Carol Cook
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Carol Cook was a member of the Pinellas County Schools school board in Florida, representing District 5. She assumed office in 2000. She left office on November 19, 2024.
Cook won re-election to the Pinellas County Schools school board to represent District 5 in Florida outright in the primary on August 18, 2020, after the primary and general election were canceled.
Biography
Cook was first elected to the Pinellas school board in 2000. She taught elementary school in the county for ten years. Before she was elected to the board, Cook spent nine years serving on the Florida PTA Board of Directors. She is a recipient of the Florida School Boards Association's certified board member recognition and the advanced boardsmanship certification. Cook is a graduate of the University of South Florida.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Pinellas County Schools, Florida, elections (2020)
Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Carol Cook (Nonpartisan) won the election without appearing on the ballot.
2016
- See also: Pinellas County Schools elections (2016)
The Pinellas County school board is under critical examination after an investigation of the board and district—titled "Failure Factories"—was published last year. The report described the daily strife of black students in the county, particularly in five elementary schools whose ratings changed from average to failing in just a few years. The investigation tied these students' struggles to a 2007 decision the board made to effectively segregate the district's schools, and the report triggered a still-in-progress civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Education. "Failure Factories," which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting, also showed that the board's vote appeared to be a symptom of other deep-seated problems in the district. Three of the board members who voted for the de-integration plan still sat on the board in 2016: Peggy O'Shea, Linda Lerner, and Carol Cook. These incumbents were re-elected to the board multiple times, exemplifying the 100 percent incumbency success rate the district saw from 1998 to 2014. Cook filed for re-election in District 5 and successfully defended her spot on the board against Michael Petruccelli and Eliseo Santana in the race for the seat. O'Shea's and Lerner's seats aren't up for election until 2018.
One of the seven seats on the Pinellas County school board was up for by-district general election and one was up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. Four newcomers filed in the race for the at-large District 1 seat: Robert Beal, Bill Dudley, Joanne Lentino, and Matt Stewart. A primary election was held on August 30, 2016, in which Lentino and Stewart were the top two vote-getters. Since neither received more than 50 percent of the vote, they both advanced to the general election. In District 5, Cook and Santana both advanced from the primary to the general, leaving Petruccelli behind. The seat of incumbent Ken Peluso was also on the primary ballot. He filed for re-election to the District 4 seat and was joined on the ballot by newcomer Eileen Long. She defeated the incumbent and won outright by receiving a majority of the vote.[2]
General results
| Pinellas County Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Carol Cook Incumbent |
64.95% | 59,696 |
| Eliseo Santana | 35.05% | 32,216 |
| Total Votes (100) | 91,912 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Primary results
| Pinellas County Schools, District 5 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Carol Cook Incumbent |
48.22% | 16,362 |
| Eliseo Santana |
26.65% | 9,043 |
| Michael Petruccelli | 25.12% | 8,524 |
| Total Votes | 33,929 | |
| Source: Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, "Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Funding
Cook reported $23,725.74 in contributions and $15,400.94 in expenditures to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, which left her campaign with $8,324.80 cash on hand, as of October 10, 2016.[3]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Carol Cook did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
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Footnotes
