted by a parent