Cooper’s Rona Williams receives principal award

The Spokane Elementary School Principals Association surprised Cooper Elementary Principal Rona Williams with the Dick Stannard Distinguished Elementary Principal of the Year award Tuesday morning.

According to a press release from Spokane Public Schools, the award was named after a much-loved principal who passed away in 1996. The award is given to a principal who demonstrates purposeful leadership, excels in instructional leadership and resource development and possesses exemplary interpersonal skills.

Those who nominated Williams characterized her as “incredibly optimistic and positive” and “a true advocate of the principalship. She loves the role of the principal and is truly committed to helping her peers experience success as building leaders. She is a true collaborator and is someone that her peers trust.”

Williams has been the principal at Cooper Elementary since 2007. She was the principal of Roosevelt Elementary from 2002 to 2007 and was an education specialist at Hamblen and Willard elementary schools before becoming a principal assistant at Garfield Elementary in 2000. She began working in the Spokane Public Schools district as a special education teacher in 1989.