Eric Hepburn

[admin]

[twhl]

www.204taxpayers.org/

Eric Hepburn

1. Please provide the following information:
d) Elementary attendance area in which you reside, number of children, and schools they attend

I am a 12 year resident of Naperville. We reside within the Fry Elementary area. I have 3 children: Lauren is nine and in the third grade at Fry, Claire is 5 and is the inaugural class of all day Kindergarten at Fry, and Evan is 2.
e) Educational background and occupation

I have a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters of Business Administration with a focus in operations from Loyola University of Chicago.
f) Involvement in the schools, district, or community.

My wife and I are members of Good Shepard Lutheran Church, I have coached youth sports within the Wheatland Athletic Association and we are members of the Fry PTA.

2. Why do you want to serve on the District 204 Board of Education?
I want to serve on the District 204 school board to provide children with the best possible education in a fiscally and socially responsible manner. In addition to providing the best education possible I feel very strongly that the rift within the community needs to be healed.

3. What is your role as a school board member and what steps do you plan to take to perform that role effectively?
My role as a school board member is to act as a public guardian whose sole purpose is the adequately prepare District 204 students for success. I would execute my duties in a manner that the places the interests of the students, parents, teachers, and classified staff first and foremost. I would use one key barometer as the yardstick for evaluation: How will this issue affect the ability of all our children to learn, grow, and prosper? The role is further defined by the emphasis I would place on fiscal responsibility and optimization of district resources. I would work diligently to assure the board conducted itself in a manner that demonstrated responsiveness, openness, caring, compassion, and last but certainly not least respect..

4. What specific changes to district goals and/or policy will you advocate for and why?
1. Comprehensive Safety Program: Establishing a policy which allows the school board, administrators, educators, and classified staff to facilitate change in the event a safety situation presents itself within the context of school. 2. Elementary School Air Conditioning: The needs of the children who occupy the 661 elementary school classrooms must be addressed. Under the current conditions the current school board is severely jeopardizing the learning environment for students, teachers, and classified staff.
3. Financial Transparency: As it exists today the average taxpayer within district 204 would find it extremely difficult to understand the financial condition of the district. I would advocate for a much different protocol that involved posting all district expenditures online via www.forthegoodofillinois.com or an alternative location. I would also like to see the District present a quarterly business review that was executed in a public forum, allowed public commentary, and was also available online. Full disclosure and regular reporting would restore the public trust in the actions of the school board.

5. What steps will you take towards creating open dialogue and transparency with the community?
Post all financial data to eliminate the need for parents and concerned residents to execute Freedom of Information Act requests and provide a monthly financial update in open session. I would also utilize an alternate forum for regular meetings which allowed everyone to participate in one room.

6. Elaborate your thoughts on the attendance boundaries for the 2009/2010 school year.
The boundary issues have been decided in 2008 and are not open for discussion. Our role as the incoming school board is to assure each transitional student is provided with the best possible learning environment under the existing guidelines.

7. What impact does site-based management have on the board¡¯s ability to enforce effective district policy?
If the administration holds Principals accountable for adherence to policy with little deviation it could be beneficial as actions of a local nature are dealt with in an expeditious manner and not allowed to fester. This will not be easy. It will require a culture change within the district and will need to be reinforced with accountability measures and metrics for determining the "health" of an individual school.

[casey]

I was asked to post this:

Karl's Notes|Notes about Karl|Karl's Profile

What I learned this week.ShareYesterday at 10:32pm
Up until ten days ago, my attitude toward our local school board was quite indifferent. I did not care about what they did as long as my property taxes didn't go up. But when I saw our school board president disrespect the parents of a victim of a sexual assault that occurred between children from my son's middle school, I got angry. I knew what I saw was not right, however I did not know what I could do to help this family. I also needed to get answers to questions that Michelle and I had about this situation and how it was being handled.

As I began to communicate with other parents in our school district and neighborhood, I was quickly learning of a consistent pattern of disrespect, unreturned phone calls, unanswered emails from the board President and other school board members. As my anger and frustration grew, Michelle and I finally decided it was time to take action.

We decided that we would invite any parents from the school district that were willing to get together to come to our home. I can say I did not know what to expect at the meeting. First and foremost, I was impressed by the caring and concern that was expressed by the other parents in attendance. I was simultaneously disappointed and amazed to hear about the years of struggle that these men and women had endured trying to communicate with the school board on variety of topics. These parents really did care, and had been trying to hold the board accountable for the many years when I did not care.

I invited the local press to the meeting in our home. I did this with intention that having them there would allow us to get media coverage and keep pressure on the school board to act on the situation at my son's middle school. The reporter and a photographer came, and the story was written by the reporter at our dining room table. The next day, the pictures of the meeting were on the front page of the paper, along with ten inches of column space dedicated to the stories that were shared among the parents.

That morning as I was working, I received phone calls from TV reporters wanting to learn more about the meeting. I agreed to speak with them. Having a background in broadcasting, I knew I would have to guard my words, and I tried to answer the questions they asked, in a way that was appropriate and non sensationalistic. I also wanted to keep them in context with the Christian values that I try to live my life by. I am proud to say that approach worked and the coverage of the school board meeting yesterday was accurate and fair.

Looking back, and examining the information I gathered this week, has given me a new perspective. As parents, we have to care what the school board does. We need to research the candidates and not just vote randomly for these positions. I am guilty of having done this in the past. The people that serve in these roles have thankless jobs, they run a huge business, over $270 million dollars in the case of District 204 budget, with total responsibilities that could be close to a billion dollars when you factor surplus funds and properties. We trust them to make wise decisions regarding our children's safety and education.

On Tuesday afternoon, for the first time, I attended a school board meeting, I now understand the process, and how the meetings are organized. As a parent you need to understand this process, in case you ever need to go before the board. Don't get me wrong in the case of this meeting it was like watching grass grow. I did address the board during the public comment time, so I had come full circle from not caring to standing up and fighting for my kids.

On April 7, 2009 we will be electing four school board members in District 204. I have now met many of the candidates and afterward attended a public forum where they answered questions about their beliefs and core values.. For the first time ever, I will enter a voting booth actually understanding where these types of candidates stand on issues that absolutely matter to my children and yours. I encourage you to get educated and become informed. I can promise you that I will take an interest and watch how our school board in District 204 acts from this day forward.

Visit www.204taxpayers.org to learn more about the candidates that I will be voting for and helping to get elected. Bottom line: I ask you to get educated and get involved. Our children are the most precious gift that God gives us. He entrusts us to raise them and be good parents in his likeness. That requires that we learn about things like school boards, whether we like it or not.

Thanks for reading.


Karl Cordes

[doctorwho]

www.dailyherald.com/news/politics/elections/2009/race/candidates/?id=707&candidate=997

Unit D204 board member
Eric R. Hepburn Incumbent: No
Occupation: Senior Director of Operations, Exel Direct Inc. July 2003 – Present (5 years 9 months) Responsible for profitability and day-to-day operations of thirty two state / three province area.
Age: 40
Address: Naperville, IL

CANDIDATE INFORMATION
Family
I have 3 children: Lauren is nine and in the third grade at Fry. Claire is 5 and is the inaugural class of all day Kindergarten at Fry. Evan is 2.
Education/degrees
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992
Masters of Business Administration, Loyola University of Chicago, 1995
Civic Involvement
My wife and I are members of Good Shepard Lutheran Church, I have coached youth sports within the Wheatland Athletic Association and we are members of the Fry PTA.
Elected/appointed offices held
N/A
Other Government services
N/A


Candidate's Key Issues
Key Issue 1 Comprehensive Safety Program: Establishing a policy which allows the school board, administrators, educators, and classified staff to facilitate change in the event a safety situation presents itself within the context of school. Students should enjoy an environment that is of the utmost in safety from all aspects, to include after hours bullying and any type of electronic harassment either via email, text, or instant message. This policy would include an 800 number for in-bound calls administered by a third party. Any in-bound call would be handled in an expeditious manner to bring resolution to the situation. Principals and teachers would be empowered to take immediate action which they deem in the best interest of the students and school district as a whole. In addition to the 800 number, I would move to establish a Parents Advisory Council with a representative from each school. They would conduct a monthly update meeting to apprise all representatives with a safety update per school. This council would also be empowered to act in a manner that continuously promoted a safe, effective learning environment within each and every classroom. It would also work in conjunction with the school board and teachers to communicate the status of the district as measured by key metrics classified by event type and resolution. The current practice of only commenting on issues when they receive media attention is not an effective manner to promote safety within the District. In my opinion the current board has not acted in a manner befitting the need. Failure to take decisive action has placed numerous students in an extremely difficult environment which is not conducive to learning. This needs immediate rectification and implementation. Parents need a more active outlet for ensuring every student, teacher, and administrator work diligently to ensure a safety culture is promoted and enhanced.
Key Issue 2 Elementary School Air Conditioning: The needs of the children who occupy the 661 elementary school classrooms must be addressed. Under the current conditions the current school board is severely jeopardizing the learning environment for students, teachers, and classified staff. If the temperature exceeds 85 degrees in the classroom the existing policy dictates early dismissal. Approximately 13,000 children are exposed to 50+ days per year of temperatures over 80 degrees. To further complicate the matter early dismissal days would require the time be made up at the end of the school year during the apex of summer. As it exists today the administration is hesitant to declare early dismissal for this very reason. Instead of working toward an optimal cooling solution which would foster a conducive learning environment for all students, teachers, and classified staff the current board has decided to ignore the issue, dismissing it as too expensive. This must be addressed and can be implemented in a short time frame provided it receives the proper attention. As a School Board we must work to develop a solution to address the air conditioning need in the elementary buildings. There are affordable options available that would allow individual units to be placed in classrooms. Very simply we do not need to retrofit each elementary building to provide AC but rather come up with a cost-effective yet workable solution using individual units.
Key Issue 3 Financial Transparency: As it exists today the average taxpayer within district 204 would find it extremely difficult to understand the financial condition of the district. I would advocate for a much different protocol that involved posting all district expenditures online via www.forthegoodofillinois.com or an alternative location. I would also like to see the District present a quarterly business review that was executed in a public forum, allowed public commentary, and was also available online. The documents would be published in advance of the meeting and formatted in a manner that made it possible for all residents of the district to have a keen understanding of how the board handled taxpayer money to enrich the educational experience for our children. I would also like to create a committee made up of interested parents. This committee would be empowered to examine potential issues within the district related to wasteful spending or optimization of existing resources. I also think its imperative the district prepares a three and five year forecast of expected enrollment per school and a detailed budget per school that allows the average taxpayer to evaluate the incoming revenue stream and projected expenses, not just in the current year. To think that concerned residents of the District are required to request documents via the freedom of information act simply to determine how taxpayer money is being allocated is absurd. Failure to fully disclose leads to the assumption of impropriety. Full disclosure and regular reporting would restore the public trust in the actions of the school board.

[Arch]

An email received from Eric:

=================


Team,

As I have recently been made aware of several divisive emails which do nothing but exacerbate the division within the community I would urge you to only discuss what you consider to be the positive virtues of the candidates you support.

I've had many people ask me why I did not openly "go after" a candidate in a public forum - one reason: the community needs to put the negative behind us and move forward. Nothing is to be gained in putting down another candidate. Each one has been forthright and objective in their views on moving the District forward - they should be evaluated on this basis alone.

Please do not attach my name to anything derogatory to another candidate and immediately make me aware of anything you feel does not represent the spirit of this email.

I appreciate your help, support, and vote on April 7th!


Best Regards,

Eric R. Hepburn
District 204 School Board Candidate
[e-mail]

[JB]

Mar 23, 2009 17:25:28 GMT -6 Arch said:

An email received from Eric:

=================


Team,

As I have recently been made aware of several divisive emails which do nothing but exacerbate the division within the community I would urge you to only discuss what you consider to be the positive virtues of the candidates you support.

I've had many people ask me why I did not openly "go after" a candidate in a public forum - one reason: the community needs to put the negative behind us and move forward. Nothing is to be gained in putting down another candidate. Each one has been forthright and objective in their views on moving the District forward - they should be evaluated on this basis alone.

Please do not attach my name to anything derogatory to another candidate and immediately make me aware of anything you feel does not represent the spirit of this email.

I appreciate your help, support, and vote on April 7th!


Best Regards,

Eric R. Hepburn
District 204 School Board Candidate
[e-mail]

Well written and thoughtful - I'm glad we have candidates who proactively point this type of negative garbage out, and denounce it.