CHEYENNE, Wyo. — In this edition of “Meet the Candidates,” Barb Cook shares with Cap City News how she envisions serving Laramie County parents and guardians if elected as an LCSD1 board trustee. Cook is one of seven people running for the board. Three seats are open.
The following are responses that Cook shared with Cap City News. To view Q&As of other candidates in the general election, click here.
How do you plan to address transparency and community involvement in major decisions, such as budget allocations or curriculum changes?
In order for me to make major decisions while on the school board for LCSD#1 I will need to get out into the community and speak with parents, students, teachers, and community members to get their input as to the challenges they have faced within our schools. Once I have gathered the stakeholders’ information, I will make the best decision I can that will be fiscally responsible and ultimately create a school environment where our students can thrive. All policies need to be put out for a 45-day review so all people can offer their thoughts about decisions that will be made within our schools. Those reviews must be respectfully taken into account in order to make a well-rounded decision. As far as curriculum changes, we have educational experts within our school district that will thoroughly vet a variety of school materials. I would examine the books to be used for the curriculum, ask questions of the teachers within the district and then support the expertise that our school personnel utilized to select curriculum for our students.
How would you ensure that LCSD1’s policies promote a safe and inclusive environment for all students?
If elected, I plan on regularly going into the schools in LCSD1 to see safe classrooms and inclusive environments. I would like to speak with principals, educators, school personnel and students as to the challenges they face while at their jobs/classrooms each day. After seeing the schools and personnel, I would return to the school board meetings to share my findings as well as solutions to the challenges I would see and hear about.
What is your position on future building renovations and new construction, and how would you balance that with other financial needs like teacher salaries or student programs?
An inequity exists between school buildings within the LCSD1 district. Many of our older schools are in great need of repair, yet outstanding teaching/learning still takes place inside the walls of the older school buildings. We must evaluate the needs within the community to see where money would best be spent on our schools. Prioritizing the needs for each building would be important. Our School Facilities Commission, a state agency, will soon be releasing their report on which schools need attention in order to remain useful to the children in our school district. The families and students of Arp Elementary have waited a very long time for a new school and that problem needs to be addressed. While school buildings are very important to the educational life of children, so are teachers that work in the LCSD1 schools. To me, it is more of a concern that we have teachers walking away from their profession as well as classrooms in need of qualified people to work in them. We have slipped from our ranking on teachers salaries from 15th to currently 20th in the nation. We need to address salaries so they are close to market value in order to attract outstanding professionals to work at LCSD1. It is not an either/or type of problem, but rather a “large challenge.” We need to address school buildings, teacher salaries and student program…all at the same time. All three of those areas are important to the success of a school district.
How would you approach the ongoing debates about library content and the types of books available to students?
As a former educator, I never saw any inappropriate books in our school library. I wholeheartedly believe that we have skilled librarians employed in our schools with expertise in all areas of media/books. They should be allowed to procure great literature which is age appropriate for the students in their buildings. When they assist students with their book selections, they can guide students towards books that would be suitable for them. Currently, our school board has tied the hands of our librarians by not allowing them to procure award-winning books through their most recently adopted policy. Our librarians, many of whom are moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, have children’s best interest in mind when they assist children in our school libraries. They want to promote interesting books, encourage the love of reading and continue to expand their school libraries with great literature. I believe parents should have the right to control their own children’s selection of books at the school library. But by limiting what books trained librarians can procure, it may keep great books off the school library shelves and out of my grandchildren’s hands through this preemptive ban. I want librarians to do the jobs they were trained and hired to do…completely.
Given the recent concerns about bullying and related tragedies in districts like Natrona County, what specific steps would you take to create a safer, more supportive environment in LCSD1 schools and prevent similar incidents?
First of all, the board of trustees must listen to all stakeholders about the happenings going on in schools. These are the specific steps I would take to create a safer, more supportive environment in our schools.
- School board members must be present in the community, in schools and school activities so they can keep lines of communications open with all stakeholders.
- School board members must foster a mutually respectable relationship which is nurtured between, students, parents, teachers, and administrators. When that relationship exists, all stakeholders can find compromises and solutions to curb problems in our schools.
- When needed, school resource officers (SROs) are invaluable! I would like to see more of a presence with SROs at our Jr. High and High Schools. A good relationship between students and SROs would bolster the connection between children and police.
- Lastly, I believe that bullying in our schools must be handled swiftly and fairly in order to keep the culture in our schools moving forward. Challenging students, their parents, teachers and administrators must work collaboratively to assist those students to develop more appropriate ways of acting in our schools. If a specific, firm, fair and quick protocol is followed in the elementary schools with regard to challenging students, it would create a safer environment for all students and school personnel alike. Over the last few years, student misbehavior has become an escalating problem. As a school board, we need to help school personnel deal with this challenge so all stakeholders can feel safe in their school environment.
Is there anything else you’d like voters to know about you?
I am a mom, grandma, school volunteer and a 21-year retired educator; all of which will be assets if given the opportunity to serve on LCSD1 school board. As a parent, I have respectfully advocated for my children in many different school districts throughout the country as I am a spouse of a military veteran and we have lived many places throughout the United States. I have a child who received special education services during their education career. As a mom I worked with numerous school personnel so we could find the best possible environment for my child to thrive in. As an educator I took all of my personal parenting experiences and sought to develop a healthy working relationship with the parents of my students. Together we strived to create a successful school environment for the children in my classes. Now as a grandmother, I see the important aspects of education from an entirely different perspective. I believe all LCSD1 school personnel can create meaningful classroom experiences to develop productive students. Parents and guardians need to respectfully support school staff towards that end goal. If all of that is in place, we can develop kind, problem-solving, information-seeking individuals to go out into society and collaboratively solve the challenges in our world. I will work diligently to that end without influence from outside interest groups and political organizations…addressing the problems within our school district, not some manufactured problems that don’t exist.
