Since Dr. Lisa Cooper formally was certified last evening by the School Board as the permanent principal of Culver City High School, it is appropriate to exhale and exclaim how she made the official principal search an easy, almost cinch, call.
Last week, Board President Nancy Goldberg, retired teacher, shared the final Cooper interview – among five she was subjected to – with Supt. Dave LaRose.
It could have felt a little awkward because formerly they were peers on the high school faculty.
But it didn’t, Ms. Goldberg said.
After the interview, Ms. Goldberg’s face could have illumined the entirety of Culver City.
Naturally, she entered the room with unquestioned objectivity.
You knew that after Ms. Goldberg said that Dre. Cooper “is one of my favorite people. She is such an excellent example of what we want our leaders to be like.
“She projects this quality.
“Seems to me a leader has to have a great deal of self-control, which she has. She does not bring her ego to the table, and that is something else that makes her amazing.”
Ms. Goldberg, a nearly half-century veteran of the community, remarked about how strongly Dr. Cooper, a former athlete and coach, identifies with students.
“That kind of identity comes from her coaching,” the Board president said. “What an advantage to have someone with those two prongs of leadership.
“There is something different about coaching.”
Ms. Goldberg said she never could have been a coach. As long as she was being introspective, “I never could have been a principal, either, candidly.
“When I see it in somebody else, and I am very conscious of this leadership quality, it is not judgmental or inconsiderate ever. People who work with her say that.”
Ms. Goldberg said that Dr. Cooper “is amazing.
“She knows where all the nooks and crannies are.
“She has a serenity about her that is mind-boggling. I have heard from so many people over the course of her career that she instinctively has a calming sense in a crisis.
“I believe this comes from her counseling education.
“She is very academic, but also very human. People get to that core quickly.”
