With Melinda Bailey retiring as Benson High School’s principal, the search for the next principal started with high expectations.
Cedric Cooper, a Benson alumni of 1994 and current principal of Lincoln East, began his career as a physical education and health teacher at Omaha Northwest High School, where he taught for 10 years. He later worked with the Avenue Scholars program at Benson before moving schools to pursue leadership in Lincoln.
“I played football and I also did track, so I was more of an athlete with my time at Benson,” Cooper said.
While at Benson, Cooper stayed involved in sports and the community, which made the opportunity to come back an easy choice.
“Benson’s special to me,” Cooper said. “Returning to Benson is both a personal and professional milestone for me and it feels like coming home.”
Returning to Benson after years away, Cooper said his focus will be on supporting student achievement and maintaining the school’s culture.
“There’s a really thriving culture at Benson high school, so I’m excited to get involved with that,” Cooper said. “I really want to come in and help enhance literacy and the building.”
Cooper described his leadership approach as collaborative and centered on support for students and staff.
“I’m a serving leader, and I believe in allowing people to do their jobs, and I would like to work to help empower them,” Cooper said. “I am very collaborative in nature, and love to solve problems with others.”
Before making the decision to move back to Benson, Cooper spent multiple years in Lincoln gaining leadership experience.
“This is a brand-new school and so it was exciting to create a new culture from the ground up,” Cooper said. “We had a variety of students come from across the district.”
As Cooper transitions to Benson as the new principal, he said in his first year that he plans to learn about the school and work with the current school’s leadership.
“I have a lot of learning to do coming in the 1st year,” Cooper said. “I’ll need the support of our administrative team to help me be able to navigate the building.”
Cooper said he plans to take a careful approach with changes to Benson before making major changes.
“I don’t know the environment enough to make changes, so that’s again where I really rely on the current leadership team,” Cooper said. “Just continue to do what we need to do to improve teaching and learning events in high school.”
Cooper plans to work closely with the current leadership team to keep everything rolling smoothly. The school culture is something he remembers about Benson as a whole and is excited that he will be reintroduced into the culture.
“There’s a really thriving culture at Benson high school, so I’m excited to get involved with that,” Cooper said.
As he prepares to return to Benson, Cooper is excited and ready to begin his new chapter at Benson High.
