PETERSHAM – After experiencing overwhelming support from his community, Police Chief Dana Cooley decided to retract his retirement notice accepted by the Selectboard back in May.
“I grew up here, this is my community. I love it. It is a tough job today, but somebody has got to do it,” he said.
Cooley said for the past six months he had various things happening in his personal life, including losing his mother back in the winter, that prompted his decision to retire from his position as chief.
A lifelong resident of Petersham, he said the community is incredibly important to him. Specifically, he said, his relationship with the Center School and its’ principal, Joanne Menard, had a big impact on his decision to stay in his current role. Cooley said when he gave the initial news of his retirement to the teachers, they were emotional about his decision.
At the beginning of June Principal Menard penned a letter to the Selectboard asking the town and Cooley to reconsider his retirement, stating he has had an incredible impact on the students and staff of the school.
“He goes beyond for students on a daily basis,” she said. “He greets students and sometimes eats breakfast with them.”
For the past three years, Menard said she has been working with Cooley to implement positive changes in the school, such as improving the school’s security and sign-in procedures and hosting frequent lock down drills. In partnership with the school’s nurse, Christine Warburton, Menard said Cooley brought Project Purple, an initiative to increase awareness and treatment of substance use disorder, to the school for the first time this past year.
“I was ecstatic to find out he was staying because he is a huge asset to the school and such a positive energy,” said Menard.
Cooley said all of the support from the community, including those who have stopped by his office to speak with him regarding his former retirement notice, was an unexpected surprise that has humbled him.
He also saw encouragment from his officers, who in the beginning of June put together a letter they all signed asking to meet with Cooley to discuss the possibility of reconsidering his retirement notice.. QUOTES?
In support of their chief’s request, members of the Petersham Police Department also attended the Selectboard meeting at the end of June where Cooley submitted a letter asking to retract his resignation. At their last meeting, July 10, the Selectboard voted to approve Cooley’s letter requesting to stay.
Cooley has been with the Petersham Police Department for the past 26 years and has been the police chief for the past eight years. He replaced former Chief Denis Legare in August 2010. Looking ahead, he said his original goal was to retire at the age of 60 years old. Now 58 years old, Cooley said in two years he will plan to reevaluate his position at that time.