Steven Hooper (Wisconsin)
Steven Hooper was the District 5 representative on the Racine Board of Education in Wisconsin. Hooper won election to a two-year term in the general election on April 5, 2016.[1] He did not seek re-election in 2018.
Biography
Hooper earned his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He is a development technician with SC Johnson.[2]
Elections
2016
The 2016 election for all nine seats on the Racine Unified School District was the district's first using a by district system rather than electing members at-large. A primary election was held on February 16, 2016, for Districts 6 and 7 with the general election on April 5, 2016. Board candidates were required to live in their election districts. The change was enshrined in state law through legislation sponsored by State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R) and State Rep. Tom Weatherson (R), who represent districts that include Racine. The election districts approved by the school board on October 27, 2015, led to three races in 2016 where three incumbents were assured defeat because they faced fellow board members.[3][4]
Candidates backed by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO won seven of the board's nine seats in 2016. Michelle Duchow in District 1 was not endorsed due to her unopposed race and District 9 winner Robert Wittke was endorsed by The Journal Times as a candidate who would stand up to unions.
District 1 candidate Michelle Duchow was the only unopposed candidate in the race. Dennis Wiser defeated fellow incumbent John Koetz in District 2, while incumbent Michael Frontier ousted fellow board member Pamala Handrow in District 3. Julie McKenna defeated Kim Plache to take the District 4 seat. Challenger Steven Hooper defeated incumbent Chuck Goodremote for the District 5 seat. Newcomer Matthew Hanser narrowly defeated board president Melvin Hargrove in District 8. Incumbent Don Nielsen finished first in the District 7 race against challenger Brian O'Connell. Nielsen and O'Connell defeated Adrienne Moore in the primary. Three newcomers were guaranteed to join the board after this election with no incumbents running in Districts 1, 6 and 9. John Heckenlively defeated Jim Venturini for the District 6 seat, while Robert Wittke defeated Kurt Squire in District 9.[4] Ernest Ni'A was defeated by Heckenlively and Venturini in the District 6 primary. Bryn Biemeck was removed from the ballot in District 6 following a Wisconsin Government Accountability Board appeal by the Racine Education Association.[5]
Results
| Racine Unified School District, District 5 Special Election, 2-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Steven Hooper |
55.20% | 2,994 |
| Chuck Goodremote Incumbent | 44.80% | 2,430 |
| Total Votes | 5,424 | |
| Source: Racine Unified School District, "Racine Board of Education Official Election Results," accessed June 15, 2016 | ||
Endorsements
Hooper received the endorsement of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO.[6]
Campaign themes
2016
Hooper answered the following questions from The Journal Times:
| “ |
1) Last year, the School Board was divided for months on the district’s employee handbook. What role should administrators, unions and the board have in future handbook changes? It should always be a collaborative role. The experts in the field are the ones on the front lines every day. The board needs the professional input from the employees and the administration to make educated decisions. All parties should be involved. 2) The district recently entered into a tentative agreement to buy the Sturtevant Sportsplex for $5.2 million, and the district is studying how to use and pay for the complex before the board’s May 10 deadline to approve the deal. If you are elected, under what conditions would you support the district buying the Sportsplex? I would be very interested to see results from viability studies as this complex relates to Unified. There could be a great deal of potential as the western population continues to grow. On the other hand it could be a financial burden if the facility is under- or misused. I would like to see a clear plan as to the immediate and future use of the complex. 3) As the district implements block scheduling in high schools next year in preparation for new career academies, some have criticized the district for moving ahead on the change too fast, most notably employee unions. Should the district go ahead with block scheduling next year? Why or why not? I’m not sure that the proper time and training will be in place to successfully launch next year. This presents the unfortunate opportunity to catch the students in the middle of a potential failure. I would be more comfortable seeing one school introduce it next year and build from there, or look to a 2017 launch for all of them. 4) Over the last year, the villages of Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant have been weighing whether to fund a study of leaving the Racine Unified School District. Would you support these communities breaking away from Unified? Why or why not? No. Racine Unified has a fantastic existing infrastructure that can be expanded west as the population continues growing that way. I think that many residents like the idea of new school districts, but will not be very happy to foot the bill for starting one or more new school districts from scratch. 5) If elected, what is the most pressing change you would push for the district to make? Collaboration and communication seem to take a backseat to politics in RUSD. All parties need to be involved including students, parents, employees, administration, and the public at large. The Board owes it to the residents of Racine to be open minded, non-partisan, and decisive. [7] |
” |
| —Steven Hooper (2016), [8] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Steven Hooper' 'Racine School Board'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedlist - ↑ The Journal Times, "Unified 5th district race: Goodremote and Hooper differ on REA issues," March 14, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednewmap - ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Journal Times, "Election filings, Racine County school boards," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbiemeck - ↑ Wisconsin AFL-CIO, "2016 Spring Election Candidate Endorsements," March 10, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Journal Times, "Steven Hooper on the issues," March 14, 2016
