Sunnyside Superintendent to Resign After 2nd DUI

A beloved Superintendent for Sunnyside school district will resign after getting his second DUI. According to Sunnyside School Board President Stephen Winfree, Rick Cole turned in his resignation effective at the end of the school year and will retire. While Cole was superintendent, the graduation rate rose from around 60 percent to above 90 percent. After his wife died over a year ago, he has struggled and is now taking a leave of absence while he checks into a treatment program.

A school board member said that Cole " set high standards for conduct, and he knows that his conduct fell below it,”. Cole was arrested Saturday morning when someone reported that they saw an "erratically driven car heading east on Interstate 82 near Parker around 3:45 p.m." Troopers then witnessed "80 mph in a 70 mph zone and saw the car, which is registered to the school district, repeatedly cross the center line before finally pulling over".

Police pulled Cole over and he was breath tested where he blew over twice the legal limit at .186. He was arrested on "charges of driving while intoxicated as well as driving a car lacking an ignition interlock device, which the state Department of Licensing required Cole to use after an earlier arrest on suspicion of DUI". He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and has to attend alcohol school. The school board reportedly was not aware this was Cole's second DUI.