Cochran declares candidacy for District 3 school board seat
Les Cochran announced last week his candidacy for the District 3, Lee County School Board seat, which is now filled by Jane Kuckel.
Cochran said he decided to run for the school board after he began looking at numbers last summer regarding SAT scores. He said the scores he uncovered during his research were pretty bad and were not consistent with the numbers he had been hearing.
Another issue that Cochran is concerned about is the school district’s busing system. He said he is particularly concerned about busing at the elementary school, especially for the students who are in immediate walking distance from the school.
Cochran believes he will bring a new level of leadership to the school board due to his role in managing a $100 million budget, restructuring the university and upgrading academic programs and decentralizing university operations.
His goal is for the local system become one of the top 10 school districts in the state.
“It’s fundamental to our quality of life, the level of our work force and the vitality of our economy,” Cochran said in a prepared statement. “Our kids deserve more.”
He spent 38 years in public education as an industrial arts teacher in the Detroit Public Schools, faculty member, dean and vice provost at Central Michigan University and the provost at Southeast Missouri State before becoming the president of Youngstown State University for eight years.