Former Colfax Elementary School teacher Alexis Cooper told the school board Tuesday night that she was willing to help get the school’s GATE Program going again.

“It has come to my attention there is not much going on with the program,” Cooper said during the public comment portion of the meeting.

She added she is now overseeing the GATE program at Weimar Hills School.

Ken Poulsen, interim superintendent/principal, explained the GATE Program had been suspended at the end of last school year. Rather than having a separate classroom and teacher for the gifted students, the plan was to incorporate the GATE curriculum into all classrooms.

However, the teachers that had agreed to oversee the implementation and teacher training have decided not to continue with the project, Poulsen noted.

Cooper told the board she was willing to share the curriculum she developed over the years and would help train teachers on the Colfax campus.

“The money allocated for teachers to do that, even though it was listed as a stipend, is still there,” Poulsen explained. “I can’t tell you the total amount spent. It was less than $200. The money is still available to do other things.”

Tracy Hall, whose son was in the GATE Program last year, expressed her frustration over the change.

“This is not OK with the parents,” Hall said. “You need to be accountable to the parents and the people of this community.”

Hall asked the board to revisit the decision to change the structure of the GATE Program.

“I would like to have Mrs. Cooper back in here and get it going again.”

Bruce Nissen asked the board what it is doing to regain the trust of the community.

“We just went through a very traumatic experience (with the resignation of the superintendent/principal),” he said. “There is no closure at this point. We must move forward.“

In answer to questions about selecting a new superintendent/principal, Poulsen explained an 11-member panel has been selected to review the applications and interview the candidates.

“It is a fairly comprehensive process,” he continued. “We trying to get people involved and have them part of the decision.”

The panel will be composed of parents, certificated employees, board members, teachers and community members, who would then make a recommendation to the board.

“The board has the responsibility of making the final selection,” Poulsen said.

Once the candidate has been selected, he continued, the process would continue with visitations, background checks and reference checks.

In response to the concerns about building trust with the community, Poulsen stressed that he “is more than willing to sit down and answer questions on behalf of the board. The superintendent is the spokesperson for the board.”