BUELLTON – Tom Cooper sat down with Central Coast News back in May just before Buellton voters narrowly approved a bond measure for the small, two campus school district.
Soon afterwards, Cooper was accused of sexual harassment by a pregnant, veteran teacher.
The School Board hired an investigator to look into the allegation and then the Board voted to "discipline" Cooper without mentioning specifics saying it was a private, personnel matter.
Cooper issued a statement apologizing for "insensitivity to pregnant teachers" by making comments about the time they miss at school while on maternity leave.
Then weeks ago, Cooper submitted his resignation to the School Board leaving the job with the new school year starting just next month.
Central Coast News reached out to Cooper to get his explanation for his resignation but he did not respond to our requests.
"I guess I would kind of like to know why he resigned", says parent Lupe Sparks, "I didn't know he resigned."
Sparks says she moved to Buellton with her three kids because of the outstanding reputation of the Buellton School District, its teachers and its staff.
"The school is going to be ready to go, I don't think there will be any problems with that", Sparks says, "the school system is great up here and they will just continue on, I'm sure there will be an acting superintendent in the process."
School Board President Joyce Azevedo says she and the other Board Trustees, as well as district staff, cannot comment on the Cooper resignation on advice of the school district's attorney.
Azevedo does say Cooper's resignation is not related to his being disciplined by the School Board.
The Buellton Teacher's Union initially responded to the School Board's discipline of Tom Cooper by saying it didn't go far enough and was considering filing a complaint with the California Department of Education and other agencies.
The union says it has no comment on Cooper's resignation.
