At the March 19 board meeting, the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees named Clark Cooper the district’s new chief operations and student services officer. Cooper currently serves as the district’s executive director of student services/interim executive director of operations.

Cooper began his teaching career as a science teacher and coach at Pelion High School in 2002. He was promoted to assistant administrator in 2005, to assistant principal in 2006 and to principal in 2012. While serving as assistant principal, he also held a position as one of the district’s hearing officers in Student Services.

In 2017, Cooper was named director of student administration before he was promoted in 2022 to interim chief student services officer. He has been in his current role of executive director of student services/interim executive director of operations since 2023.

As a consultant for the South Carolina Department of Education, he served as STAT Federal Priority School Coach in 2015, External Review Team Member in 2014 and team leader for the High Schools That Work TAV and TRV initiative.

Cooper holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology Education from The Citadel and a Master of Arts in Business Education and a Master of Education in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of South Carolina. He holds superintendent, secondary principal, secondary supervisor, biology and science certifications. 

He is a member of the South Carolina Association for School Administration and was named the Lexington District One Education Office Professionals’ 2014–2015 Administrator of the Year. Cooper has served in several leadership roles in the South Carolina Association of School Administrators and received an honorary state FFA degree.