When West Side High School students were being bullied because of dirty clothes, Mr. Cook listened. When school starts September 4th, there will be a new facility in the building: a free laundromat. Principal of West Side High School and Program Director of Lights On, Akbar Cook has converted the football team's old locker room into a laundromat, complete with five commercial washers and five commercial dryers.

Newark vice principal goes 'old school' to keep kids out of trouble By Barry Carter bcarter@starledger.com, Columnist, The Star-Ledger Akbar Cook doesn't want this story to be about him. Sorry, Mr. Cook. I can't do that. You're hard to ignore when you've managed to keep 80 to 100 young people off the streets on which you grew up in Newark's West Ward.