Michael Cook (Texas)

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Michael Cook
Image of Michael Cook
Plano Independent School District school board Place 5
Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Elections and appointments
Last elected

May 6, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

Cornell University, 2002

Graduate

Cornell University, 2007

Personal
Birthplace
Chicago, Ill.
Religion
Christian
Profession
Real estate investor
Contact

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
Image of Michael Cook
Michael Cook (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
51.3
 
12,205
Greg Jubenville (Nonpartisan)
 
34.5
 
8,216
Image of Khalid Ishaq
Khalid Ishaq (Nonpartisan)
 
14.2
 
3,379

Total votes: 23,800
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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.
- Focus on 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 School Board should set measurable student achievement and enrichment goals. The Superintendent then works with the Principals to achieve those goals. Additionally, once the goals are set, the School Board should work with the superintendent to craft a budget that allocates funds in a manner that helps to achieve those goals.
Every person zoned to Plano ISD. Whether they have kids or not, it is important to note that the School Board sets property taxes and ensures property values remain high by providing a strong desirable school system.
Teachers & Employees: We know experienced teachers improve outcomes for our children. The current climate has made it challenging to recruit and retain the best teachers. We must increase teacher compensation and provide additional support for our current staff to ensure we increase overall retention. We should consider more holistic compensation packages for teachers and employees 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.

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.

Families: In addition to the monthly board meetings and working sessions, provide additional small group sessions for interested parents. Additionally, set up quarterly meetings with PTAs to ensure parent issues are being addressed and allow for additional idea generating sessions to improve the district.
Parents know their children better than anyone. In order for teachers, administrators or the School Board to be successful, we need strong buy in from parents. We also need them to tell us where there are opportunities or gaps in our system that might be letting them down.

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.

We must ensure that our school remains first-class in both student achievement, college readiness and overall student enrichment. When we aren't meeting those goals, the community should voice their opinions and help us close the gaps.
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.

“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

We need to make the student experience survey a higher priority. Once we have a credible baseline, we also need to set measurable goals for student experience with the superintendent.
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.
The Dallas Morning News

The Collin Chapter of the Texas Faculty Association

Many Local Parents and Stakeholders
Like many other districts, the pandemic hurt our children. Plano ISD’s board and staff members implemented a number of positive programs that helped our kids. With the additional federal funding, Plano ISD spent additional dollars to retain veteran teachers, created a full and robust online educational curriculum, added additional teachers and resources to their special education program, and so much more. The district also used dollars to upgrade infrastructure and classroom technology and so much more.

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.

Student achievement is the #1 issue in my campaign. We must continue to stay focused on ensuring all our children are learning everyday.
The Board of Trustees must be more accessible to the community. In addition to regular board meetings, we must give parents more opportunities to share their accolades and challenges with Plano ISD either one on one or in small groups with the aim of better understanding the current gaps they see in Plano ISD.
We know experienced teachers improve outcomes for our children. The current climate has made it challenging to recruit and retain the best teachers. We must increase teacher compensation and provide additional support for our current staff to ensure we increase overall retention.

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


External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 6, 2023