We are very proud of the large number of parents who volunteer in our classrooms. In addition, we have several retired adults who volunteer their time here at Cooper. Volunteerism is very high, with more than12,000 volunteer hours documented last year. Cooper provides a number of events for our Cooper families and community, and all of them are well-attended. Many of these are coordinated by our outstanding Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and are staffed by both parents and Cooper staff volunteers.  Parents and children come before school for breakfast and spend time enjoying a treat and reading together. We also have family movie nights,  a Holiday Gift Shop (where children can purchase inexpensive gifts for their families and friends), a Family Health Fair (promoting healthy eating and exercise), an Ice Cream Social/Art Show, and our Spring Carnival.

Parents play a critical role in the leadership at Cooper School. We have an active PTO.   Through these organizations, parents can ask questions, share opinions and concerns, and offer suggestions. Items such as our new fitness center and our focus on technology have come from Site Council and PTO meetings. One of the most critical aspects of the school leadership team’s responsibility is to listen to all stakeholders and provide opportunities for input. With the increased technology available through Global Connect, our automated phone messaging system, we can survey parents about critical issues and tabulate the results with a simple phone call to their homes. In this way, we allow for input from all stakeholders and make decisions based on data, not just what we believe. As an example, in the fall of 2007, we surveyed our parents regarding their opinions on prioritizing Site Council and PTO funding. Using this system we were able to receive instant feedback.

The school and parent leadership support the students’ academic successes. We celebrate in a variety of ways including grade-level assemblies and district events such as student-of-the year. There are numerous celebrations as children reach AR, behavior, and other reading goals. Positive incentives such as Magic by the Book are supported financially by the PTO leadership at Cooper. We share our school plan, successes, and goals with all of our stakeholders and keep our Cooper community informed in a variety of ways. All parents are notified about the STAR results for our school through our school’s weekly newsletter and this information is posted on our Cooper website