Cooke School Timeline

Friday, April 22, 2005

Feb. 19, 1975 - An explosion caused by a build-up of sewer gas demolished the south wing of Cooke around 6 a.m., about an hour before faculty would have started arriving for work. There were no injuries, but a custodian was inside the building when the blast occurred. Students were sent to Silas and Hitchcock elementary schools for the rest of the school year.

August 1976 - The school was rebuilt but with "problems" in workmanship, including uneven floors. The district had the problems corrected.

November 1982 - The Board of Education voted 5-0 not to close Cooke at the end of the semester, after parents fought to keep the school open.

December 1982 - The board voted 4-3 to close Cooke at the end of the 1982-1983 school year, citing financial reasons. The closing displaced about 197 students and 10 teachers. Parents argued later they were given no indication the board would be voting to close the school, or they would have shown up at the board meeting to fight for it again.

March 1985 - Former Superintendent William B. Abel proposed reopening Cooke to alleviate overcrowding in other buildings. Talk of sending special education students to the school, along with some kindergarten through third-graders, raised concern among special education parents who feared the school would become a dumping ground for students with disabilities. Board members also were concerned about sending young children to school with high school students who had behavior disorders.

April 1985 - The board voted 6-1 to reopen Cooke for the 1985-1986 school year.

September 1987 - The board closed Cooke, again, due to what Abel called the "economic plight" of the school system. The problem arose when kindergarten enrollment was so high the district would have needed to hire two additional teachers, which Abel said the district could not afford.

January 1995 - A task force sub-committee studying overcrowding in the district recommended reopening Cooke for the 1995-1996 school year. At the time, the district had enough money in reserve funds to cover the costs of reopening the school along with L.T. Stone and Rose Hoben Welch.

Source: The Register-Mail archives