New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Candidate Profile: Dr. Alan Cooper

Dr. Alan Cooper has been a member of the board of education for the past three years and was motivated to run for a second term in part because of the things that he would still like to implement in the district.

Cooper wants to have feedback surveys from parents and students to see how the district is doing more regularly. He would also like the district to be involved in the Baldrige awards, which focus on efficiency.

"It's not about winning the award; it's about improving the efficiency of the district," Cooper said.

Cooper is proud of the budgets that the board has put forth; this year's budget has the lowest budget-to-budget increase in the . To keep budgets coming in low, Cooper would like to partner with the community in innovative ways to improve the district.

One of these areas that could be improved is funding. Cooper noted that the current fundraising system for school districts is "outdated" and "not sustainable."

"I'm here for the right reasons," Cooper said, adding, "Everyone's here for the right reasons. There's nobody here who wants to do things that hurt people."

Cooper notes that he brings an outside, business perspective to the board. He has an MBA and runs a large health system department.

"I bring an outside of public school perspective," Cooper said. "And if we want to be innovative, if we want to think outside of the box, we need people like that on the board."

He added that he has an educational background but it's not a public grammar school or high school educational background.

Cooper doesn't think that things in the district should continue to be done simply because that's how they've been done for years. He's looking for the right way to do things, he said.