Seven years ago, the Dolores School District was rated as one of the best in Southwest Colorado. About that time, we were gifted with Scott Cooper as our superintendent. He was a great community organizer, but his lack of district leadership and academic support led us to where we are now, in the second year of turnaround.
He reduced the school finances to a negative $250,000 balance. Of course, he did not do this alone, he was supported by three of the existing board members, two of whom are going through a self-deserved recall process. These three have overseen and made the decisions that supported Cooper for several years, many times without a discussion or question.
This existing board allowed him to hire an administration lacking in an education background and ignored their own polices. They allowed him to spend money on more buildings, while paying little attention to academic excellence. No goals were ever set for Mr. Cooper to keep our district from sliding further. He wasn’t held accountable for his own bad decisions. Major issues concerning students’ well-being were ignored. Our graduation rates have dropped and so has school enrollment.
Isn’t this enough reason for recalling these board members? Scott Cooper has moved on, and so should Vangi McCoy and Dee Prock. It’s time for some new vision and guidance that make student achievement the main focus of our district once again.
Keith Moore
Dolores
