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Rob Hanlon: Candidate Profile

Wheaton Warrenville District 200 School Board

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: WinfieldWebsite: www.hanlon200.comTwitter: @hanlon200Facebook: https://facebook.com/hanlon200/Office sought: Wheaton Warrenville District 200 School Board Age: 51Family: Married to Jodi Hanlon on October 6, 1990. My daughter is a sophomore at Wheaton North High School active in band and choir. My son is a freshman and Indiana University Kelley School of Business and a Cadet in Army ROTC.Occupation: Senior Vice President Chief Information OfficerEducation: Taylor University - B.S. Computer Science (1988) University of Chicago - M.B.A. (2000)Civic involvement: #ERROR!Elected offices held: None at this time.Questions Answers How will you address the success of failure of your building referendum? How will you continue to inform the community about your commitment to funding capital projects regardless of the outcome?If the referendum is approved, my focus will be on accountability. Transparent communication to the public on schedule, project milestones and cost that CUSD 200 committed to deliver on behalf of the taxpayers. If the referendum is not approved, my focus will be on committing to the Sherman-Dergis policy adopted by the current school board. Both possible outcomes depend on deep engagement with our CUSD 200 administrators, teachers and staff and attention to detail.What do you think about the process for measuring student success in your district? Is it adequate? What changes, if any, do you propose?A common measure of success is a standardized test score. A standardized test score is a point in time "snapshot" of academic understanding. I understand the intended value and role of assessment in measuring quality via standardized tests. I also believe that we can over-emphasize ratings that ignore context, emotional intelligence, leadership, care for community, development of creativity and problem solving. If I personalize the question and ask it about our family, are my children more likely to succeed because of CUSD 200? My unwavering and confident answer is, "Yes!" The results I see with my son, now a freshman at Indiana University Kelley School of Business and ROTC Cadet, are undeniable. The progress I see with my daughter, currently a sophomore at Wheaton North High School, is exciting and full of emerging potential. We chose CUSD 200 for our family 27 years ago before our children were born. We purchased our first home in the CUSD 200 district based on the community, home value and schools our children would attend. Engaging in CUSD 200, working with teachers, staff, building administrators and parent volunteers, continues to validate our decision to embrace CUSD 200 as our home 27 years ago.How big a role do you think the board of education should play in setting the curriculum for students and what ideas do you have for changes to the current curriculum?The school board relies on the district's Superintendent team, building administrators, and teachers on the front lines of daily education to architect and recommend curriculum. The board also must engage teachers, invest time in buildings and engage our community to complete a point of view on the impacts of curriculum. I am not bringing a defined list of ideas for changing curriculum and would be concerned if candidates are politicizing specific curriculum changes during an election.What budget issues will your district have to confront and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, what programs and expenses should be reduced or eliminated? On the income side, do you support any tax or fee increases?I strongly support approving the CUSD 200 referendum on the April ballot for five reasons. 1)The project list contains "needs" not "nice to have" items. CUSD 200 has been through a detailed "bottom up" planning process. The list of projects has been culled down by the Administration and School Board. 2)CUSD 200 is not sitting on large cash reserves. The District has a policy of keeping a 25% reserve (approximately three months of operational expense) and will invest the remainder of the reserves toward building projects. 3)CUSD 200 will save each year to responsibly invest in future projects. The CUSD 200 School Board has adopted the Sherman-Dergis policy setting aside funds each year for building maintenance based on an algorithm using each building's profile, proven in multiple industries, geographies and over-time to be a best practice for responsible savings. 4)The planning has been transparent and focused on our children. CUSD 200 has thoughtfully engaged the public multiple times, at multiple planning stages via multiple channels about the referendum. 5)I intend to personally vote to approve the referendum based on my family's experience in our school system (engagement), the education of my children (results) and the value of my home (impact). To be against the referendum would be disingenuous to my belief system and experience.What role can and should school choice play in your district? If Congress or the state approves a voucher system or other means giving students broader choices among public and private schools, how will that affect your district? What is the appropriate response for the board of education of a public school system?This is a local election, and national debate around approving a cabinet nominee and breaking unions is fueling divide. I do not believe school choice applies nor is appropriate for our community and CUSD 200. We are not a district in crisis, we have outstanding, administration, teachers and staff, our schools are not failing in CUSD 200. I believe that school choice will dramatically hurt our district. I do not trust political "easy buttons" that overlook unintended consequences of policy. There are at least three basic assumptions that I believe create unintended consequences for CUSD 200 that are overlooked in the national debate on school choice. 1)Student costs are 100% variable (if a student exits the district the full cost of educating a student exits the district). There are fixed or semi-variable infrastructure costs, buildings, technology infrastructure, that are required to operate an education system. 2)Each Student requires the same cost and attention to educate. Averages, cost per student and other metrics are one lens into budget productivity. The financial reality of educating a community cannot be a simple metric when a community includes children of a variety of needs. 3)Pure competition creates better schools. Competition creates winners and losers and educating children is not an open market where the consequences of losing impacts a child's life. The response for a board of education is to follow the law and adjust based on recommendation of our professional educators in the district.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I am concerned with any candidate running on a single issue, specifically in CUSD 200, running to defeat the referendum. Candidates running on a platform of financial reform, overlooking the input from administrators and teachers, declaring projects as "nice to have", all without action plans other than "cut the budget" should be pressure tested by the public on specific actions to be taken should the referendum fail. These candidates lack the humility required of a School Board Member to know there is no "easy button" to solve complex issues, no replacement for engaging our professional teachers and no higher responsibility than educating the children of our community.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Rob Bugh - Pastor Wheaton Bible Church - Teaching with humility and empathy for our community.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Treat people with respect.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Spend more time looking around the room and pulling people in who were shy, quiet or alone.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Geometry. Geometric proofs were the start of structured logic that motivated my career in computer science.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Be a leader serving others with empathy and humility.