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Michael Cook (Texas)
Michael Cook is a member of the Plano Independent School District school board in Texas, representing Place 5. He assumed office on May 16, 2023. His current term ends in 2027.
Cook ran for election to the Plano Independent School District school board to represent Place 5 in Texas. He won in the general election on May 6, 2023.
Cook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Michael Cook was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's and a graduate degree from Cornell University in 2002 and 2007, respectively. His career experience includes working as a real estate investor.[1]
Cook has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- NAACP
- Jack and Jill
- Alpha Phi Alpha
Elections
2023
See also: Plano Independent School District, Texas, elections (2023)
General election
General election for Plano Independent School District school board Place 5
Michael Cook defeated Greg Jubenville and Khalid Ishaq in the general election for Plano Independent School District school board Place 5 on May 6, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael Cook (Nonpartisan)  | 51.3 | 12,205 |
| Greg Jubenville (Nonpartisan) | 34.5 | 8,216 | ||
 | Khalid Ishaq (Nonpartisan) | 14.2 | 3,379 | |
| Total votes: 23,800 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Cook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cook's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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We chose Plano for the school system and the community. We have always invested in both. Over the past five years, I have served Plano ISD in a number of ways. I worked on the Plano ISD Future Funding Commission, the Huffman School Based Improvement Committee, and the Special Education Advisory Board for Plano ISD.
As a parent of three Plano ISD students, I am running to keep the focus in Plano ISD on student achievement. Students in Plano have experienced significant learning loss post Covid. Coupled with the additional stresses placed on teachers and parents, students’ test scores continue to lag behind their pre-pandemic levels. I want to focus on three specific areas of improvement:
- Improving the academic outcomes of all students.
- Improving the parent-teacher relationship to better serve students, reduce stress on teachers and reassure parents that their children continue to receive a high-quality education.
- Provide more mental health resources to aid students, teachers and parents as they continue to deal with mental health challenges in and out of school.
- The pandemic hurt our kids. We erased gains across all demographics and saw large drop offs in student achievement across the board. Improving overall student academic performance post-pandemic of all students must be our main priority.
- Over the past several years, the relationship between teachers and parents has eroded significantly. This has led to increased teacher turnover and parents feeling like their voice doesn't matter. Improving the parent-teacher relationship will better serve students, reduce stress on teachers and reassure parents that their children continue to receive a high-quality education focused on student achievement and enrichment.
- Post pandemic, Plano ISD has seen significantly more reported mental health issues. While the ISD has responded by adding a small number of additional counselors, that approach hasn't fully addressed the challenges that we are seeing in both teachers and students. We need to provide more mental health resources to aid students, teachers and parents as they continue to deal with mental health challenges in and out of school.
- Improving the parent-teacher relationship to better serve students, reduce stress on teachers and reassure parents that their children continue to receive a high-quality education.
Students: Set measurable goals for student achievement and enrichment and ensure that the administration’s compensation is tied to meeting those goals across all demographics.
Even beyond current parents of Plano ISD, there remains a strong community supporting our schools. Our small business and churches donate their time and energy to serve on individual school committees and to provide both goods and services to the ISD. Furthermore, each Plano citizen helps keep our school infrastructure strong through their property tax payments.
“Solution 1” Allocate Additional Funding for Mental Health Counselors
I would allocate additional funding to hire more mental health counselors. Given the significant rise in mental health cases reported in school and the number of teachers reporting behavior related issues, students would benefit from additional counseling touch points.
We have seen In School Suspensions nearly double between 2019 and 2021. Out of School Suspensions are up almost 50%. Our children cannot learn when they aren't in school. We need to better understand why we are seeing these changes in student behavior and take steps to get our students the help they need..
“Solution 2” Expand District Test Pilot Program
The district test piloted a program that championed students helping students in 2021 with some success. We should also look to expand that program across grade levels.
“Solution 3” Student Experience Survey
The Collin Chapter of the Texas Faculty Association
While all of those programs were helpful, many were not able to go far enough to be truly effective. Post Covid, we have seen in-school suspensions nearly double between 2019 and 2021. Out of School Suspensions are up almost 50%. Our children cannot learn when they aren't in school. We need to better understand why we are seeing these changes in student behavior and take steps to get our students the help they need.
Plano ISD has only added 2 counselors to their staff even though they have seen their mental health complaints increase almost tenfold. The district test piloted a program that championed students helping students in 2021 with some success. We should also look to expand that program across grade levels.
We should consider more holistic compensation packages that include benefits like childcare, mentorship, para professionals to teachers programs and more. We should also regularly survey our teacher population to understand where we have opportunities to better support them.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
