Former State Legislator Directs Arkansas Leadership Academy

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David Cook

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – David Cook, educator and former Arkansas state legislator, has been named the new director of the Arkansas Leadership Academy, a unit of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. The academy was created by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1991.

Cook has considerable previous experience with the Arkansas Leadership Academy: as an educator, he participated in nearly every kind of training offered by the academy; as a state legislator, he authored several bills and promoted other legislation to expand the academy and strengthen its efforts to assist school districts in Arkansas.

 “We are very fortunate to have David direct our leadership academy,” said Tom Smith, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions. “His experience as a public school administrator and state legislator gives him a unique perspective on what schools need in order to be successful. We are confident he will do a superb job in helping the leadership academy support school districts around the state.”

The leadership academy designs creative and innovative approaches for teachers, principals, superintendents, facilitators and school teams in public schools.

The academy is nationally recognized and works with 50 partners in education and business in Arkansas. It has staff members in Fayetteville and Little Rock.

Cook began his career as an educator in 1978 after he was discharged from military service during the Vietnam War.

“My heroes were teachers,” Cook said about why he chose a career in education. “They were such a great influence on my life. I was the first person in my family, from either side of the family, to graduate from high school.”

He worked as a teacher, coach, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent at districts including Sheridan, Bradford, McRae, Hoxie, Bald Knob, Sloan-Hendrix and Osceola. He also directed the Northeast Educational Service Cooperative and taught graduate courses in educational leadership as an adjunct instructor at Harding University.

Cook said he has believed in the benefits of the leadership academy since his first experience with it.

“I went through the academy’s individual institute, the coaches’ training and took two teams of community and school leaders from Hoxie and one team of community and school leaders from Bald Knob through the institutes,” he said. “I believe working in teams creates a vision that everybody can support. People can support what they help create.”

“I have seen the leadership academy help districts, especially rural districts, make big improvements,” Cook continued. “In Bald Knob, the mayor was on our school committee and helped us pass a millage increase to build a new school. The school and community leaders also worked together to get a sales tax passed to get good water for Bald Knob. Our problem then was that we were losing students. People wouldn’t move to Bald Knob because the drinking water was so bad.”

Those experiences showed Cook that the leadership academy’s work gets results in school districts throughout Arkansas.

“The academy addresses the need to develop effective leadership in professional learning communities that focus on establishing high-performing districts, schools and classrooms with high-achieving student outcomes,” he said.

Cook grew up in eastern Arkansas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in special education and physical education from the University of Central Arkansas and was drafted soon after graduation. He earned a master’s degree in human resource management from Pepperdine University that he started while stationed on Guam. He also holds an education specialist degree in educational leadership from the University of Arkansas.

Cook served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for six years, ending in 2010. He chaired and served on numerous education committees while in the Legislature. He was the primary sponsor of Act 222 of 2009 to create the School Leadership Coordinating Council, which works with the leadership academy and other state agencies to encourage school districts to pursue leadership development. The law also expanded the School Support Program coordinated by the leadership academy.

Cook has been meeting with the academy’s partners and its eight-member executive committee since his appointment and has scheduled a retreat for Jan. 28-29 to review the academy’s priorities and goals and to establish a vision for the future.