Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
The Anderson Observer is interviewing school board members in contested races who were willing to discuss why they might be a good candidate.
This interview is with Jonathan Hooper who is running for the Anderson School Dist. 5 Seat 6.
Jonathan Hooper says he wants to bring his experience in technology and finance to the Anderson School District 5 board to strengthen financial oversight, improve long-term planning and restore confidence among teachers and families.
Hooper, a candidate for Seat 6, has four children in the district and attended District 5 schools himself. He has coached at Lakeside and Westside and worked as a long-term substitute teacher at Westside while in college.
In an interview with The Anderson Observer, Hooper said he supports renewing the school capital sales tax, building a new arts school and returning Southwood Academy of the Arts to use as a traditional middle school. He also wants board subcommittees to examine proposals in greater detail and opposes making school board elections partisan.
“I’m just passionate about helping our district,” Hooper said. “I want people to wake up and parents to be proud that their kids go to District 5.”
Hooper said school was a safe place for him growing up, with teachers whose influence he still remembers.
He recalled a teacher helping him participate in karate class at Calhoun, introducing students to bird dogs and having them create books about the Statehouse. Those experiences made him look forward to school.
Hooper said he wants students and teachers to experience the same pride he remembers. In recent years, he said, he has noticed a cultural divide that too often puts conflict ahead of the people in schools.
“These are human beings,” he said of teachers and students.
Hooper said he has about 12 years of experience in technology and finance and earned his undergraduate degree and MBA at Clemson University. His professional work involves developing financial and technology strategies, implementing them and evaluating the results.
Hooper said those skills would help him work with district staff to pursue grants, evaluate investments, use taxpayer money efficiently and explore shared resources with county government.
Hooper praised Superintendent Brenda Kelley and her leadership team for their classroom experience. He said his role would be to help secure resources, not tell educators how to teach.
“It’s not me sitting there telling a teacher how to do their job,” he said. “It’s for me to get there and get the resources for the teachers to do their job.”
Hooper identified financial oversight, policy and procedures, and long-term planning as the board’s most important responsibilities.
He criticized what he described as the board passing over financial presentations at two recent meetings despite extensive materials prepared by district financial staff.
He said trustees should connect financial discussions to academic results, asking what successful schools are doing, what those efforts cost and how similar resources could reach other campuses.
Hooper praised the district’s recent school report card results but said celebrating progress should be followed by questions about how to sustain and expand it.
He also wants clearer communication about policies, particularly when requirements originate with the state rather than the district.
Long-term planning should address facilities, finances, teacher retention, student programs and technology, he said. Hooper favors bringing in community members and consultants and establishing subcommittees to examine those issues.
“In my world, if you don’t have a 15-year plan in finance or technology, you’re typically fired,” he said.
He said trustees should support the superintendent while using established evaluations and procedures to hold the administration accountable.
Hooper also encouraged board members to volunteer in schools to better understand teachers’ and students’ experiences, while routing concerns through the superintendent rather than making operational decisions independently.
Hooper said one of the district’s challenges is public perception, including resistance from residents who question paying school taxes because they do not have children enrolled.
He said public education benefits the broader community and should be viewed as a shared investment.
He also criticized efforts to bring national political disputes into local schools, saying they can distract from students’ needs.
Poverty is another concern. Hooper cited a figure of nearly 50 percent at Midway Elementary School, where his children attend.
He said schools provide services that residents may not fully appreciate and need continued support even as individual families choose other educational options.
Hooper described academic performance as both a success and an ongoing responsibility. His four children learn differently, he said, illustrating the challenge teachers face in presenting the same material in ways that reach an entire classroom.
He recalled a recent parent-teacher conference and helping his third grader with expanded-form multiplication, saying he was impressed by the range of methods teachers use.
He wants the district to consider smaller classes, additional classroom assistance and instructional tools where needed.
Some improvements can be modest, he said. Providing enough recess equipment, for example, could reduce conflicts that carry into classrooms and interrupt learning.
“Go to our schools and ask,” he said, encouraging residents to volunteer and speak directly with teachers.
Hooper strongly supports extending the school capital sales tax but also wants lawmakers to consider changes to its permitted uses.
“A thousand percent,” he said when asked whether he supports renewal.
He said the tax has helped provide facilities, technology and other improvements, but he wants some operational expenses associated with capital projects to qualify for funding.
As an example, Hooper cited school resource officers. He said District 5 spends about $1.7 million annually on officers and does not receive the same state support available to districts that added them later.
Hooper said security improvements should be considered alongside the staffing and training needed to use them. Similarly, building a school requires planning for teachers and other employees, not just construction.
“The 1 percent penny tax is great for building these walls, but it’s not going to pay for me and you to be in this room,” he said.
He emphasized that large district budget totals should not be treated as unrestricted money. He cited a $166 million figure and said much of it is divided among revenue sources with specific spending requirements.
Hooper also said he has heard interest in increasing the share of sales tax revenue used to reduce bond debt. He wants the board and legislative delegation to discuss possible changes before renewal.
He said visitors traveling through the area, including along Interstate 85, contribute sales tax revenue. He would like to work with city and county officials on ways to attract additional visitor spending that could benefit schools.
If the tax expires, he said, facilities needs will remain, leaving the district to find other funding.
Hooper favors building a new arts school on district-owned land near the district office and converting Southwood’s existing building into a traditional middle school.
He said the proposal could reduce enrollment pressure at Robert Anderson Middle School, restore a neighborhood middle school for families near Southwood and provide arts students with a new facility.
Hooper said he has discussed the idea with board members and believes a specialized arts campus could cost less than a conventional middle school. He acknowledged that his position is based on a high-level review and that details remain to be examined.
He sees potential for the arts school to serve both middle and high school students, expand theater and music opportunities and possibly help address Project Challenge Playhouse’s needs.
He also proposed exploring partnerships with Anderson school districts 3 and 4, drawing a comparison with their collaboration with District 5 at the Anderson Institute of Technology.
A larger performance space could accommodate cross-county programs and potentially generate revenue through events, he said.
“I would personally like to see Southwood, the physical building, be used as a traditional middle school,” Hooper said. “And then we build a new arts school that could potentially hold middle and high school.”
Hooper said he and his wife participated in Project Challenge Playhouse and support preserving its opportunities for students.
He described recent board action as a sign of progress toward an agreement involving the program’s building. However, he stressed that he was interpreting public discussions and was not privy to executive-session conversations or the terms of any proposed arrangement.
Hooper said he understood the district to have invested more than $500,000 in the building. He also said more than 40 nonprofits work with students across the district, some using district facilities and paying rental fees.
He said the board should consider fairness to other organizations when determining assistance for the playhouse.
“How do we make sure that we’re being fair?” he said.
Hooper also discussed possible legal issues surrounding a building transfer or long-term agreement, but his comments reflected his understanding rather than a legal determination.
Hooper said he welcomes disagreement and considers a range of professional backgrounds, beliefs and experiences an asset to a board.
“I want people sitting at my table that disagree with me,” he said.
He said discussion and scrutiny can improve proposals, but trustees need a better structure for reviewing information before full board meetings.
Hooper favors subcommittee meetings where members could question financial figures, review proposals and hear from experts. He believes that preparation could make full board meetings shorter and more productive.
He said some public disagreements may reflect members’ limited opportunity to examine issues together rather than personal animosity.
Hooper said he would ultimately vote for what he believes benefits students, even if supporters disagree.
“At the end of the day, I’m being put in this position to make decisions on what’s best for our kids in the school district,” he said.
He said endorsements or photographs with supporters would not determine his decisions. With four children in the district, he expects to live with the consequences of those decisions for years.
Hooper opposes making school board elections partisan, despite receiving endorsements he identified as coming from the Republican Party and a women’s Republican organization.
He said he appreciates endorsements but does not want party politics to shape school decisions or prevent residents from approaching him.
Hooper, who coaches youth soccer, said some parents have told him they feel less comfortable speaking with him because they associate an endorsement with assumptions about his views.
“That is not why I’m in this,” he said.
He said he wants families to know they can speak with him regardless of their political affiliation, identity or background.
“At the end of the day, that is not going to dictate how I’m going to serve our kids, and it has no place in the school,” he said of partisan politics.
Hooper said the campaign has brought criticism, strained friendships and social media attacks involving him and his family.
He said that hostility can discourage younger parents from running for office and make the district less appealing to prospective teachers.
Hooper described Anderson as a community where people encounter one another at church, youth sports and the gym. He urged residents to disagree without attacking families or questioning personal motives.
Identifying himself as a Christian, he said his faith calls for caring for others and building people up.
Hooper said he hopes other parents will seek office in future elections and bring new ideas. Whether elected or not, he said, he intends to remain involved.
“If you want to vote for me, that’s great,” he said. “If not, I’m still going to be there helping the district the best way I can.”
