Marc Cooper

As a proud Christian parent, veteran of the Air Force, and currently in my 22nd year of teaching in the public schools, I have seen the shifts in our public education system. Many years ago, while teaching Science and Health, I was introduced to the contracted "educators" of our children in sex education, Planned Parenthood. I was appalled at what they showed me they were going to teach our children, but I was instructed by our administration to let them teach the class for 2 weeks and to provide them support if they needed it. Did the parents know what was going on in our classes? I taught reproductive health and the Biology of the male and female reproductive systems, but "they" had to come in to teach "more". I quickly saw the "more" was about 70% regarding "gender identity" and about 30% of the science I had already taught the children. Did the parents know?

As a teacher, I have also noticed, especially in the past 5 - 7 years, that the academic proficiency of the incoming 9th graders seemed to be declining at a rapid rate. The incoming 9th graders had trouble writing sentences and paragraphs. The reading level of most seemed to be around 5th grade level. The math skills were at about the same level.

Several years ago, I decided I had to do something! I couldn't keep complaining about the sliding Academic Proficiency, the lack of Transparency between schools and parents, and the many times I heard parents say they felt they had no rights to their children's education anymore. So, I ran for and was elected to the Franklin McKinley School District Board of Education (TK-8th grades) in 2022. I have always stood up for Parents Rights, Transparency, and improving our Academic Proficiency. The latest test scores for FMSD show almost 75% of the children are NOT at grade level proficiency in Math, and 65% of the children are NOT at grade level proficiency in Reading and Writing (ELA); the lowest test scores ever. Those test scores have continually gone down the past 9 years, as well as enrollment, but the per-student expenditures are the highest ever. As the most conservative School Board Member on the FMSD School Board, I have been constantly fighting for our children's education and parents' rights! I will not stop!

Parents must be heard! The children's education must improve! Everyone needs to know what is going on in their children's classrooms and schools!