[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 96 (Thursday, June 26, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING SUPERINTENDENT GERALD WAYNE COBB, ED.D

 Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, every session in Congress we 
spend a large amount of time discussing education in this country. 
Debates range from accountability to school construction to teacher 
recruitment. While our discussions are of the utmost importance, it is 
the implementation of our decisions by the individuals within the 
education system that changes how our children learn. Today I rise to 
honor a man who had dedicated his life to improving education for 
children in Louisiana, Dr. Gerald Wayne Cobb.
  In 1960, Dr. Cobb received his bachelor's degree in health and 
physical education from Louisiana Tech University. Since that time he 
has been a crucial part of school improvements within the Lincoln 
Parish School System. Dr. Cobb has served as principal of Hillcrest 
Elementary School, Simsboro High School, and Ruston High School. He has 
worked as visiting associate professor at Louisiana State University 
and Louisiana Tech University.
  Dr. Cobb has also served in the Louisiana Department of Education, 
working as the director of secondary education, the executive director 
of academic programs, and the executive assistant to the 
superintendent. While with the Louisiana Department of Education, Dr. 
Cobb was instrumental in developing the Compensatory Education Program 
in Louisiana which provided remediation for students not meeting the 
passing scores on the State's Basic Skills Testing Program. Dr. Cobb 
also revised Bulletin 741, which is the Louisiana Handbook for School 
Administration and served as the basis for the State's accreditation 
program. Dr. Cobb worked to increase in-service training for principals 
by coauthoring the Louisiana Academy for School Administrators Program 
and representing Louisiana at the Leadership Training for Principals.
  After working with the Department of Education and serving as 
principal for schools throughout Lincoln Parish, Dr. Cobb continued his 
public service in the area of education by serving as superintendent 
for the Lincoln Parish School System. For the past 15 years, Dr. Cobb 
has immensely helped the 14 schools and 6,865 students in the Lincoln 
Parish School System. During his tenure, Dr. Cobb helped to construct 
the Lincoln Parish Secondary Alternative School at no cost to local 
taxpayers. He saw the students in Lincoln Parish receive the highest 
ACT scores throughout the State in 1996. In 2000, Ruston High School 
graduated seven National Merit Finalists, the most of any public, 
nonmagnet high school in the State. Dr. Cobb helped to expand the 
preschool program, implement the Even Start Program, construct a 
Parental Involvement Center, initiate the Career Options Program, wire 
all schools with the Internet, and implement 4x4 block scheduling in 
high schools.
  The gifts that Dr. Cobb has given the Lincoln Parish School System 
and all of Louisiana go far beyond those that I have named above. Dr. 
Cobb has spent the past 43 years giving his kindness, his leadership, 
his vision, his service. It is to educators like Dr. Cobb that we owe 
many of the successes of our education policy. My best wishes are with 
Dr. Cobb and his family as he enters retirement.

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