Published: October 09, 2008 12:13 pm            

Cooper named lone finalist for superintendent

Blake Cooper, assistant superintendent at Kaufman ISD since 2006, has been named the lone finalist for the superintendent position in Commerce.

The Commerce ISD Board made the decision at a special meeting Monday night.

Cooper is no stranger to Commerce. He played center for the A&M-Commerce (East Texas) Lions football team from 1978 to 1981. He was also the 1981 recipient of the J.V. Sikes Award for the player who exhibited the leadership, attitude, scholarship, loyalty, achievement and desire necessary to build a champion.

Cooper said taking the position in Commerce is a chance for him to come back home in a lot of ways.

“It’s where (my wife and I) went to school,” Cooper said. “We married there and our two boys were born while we lived there. We know a lot of great people there. It’s just a great opportunity to lead and serve in a place that I love and my wife loves. It’s a special place to us.”

Cooper has been in education for 27 years. He started out as a teacher and a coach and became high school principal and head football coach in Edgewood, Texas, in 2001. He became principal there full time in the spring of 2002 and continued in Edgewood until he became assistant superintendent in Kaufman in 2006.

There are a lot of good things happening in Commerce, according to Cooper.

“They have some great administrators and some great staff there,” he said.

What most people seem to focus on, though, is scores on the TAKS test. Cooper said there is some work that needs to be done in that area.

“There’s some good things going on in the test scores and then there’s some things that need work,” he said. “That’s what we’ll focus in on and try to get better in those areas.

“We just want to have a high expectation level. With being the leader, hopefully I can convey that to everybody and build on the strengths that they’re doing. Hopefully, with the help of everybody involved, because it’s not a one-man show by any means, I can take them to higher levels than they are right now.”

Cooper believes there’s always room for improvement in any school district.

“There’s not a school district in the state of Texas that can’t get better,” he said. “We’re always going to strive to get better. If you get satisfied with where you are, then you’re going to fall behind.”

Cooper wants to help the district improve in every area, not just academics.

“We want high expectations from everybody concerned,” he said. “We just want to focus on the strengths and then identify are weaknesses and get better in those areas.

Cooper and his wife, Tammy, have three children. Wesley, 25, is a teacher and coach in Springtown, Texas; Robert, 21, will graduate from Texas Tech University in May with a pre-med degree and Rebekah, 13, is in the eighth grade.

After a 21-day waiting period, the Commerce ISD Board will consider naming Cooper superintendent at its regular meeting, which has been rescheduled for Oct. 27 at A.C. Williams Elementary.

        

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