Stephen Hoofer
Stephen Hoofer is an at-large member of the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township school board in Indiana. He assumed office on January 1, 2025. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Hoofer ran for election for an at-large seat of the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township school board in Indiana. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Hoofer completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Stephen Hoofer was born in Owensboro, Kentucky. He earned a high school diploma from South Spencer High School, a bachelor's degree from Purdue University in 1993, and a bachelor's degree from Crossroads Bible College in 2009. His career experience includes working in information technology.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Metropolitan School District of Pike Township, Indiana, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Metropolitan School District of Pike Township school board At-large (4 seats)
Incumbent Angela Barnes, Toni Wilson, incumbent Nichole Kelley, and Stephen Hoofer defeated incumbent Matt Hopp in the general election for Metropolitan School District of Pike Township school board At-large on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Angela Barnes (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 24.3 | 17,919 |
✔ | ![]() | Toni Wilson (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 22.6 | 16,668 |
✔ | ![]() | Nichole Kelley (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 20.0 | 14,734 |
✔ | ![]() | Stephen Hoofer (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 17.7 | 13,062 |
![]() | Matt Hopp (Nonpartisan) ![]() | 15.5 | 11,417 |
Total votes: 73,800 | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hoofer in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stephen Hoofer completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hoofer's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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|- Every student should have the opportunity to be successful. This starts with smaller class sizes. Even if we can’t reduce the size of classes, we can make them effectively smaller by staffing and training additional Instructional Assistants. Staffing IA’s is much less expensive than staffing teachers, and with proper training, they can be extremely impactful to the success of our students. We also need to offer increased STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum. There are amazing job opportunities out there for our students, and it’s our responsibility to make sure they are prepared. Finally we need to continue to build our Career Center ensure we are giving our students every opportunity to be successful.
- We need to show our teachers they are valued. We’ve come a long way since the contentious negotiations of 2021, but we can still do more. Yes, we need to pay our teachers a competitive wage, at or near the top of our surrounding districts. But we also need to ensure teachers know they are appreciated. We need to hold school administrators accountable for treating teachers with respect and doing the little things to show they are appreciated. To identify issues early, we should work with a respected outside organization to survey our teachers the same way companies survey their employees. Then we need to act based on those results.
- We need to our parents are heard. I was a parent like many of you. I respected the professional teachers who poured into my kids, but I also wanted to be heard. We need to do a much better job of surveying our community to find out what concerns parents have. By better understanding concerns of the parents, we can ensure Pike is the choice for parents make for their child’s education.
2. Letting teachers teach without obstacles
https://andcampaign.org/
I also am very analytically minded. I don't make decisions based on emotion, I want facts. If I ever don't believe I've been given enough facts to make an informed decision, I will push back and request more data until I am comfortable.
I also believe school board members are responsible for representing the school system well. Whether someone stops us to talk at a football game, back to school night, or in the grocery store, we owe it to the community to listen and represent our school with dignity.
It came up in a playlist while my wife and I were driving around and now I can't get it out of my head.
The first way I would support the diverse needs in Pike is by recognizing them and letting them inform every decision I make. I would ensure the budget allows adequate funding for teaching our ELL students and our Special Education population. I will vote for curriculum that does not shy away from our past and shows how our future is stronger when we work together. When someone comes to me with a concern from perspective different than mine, I will listen to understand their perspective and ensure their needs are being met.
As for organizations, I will work with the Pike Classroom Teachers' Association and the Pike Parent Network. I would also love to attend HOA meetings, and I would love to find a way to get plugged into the apartment complexes in Pike.
As for measurement, we have to depend on test scores as a significant metric. But, I would love to see us do anonymous surveys of students at various points through out the year and then at the end of each semester. I would love to see how students rate their teachers, especially by the end of their time in the class. This wouldn't be something to tie to a teacher's salary, but I do I think we could learn a lot from this data.
I also think we need to recognize college is not the right answer for every student. I will always support expanding our Career Center to give students more opportunities to learn skill they can take into the workforce.
The one thing I do think could have been handled better would have been to treat our teachers as professionals and not require them to come into the classroom to teach their students remotely. That sent the wrong message to our teachers, and it's a message we need to never send again.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate Metropolitan School District of Pike Township school board At-large |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 19, 2024