Career

Substitute Teacher

Multiple Northeast Metro School Districts

I sort of fell into the substitute teaching job by accident. I was unemployed and looking for a job. Someone suggested I substitute teach: "It's easy work."

It turns out, I really enjoyed substitute teaching. Most people regale friends with stories of how they tormented substitute teachers and fooled around all day. Not on my watch. This is not to say, students didn't try and play pranks on me because they did. But, teachers and administration asked me to come back to their classroom, because I was not only reliable, good with students, understood just about every subject matter I was asked to teach (not all, by any means), and could be counted on to follow the lesson plan and teach students - not babysit them. One year, I substitute taught all but four days. I taught the first day of school at least twice and the last as well.

Since I've been at Century, many students have come up to me and tentatively said, "Mr. LaFoy, I don't know if you remember me, but you substitute taught me ..." I must have made a very positive impression.

High School Instructor

The City Inc.

The City Inc. serves youth and families who live in the inner-city of Minneapolis. Most of these students lived in poverty and were victims of violence and homelessness. I was THE Social Studies teacher and taught Geography, World History and Government to 9th through 12th grade students. I worked with a small staff of teachers who were committed and motivated to help these students succeed.

It was inspiring to see these students come to school - oftentimes the only stable place in their lives. I worked very hard at connecting these students with lesson plans that would make a difference in their lives.

An Shi Rebellion.pdf

Vacation Project for Young Geographers.pdf

7th Grade Geography

St. Anthony Middle School

Start Date September 30, 2005 - June 06, 2006

Applied Social Studies Standards to curriculum in St. Anthony Middle School Geography class. Developed interdisciplinary unit in geography and math. Individualized student learning plan and goal development. Maximized technology and multimedia instruction. Coordinated History day for 7th graders.

Nasal Ranger

St. Croix Sensory

This was the strangest job I've ever had. St. Croix Sensory is a sensory testing and training company. They specialize in odor testing of air samples, commercial products, and materials - which was my job.

I went into a room and they had a pillow sized clear plastic bag of 'air' that was hooked up into a machine. I breathed the 'air' from the 'pillow' and told the interviewers what I thought the 'air' smelled like. Usually, it smelled like downwind from a sewage plant.

Faculty - Concordia School of Accelerated Learning

Concordia University - Saint Paul

This was one of the shortest and worst experiences of my life. I interviewed for one evening teaching position, and was hired; but then was assigned another position - and asked to teach a class I had no idea what I was doing. I spent countless hours trying to understand the lesson, ideas and concepts, and went and observed another faculty member teaching the same class. And, the students were not a very good group of folks. I quit after two classes (two weeks).

Lessons learned - don't take a job where you don't know what you are doing, and are expected to teach others. It is amazingly humbling and frustrating.

Executive Director - White Bear Montessori

My one year tenure as the executive director was an incredibly busy one! The White Bear Montessori resided in the White Bear Presbyterian Church for 26 years when I took over. Before I took over, the school had purchased an old church and was significantly remolding in for a fall move-in. So, while I was the director, I moved the school about three miles, lock-stock, and barrel. We doubled the enrollment, while we were moving into the new facility. I also added some new programs. While there, I laid the groundwork for future expansion, past Kindergarten, into first through third grade. While moving in, I had to add: phones, security, ground, garbage and a lot more - meanwhile, I was interviewing parents and children to add on to the number (so we could afford to pay for the school).

People I met at the school during that time are still my best friends.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Reliastar Insurance

During the boom years of the dot-com explosion, I was hired by ReliaStar Insurance to do QA (Quality Assurance) on software they were writing. I did not have any experience doing this, however, I was more than qualified to do this job. I pay particular attention to detail and am able to beat up projects, particularly especially large projects, and find issues (and propose solutions) - which was precisely what this job entailed.

The groundwork I did while at ReliaStar was followed up by the person who was hired after me, resulting in the launch of an interactive and reliable product the company and its agents in the field could use to benefit the policyholders.

Research Attorney - West Legal Directory

West Publishing

Industry Legal

I developed, organized, and maintained West's Legal Directory's (WLD) Internet and Intranet site - and this was in the very early days of the Internet - when it was a new territory for everyone. This directory of attorneys went from zero attorneys to detailed profiles to close to a million attorneys and law firms.

Some of the things I was responsible for included: implementing standards for the format, layout and content; guiding multi-department team in semi-annual upgrade; and release of data on CD-ROM.

In addition, I was responsible for quality assurance for more than six years of 1.2 million member directory; 99 databases; software; and conversion from mainframe information to the Internet and CD ROM. I also directed others in quality assurance checks of new databases and conversions.

After the new owners of West, Thompson, took over, they decided to eliminate the folks in this department. I was given a VERY generous severance package. I was given to understand, Thompson had to rehire the entire department a year later.

Westlaw Legal Researcher

West Publishing

I was one of the first people hired to staff this important position for West Publishing Company. Our job was to help people figure out how to conduct legal research in this important electronic medium. Inquiries ranged from simple questions on what the most current law was, to very complicated multi-state and multi-party legal issues. One would typically answer 30-50 questions a day.I won several awards for my knowledge of the legal database of information.

One interesting thing I did in this position was find all of the legal publications at West Publishing. At that time, West was in downtown St. Paul, in an old warehouse and 100 plus years of books were scattered all over the place. Oddly enough, no one had ever put together a map with locations to all of these books. For a few years, this little catalog was relied on by many different departments when they needed to find books. After the company moved, there actually was a library in one location.

Legal Book Sales - West Publishing Company

West Publishing Company

This is the only real sales job I've ever held. I worked part-time at this job while I was practicing law about a block away. We called attorneys and law firms soliciting them to buy law books from West Publishing Company.

I was never the top seller, but neither was I the bottom - I regularly was in the top 1/3 of the sales force. I also won several awards for my knowledge of the books West sold.

I became friends with several of my customers and even though I never met him, I stayed in his house on Sanibel Island. I also received a personally autographed copy of the official Oklahoma State Poem!

This was a good place to supplement my income while my law firm was beginning to take off. However, my work as a salesman convinced me the future of law firms was not with a small law firm, like mine. I could see the future of the law lay with specialization or with large mega-law firms. After my partner and I dissolved our law firm, events have proved me correct.

Partner - Randall & LaFoy Law Firm

Start Date October 01, 1979 - September 01, 1988

I started a law firm directly out of law school with three classmates. We found an office right next to the local county courthouse, and proceeded to practice law. We were young and hungry. We worked for just about anyone who came in our doors. I handled cases in: wills; probate; contracts; property; zoning; environment; criminal law and litigation management.

I particularly enjoyed the practice of law because of the different types of cases I would see in my office and the unique challenges each case brought. I enjoyed working with people and the professionals I encountered along the way.

While our small office began to take off, I began working for West Publishing Company. While working at West, I dealt quite a bit with law firms like mine. I also observed older attorneys in firms like mine. My observations led me to two conclusions: the cost of health care and legal malpractice insurance was going to continue to rise, a lot. The future did not look particularly bright for smaller firms like ours, and as much as I liked practicing law,decided to work for West Publishing full time.

I do not have my law license and cannot practice law.

Clerk - Kinko Copier

1984-85: This was NOT a job I liked. Unless you work at a place like this one would never know the amount of petty detail that goes into making copies for people. This was the worst job I ever had. I took the job as they took over the location of the shoe store. I needed this job to pay bills while we were getting the law office going.

Manager - Schockte Shoes

1982-84: I sold shoes to whoever walked in the door. The store sold shoes had the negative heal and were supposed to be very good for your spine. I still have several pair of these shoes - they don't wear out. I needed this job to pay bills while we were getting the law office going.

Liquor Store Clerk

1982 Was a clerk who schlepped boxes of liquor around. This was not a career for me. My law partner and I did this for his mom's liquor store.

Bailiff - Law Clerk - Ramsey County, Minnesota

10/79 - 6/80 Assisted Judge, Courts and Court Administration. Pioneered and worked on development and implementation of first Domestic Abuse Program for Ramsey County - and probably the state. In retrospect, I was exposed to a world I never imagined; in the world I lived in, no man would ever hit a woman or a child. We had to find a safe place for these women/families to live; I was the one who compiled a list (and it was hard to do as these 'safe houses' didn't want their addresses publically known as there was a justifiable fear that the abusing partner would come there and harass their escaping family.Thank goodness society has come to recognize this problem.

Assistant Attorney/Prosecutor, City of St. Paul

Criminal Division - St. Paul, Mn. 4/79 - 7/79. Represented city in all phases of an initial criminal court appearance

Legal Intern - State Treasurers Office, State of Minnesota

12/77 - 12/78 Unclaimed Property Division. Participated in the establishment of the new agency for State. Organized and authored legal guidelines for the division. Coordinated passage of amendments to State law and adoption of administrative rules.

Hotel Clerk

1972 Unknown length, other than it was while I was in college and it was by 3M in St. Paul on I-94. It was not something I wanted to make a career of.

House Painter

Employment Type Part Time

Vern and Colia's Nightclub

Big, huge projects: that is something I found I could work on. I found once you broke them into smaller parts, they are doable. How's the riddle go? How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. Since this paint job, I have worked on countless huge projects which I have brought to successful conclusions. Painting this nightclub was a beast - it had not been painted in years and years: it had a deck around the place, it had awnings, it had this wall I could only reach by hanging over the roof and painting down. I can still see the one spot I missed (it was about 2x2 and I could not reach it no matter what I did; no one else noticed this, but I knew). Here is where I learned fear when the ladder slipped from underneith me. This was my last summer position, as I graduated from college after this job.

Fry Cook

Employment Type Part Time

Vern and Colia's Nightclub

Industry Food Preparation and Serving Related

One more promotion to Fry Cook. I was the one who cooked all of the fry things like shrimp, pork tenderloin. I also broiled lobster, shish kabobs and ribs. I worked right next to the head cook.Boy, could we crank out the food on a really busy Saturday night. Timing was so critical, you needed to serve it hot, not cold. The head cook kept making these "mistakes" and we had to eat all of these steaks. It was a perfect job for a growing boy. I must have eaten four-five pounds of steak, and a lobster and shrimp and ribs a week. We were downing coca colas by the dozens on a Saturday night. No wonder we could not go to sleep until 1:30 or later. It was not such a big deal to work under a lot of pressure; well, maybe it was, it just doesn't seem that big a deal now.

Potato Cook

Employment Type Part Time

Vern and Colia's Nightclub

Industry Food Preparation and Serving Related

Now, I was getting somewhere in the pecking order. I was now above the bus boy and dishwasher and I could tell them what to do! I cooked fries, baked potatoes, and hashbrowns. I, who had just made peanut butter sandwiches at home, now was actually cooking - and I have never looked back. I do not fear the kitchen, it is my friend. (But, just don't run out of baked potatoes on a Saturday night).

Paper Boy

Employment Type Part Time

Des Moines Register

I delivered the Des Moines Register for several years. I got up early, around 5:30 a.m., and delivered the morning paper to my neighborhood. The hard part was collecting; I had to do this every week. (What a fool, why didn't I ask for a month at a time, or even longer - like we do now? I guess no one had figured this out.) I had one of the biggest routes in Mason City, Iowa. There were constantly contests to add new customers - I won several. I rode my sting-ray bike around with the paper bag suspended between the bars. On Sunday, I dragged a wagon with the papers. It taught me not to fear going into strange places (to collect, or to try and get new customers); it taught me perseverance because I had to go back many times to collect from some of the deadbeats on my route. When it got too cold (-5), my father would get up and drive the car around (he must have just hated that Faustian bargain) boy, you had to look at the thermometer just right to make sure it was -5, and my father would examine it too.) I took my loyal dog with me too. When I finally quit the route, I had more than $200 in my savings account, all accumulated week by week, penny and nickel. It doesn't seem much now, but in the 1960's, it was a lot. I remember my glasses always steaming up, which is why I eventually got contact lens.

Miniature Golf Course Attendant

Employment Type Part Time

organization

I have no idea how I got this job, how many hours I worked there, or what I got paid, except it was in cash (because my social security account does not start until later).

From this job, I learned to be patient and emphasize customer friendliness.