Superintendent finalist Scott Cooper emphasizes career-technical education, recruitment and community engagement at Green River forum

Scott Cooper, a finalist for the Sweetwater County School District #2 superintendent position, told a Green River audience that he would prioritize career and technical education (CTE), community partnerships and strategic staffing if hired.

Cooper said he has "25 years of education experience" and highlighted recent work building CTE and online-learning programs through the Colorado River BOCES, including CC Live and EPIC. "I've raised over $4,000,000 in the last 4 years to build those up from scratch," he told the panel and audience, describing live-streamed instruction and hands-on pathways such as construction programs that have built tiny homes.

Why it matters: Cooper framed workforce-ready pathways and external funding as tools to keep students engaged and to address regional labor shortages. He also flagged district-level budget pressures from declining enrollment and urged careful staffing decisions rather than automatic refills of vacated positions.

Most of the forum consisted of timed questions from local business and civic leaders and Cooper's responses. He called for thoughtful budgeting tied to district goals and said personnel costs are a major district expense: "A lot of those people are…