James C. Blair: Candidate Profile

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:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: Villa ParkWebsite: http://npneOffice sought: Salt Creek Elementary D48Age: 63Family: Married 38 years 1 son who is a Teacher 1 daughter also a TeacherOccupation: Retired after 43 year working at RUSH as a Sr. Director, Healthcare FinanceEducation: High School and some college.Civic involvement: Youth Commission Chairman for 8 yrsI-Search chairmen 5 yrsHFMA Manager of Patient Accounts for 35 yrsScoutmaster for 6 yearsElected offices held: As a Member of Board of Education in another school District, for 16 years. Offices held President for 7 years, Vice President 5 yearsNow on Salt Creek School District 48 for almost 4 years and Vice President for 4 yearsHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 To make sure the quality of education for our students is at its highest.Key Issue 2 Making sure that we are always working on keeping a balanced budget.Key Issue 3 Making sure we have the right tools for our teaching staff to do the best job they can and make sure our students are life long learners.Questions Answers How satisfied are you that your district is preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?I am very satisfied that the district is on the right path to educating our students. They are always working to improve the quality of education to make sure our students are life long learners. District 48 is always working with the staff from dist. 88 to make sure the students are ready to move on to high school. The teachers are always making changes to improve the student#146;s education by taking classes and coming up with new ideas for the classroom.What budget issues will the district have to confront? What measures do you support to address them? If cuts are needed, be specific about programs and expenses that should be reduced or eliminated. Do you support any tax increases for local schools?The main budget issue is to try to keep a balanced budget. The way we do this is by reviewing the budget every month to make sure we are on track. Every time we review a new budget we look to see if these are the right programs to make sure that our students are receiving the best education they can. I would not support a tax increase until we have done everything we could to reduce the budget without affecting the education of our students. If we had to do a tax increase to make sure that the quality of education is at the high standards it should be I would then support one.Is experience as a teacher or support from a union valuable because it suggests educational insights or detrimental because it creates pro-teacher bias? Please clarify whether you have such experience or would accept union support.I have not experience as a teacher, but as a parent of two teachers, I listen to their opinions and learn from them.As contract talks come up with various employee groups, what posture should the board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?I feel the board should always take a positive position and meet with each group and hear their side and then have them hear our side and meet until we have a satisfied agreement. The only way you could do that is make sure is that we have made all the decisions that we could. That we are spending the money in the right direction, and there is no expenditures that were not needed to educate our students and keep them safe. If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?I would not support a substantial increase in pay to boost the pension benefits of the superintendent or other administrators. We would have to look to see why we would do any increase and we are set by state law by how much if any we could increase it.