Who are we?

Cooper Elementary is a collection of experienced and skilled professional educators, dedicated parents and above all neighborhood children.  These elements combine to create the preeminent multi-cultural learning environment in the Seattle Public School District. As the PTA of such an institution, it is our jobs to ensure that the academic and social needs of our children are met.

What is our mission?

To provide our students the academic and social skills necessary to be successful in a diverse, global society by incorporating different learning styles, respecting cultural differences and addressing individual achievement levels in our instruction, and ensure that students are given every opportunity to excel.

History

• Cooper holds the distinction of having had the first African American teacher hired to teach within the Seattle Public School District. Thelma Dewitty started work in September of 1947. She retired from teaching in 1973 after years of civic involvement that included serving as President of the NAACP's Seattle chapter.
• The original school, "Youngstown School”, opened in September 1906.  The original enrollment was 70 children.  The name, Youngstown, was borrowed from an Ohio steel city.  The families attending Youngstown primarily came from workers at the local steel mill opened by two Pacific Northwest entrepreneurs, William Pigott and Elliott Wilson.  The Seattle Steel Company offered the Youngstown building to educate these children.
• In tune with Cooper’s current multi-cultural population, children from Slavic and Greek families as well as children of Scandinavian, Italian and Russian immigrants attended the school. The original population also consisted of a few Japanese-American, African-American and Native-American children.  Recently, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Samoan, Somali and many other cultures have been added to the mix.
• The name Cooper was inspired by Frank B. Cooper, a pioneer superintendent of the early 1900s.  1939 saw the school change names from Youngstown to the Frank B. Cooper School.
• The district closed Youngstown-Cooper in 1989.  Cooper students were moved to the Louisa Boren School as a new school building was being constructed on Puget Ridge, or Pigeon Point.  In 1999, the new Cooper school was opened to neighborhood children.
• The PTA of the new Cooper School was established in 2005 by Lois Gaylord and Kevin Cain and was presided by Shannon Woodbury and Trudy Hendrickson. Today, the PTA has more than 50 members and continues to grow and flourish.