Craig A. Cook
233 Cherita Drive
Chaska, MN 55318
952-448-2024
1) Occupation.  I am Assistant Pro-fessor of Sociology and Intercultural Studies at Crown College in St. Bonifa-cius.  I also serve as the chairperson for the Intercultural Studies and Social Sciences Department.
2) District 112.  I've been a resident of District 112 for just over a year.  My family and I moved to Chaska after spending 16 years in the Philippines where I taught and was Superintendent of an international school in Manila.
3) Family.  I've been married to my wife Sandra for 19 years.  Sandra works in the Flooring Department at the Home Depot in Chaska, while also teaching as an Adjunct Faculty Member at Crown College.  We have three children includ-ing Candace, 17; Cameron, 14; and Derek, 11.  They all attend their respec-tive schools within the District.
4) Interests.  I love to play tennis and Frisbee in my free time and loved our first Minnesota summer.  I also coach the Varsity Girls' Tennis Team at Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria.  I hold memberships with the American Sociological Association and the Inter-national Sociological Association.
5) Candidacy.  I have always had a desire to be involved in my community, wherever that may have been, and I par-ticularly would like to serve this commu-nity by bringing both educational and international experience to the venue of school board leadership.  My desire is to see that all students are served well throughout our District services.
6) Books recently read:  I've read recently, both, Good To Great by Jim Collins and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. 
Books to read:  In the coming days I hope to read Guns, Germs, and Steel:  The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond and The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington.
7) Luxury vs. Basics.  With any deci-sion or question, one must run it through the grid of an organizational mission statement.  Are our students served well and are the ideals as expressed in the mission statement met through the deci-sion that is being made?  If we are clear on what our mission is, this will make decisions between what is a luxury and what is a basic necessity more manage-able.
8) School libraries for the general public?  If opening school libraries to the general public is an avenue to more effective community education, then, yes, I would be in favor of such a plan, as I think that access to educational resources and tools is a great asset to share in the community and creates a high quality of life for our residents.
9) Both evolution & creation?  I believe that when it comes to the debate on evolution and intelligent design, one comes from a scientific discourse and the other comes from a philosophical discourse.  I think it is up to a given school community as to how they want to proceed in terms of crafting a curriculum that best serves it students.  Do we want a blending of the scientific and philosophic-al?  Or shall we keep them separate?
10) National Anthem.  I think that learning the National Anthem is one important means of expressing one's national heritage, and so I would support the practice of teaching students to sing it.