Roger Cook, former superintendent of the Russellville Independent Schools, has received a national honor from the National School Boards Association. The following article is reprinted with permission from the Central Kentucky News-Journal of Campbellsville.
When he accepts the award in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, it will be on behalf of the district's teachers, faculty and staff.
Superintendent of Taylor County Schools Roger Cook has been named to the "20 to Watch" list for educators across the United States.
Taylor County Schools Superintendent Roger Cook has been named as a National School Boards Association's "20 to Watch" honoree for 2013-2014. Cook is the sixth Kentuckian to receive the distinction since the program's inception in 2006.
"It's really focused on finding those emerging educators with contagious enthusiasm to inspire their peers on a journey of innovation," Ann Flynn, NSBA's director of education technology, said.
This year's honorees are being recognized at the 2014 Consortium for School Networking Conference this week, along with at a TLN-hosted luncheon at NSBA's 2014 Annual Conference in New Orleans this April.
TechSmith Corporation is sponsoring the "20 to Watch" celebration events and is providing software scholarships to the honorees. The program recognizes education leaders across the country for their ability to inspire colleagues to incorporate innovative technology solutions in the classroom.
But Cook said as superintendent his role is to secure grants and funding necessary to provide the technology. He isn't the person who uses the technology to teach and inspire students every day. It's the district's teachers, faculty and staff who really deserve the credit, he said.
"Because they're the ones that do the hard work, I don't," Cook said. "They're the ones that make Taylor County Schools a District of Innovation."
According to a release from the NSBA, Cook was selected for "pushing the boundaries" of how education is delivered, from providing access to iPads to all high school students to implementing the flipped classroom model. Districts nationwide have begun experimenting with the concept that inverts traditional teaching methods by delivering instruction online while students are home and moving homework assignments into the classroom.
"One of the most changing worlds and environments is technology," Cook said. "If you don't keep pushing and pushing for the use of that, when our kids graduate and they go out into the world, they're going to be competing against those who have."
And, according to Cook, his district is not pushing those boundaries enough - because he doesn't have the money to push.
"If I had the money to push, I'd be teaching computer programming," Cook said.
At a recent convention for superintendents, Cook said he learned there is a demand for 1.5 million computer programming jobs that offer salaries upward of $70,000. But companies can't find qualified applicants. He said taking advantage of opportunities like these is key for the success of this generation.
"You need to keep pushing the boundaries on technology because the demand is there for those students," Cook said.
Cook was also chosen for his dedication to helping adults who dropped out of high school to enroll in the Virtual Academy and receive their high school diplomas.
"We use technology to not only keep our students engaged, but to let people who dropped out in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s come back and use our technology resources to get their diploma, and nobody else is doing that," Cook said.
He said the district receives no financial gain for helping these individuals and has been told that doing so is a waste of resources. But with eight older siblings who never received their high school diplomas, Cook said he sees his brothers and sisters in adults who dropped out decades ago and current students who are contemplating dropping out now.
"And I'm like, 'You're not dropping out,'" Cook said. "I won't let them."
He said helping people earn their high school diploma raises the quality of life in the community.
"If you make more money, you're going to spend more money," Cook said. "It's going to raise the economy, it's more taxes - school taxes we're going to get - so it's all good."
The district has also hosted visitors from other school districts to show them how to implement technology, performance-based education and the flipped classroom model into their schools. This is yet another quality Flynn said judges were looking for as they whittled down the pool of more than 100 nominees.
"The people who are doing good work, innovative work and bringing their colleagues along with them," Flynn said.
The National School Boards Association is the leading advocate for public education and supports equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership. NSBA represents state school boards associations and their more than 90,000 local school board members throughout the U.S.