MILLBURY, Ohio — His father was so taken by the name of the main character of the 1973 Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe that the new superintendent of Lake schools has lived with it all of his life.
The film told the story of Marjoe Gortner, a child evangelist and faith healer who was preaching on the Southern tent-revival circuit by the age of 3.
Marjoe Cooper learned to own the eccentric name over the years, adopting “Coop” as a nickname.
“I don’t have a middle name either. So, you can imagine the ridicule,” he said wryly.
The former Perrysburg principal started the top job at Lake at the start of the month, overseeing 1,800 students and 200 staff members. Mr. Cooper, 49, is in his 26th year in education.
“As a leader, I’m not a hierarchy guy, I’m more of a collaborative guy,” he said. “This is very important in my style.”
Mr. Cooper said a leader must challenge, motivate, and support people.
“You also have to set the course of a vision, where you want to go, and then give people the avenue and the voice to get there as a group,” he said. “People want to work for a human being. People don’t want to work for a dictator.
“I like to challenge people for the betterment of students,” he continued. “That may sound cliche, but truly everything we do we should be doing for the betterment of our kids, for the betterment of our families, for the betterment of this community.”
Born into a military family in Knoxville, Tenn., he moved around, to California and Washington, before his parents divorced and he settled with his mother and new stepfather in Norwalk, Ohio.
His teaching career started in Norwalk. He’s taught seventh-grade literature, eighth-grade English, journalism, and sixth-grade social studies.
In 2004, he and his wife, Brianne, moved to Wilmington, N.C., where he continued to teach. After their daughter was born, they moved back to northwest Ohio.
“I literally got my old job back at Norwalk,” Mr. Cooper said.
Even as he was raising a young family and teaching, he realized he wanted to spread his wings.
“I just started to get the itch. I was doing a lot of coaching ... and I started to think I wanted to get into some more leadership things,” Mr. Cooper recalled.
He drove 120 miles round trip two nights a week to get his superintendent’s license and master’s degree in educational administration from Bowling Green State University. His bachelor’s degree in elementary education is from Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, where he also played baseball.
With the advanced degree, Mr. Cooper was hired as the middle school assistant principal at Fremont, then became principal. He was principal at Fort Meigs Elementary in Perrysburg for the last five years.
“I’m super proud of the work we did at Fort Meigs. We were just recognized as one of the top five elementary schools in the state of Ohio,” Mr. Cooper said. “The team there is just so dynamic, so incredible, and they bought into what I was selling.”
Mr. Cooper and his wife, who is the finance and human resources director for the Wood County Sheriff’s Office, have two children, ages 12 and 17, and live in Perrysburg.
Mr. Cooper’s annual salary is $125,000.
He is stepping into superintendent shoes that were filled at Lake for the last two decades by Jim Witt.
“Jim was just nothing but tremendous to me with the transition,” Mr. Cooper said, adding that Mr. Witt provided insight into the communities of Walbridge, Millbury, and Moline that comprise Lake, and led the last efforts to get the new elementary open for this school year.
“But some of the challenges are things have been that way for 18 years,” Mr. Cooper said. “One of the things I keep saying to our administrative staff is, the 200 or so people that work here have to learn one person, where I have to learn 200 people.”
Brad Blandin, president of the Lake Board of Education, said Mr. Cooper emerged as the front-runner for superintendent during the interview process.
“The first thing was experience. He didn’t have the superintendent experience, but had experience in the classroom as a teacher, as a principal, as an [athletic director] out in Fremont,” Mr. Blandin said. “He’s an excellent communicator. He does a really good job of connecting with people and more importantly with kids.
“The final thing that really stood out was just his passion,” Mr. Blandin added. “He’s got a passion for kids.”
Mr. Cooper has had his superintendent’s license for three years but was only interested in the Lake position.
“I only applied here,” he said. “This is exactly the work that I want. ... Obviously, I’ve got a lot to learn, and there’s a significant learning curve. But what they wanted as a superintendent, I thought I fit that mold.”
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