Nancy N. Robb: 2021 candidate for Harper College board of trustees.
Bio
City: Inverness
Age: 69
Occupation: Retired superintendent from Township High School District 211
Civic involvement: President, Excel Beyond 211, 2014 through present; WINGS Leadership Council, 2012-present; Buehler YMCA board of directors, 2007-present; Harper College Trustee, 2015-2021; Harper College Foundation, 2014-2015
Q&A
Q: Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is it?
A: Throughout my 34-year District 211 career, I worked closely with the Harper College administration and staff. I was active with the Harper College Foundation and contributed to the development of the Promise Program. My experiences with the foundation intensified my interest in continuing my service to the community in the capacity of Harper College trustee. I am currently retired, and education remains my passion and life's work. My service as a Harper College trustee for the past six years has allowed me to apply the knowledge and past experiences I gained as an educator and community member. Through a second term on the Harper College board, I can continue to volunteer my time and abilities toward the improvement of educational opportunities for adults in our community. I believe that the role of the trustee is to encourage and support innovation that focuses on students' successful completion of degree and certificate programs while meeting the diverse needs of the greater Harper community.
Q: How would you grade the current school board on its response to the pandemic? Why?
A: I would give the Harper College administration an "A" grade for their very thorough and measured response to the pandemic. The Harper COVID Response Team did an outstanding job in developing a plan which addressed the following issues: Careful attention was given to indoor traffic flow; temperature screening stations were instituted; a COVID 19 Monitoring Dashboard was created; I.D.'s were required for contact tracing; staff members were trained; students received frequent COVID information, including frequently asked questions and answers; and scheduling of lab classes ensured social distancing and safe practices.
Q: Did your district continue to adequately serve students during the disruptions caused by the pandemic? If so, please cite an example of how it successfully adjusted to continue providing services. If not, please cite a specific example of what could have been done better.
A: Harper College closed the campus and established remote learning on March 17, 2020, and simultaneously initiated curbside pickup for students who needed textbooks, Chromebooks, hot spots and supplies. In addition, over $300,000 in Emergency Aid was provided to students who had food or housing insecurity, child-care issues, or other basic needs. Students who were dealing with anxiety, stress, or depression issues were supported through Well Track, a tele mental health services program.
Q: Do you have a plan on how to safely and effectively conduct classes in the spring? What have you learned from the fall semester that you would change in the spring?
A: I believe that the Harper College staff will continue to follow the science and the data in making decisions regarding the return of students to the classroom. We have learned from our experience from the fall that the on-campus interactions in the clinical labs could be conducted safely with small class sizes and having the COVID guidelines in place. Keeping staff members and students safe is the top priority, and Harper College has implemented new cleaning protocols, social distancing, personal protection requirements and temperature checks to assure safety. The risk of COVID transmission is low for aquatics facilities. Harper College in partnership with the Palatine Park District has reopened the pool for swim team practice as of February 2021. Plans are also being made to bring back the Harper coaches and spring athletes for athletic practices in March 2021. We must continue to assess the COVID spread data and the increase in COVID vaccines with the mindset that it is in our students' best interest academically, socially, and emotionally to return to the classroom once it is safe to do so.
Q: Did your district continue to adequately serve students during the disruptions caused by the pandemic? If so, please cite an example of how it successfully adjusted to continue providing services. If not, please cite a specific example of what could have been done better.
A: Harper College continued to provide excellent services to the students throughout the pandemic. For the past several years, Harper staff members have been invested in providing distance learning and online course opportunities that provided greater scheduling flexibility for the adult learner population. As a result, they were prepared to make the transition from in person to online classes in March 2020. Certain degree and certificate programs require in-person labs. Harper successfully allowed students to complete the labs from the spring 2020, in July and August 2020. This accommodation allowed students to complete their programs, and no positive COVID cases have been reported. This successful experience allowed Harper to expand the lab classes in August-November of 2020. The protocols in place for check-in stations, temperature checks, I.D.'s checked for contact tracing, and mask requirement were key to opening lab-based classes.
Q: In tough economic times, many students (and working professionals) turn to a community college for its educational value. How do you ensure that a person's financial sacrifice results in an educational benefit?
A: As trustees, it is our responsibility to monitor the effectiveness of Harper College to ensure students are getting a quality education in a safe environment. Quarterly, trustees receive updates regarding the Operational Plan, Strategic Plan goals, and board and Harper College president goals. Data from these goals are utilized to drive the decisions for the operational and strategic planning of the college. The Institutional Effectiveness measures 10 areas of the Operational Plan. These include items such as facilities, student persistence, student success and areas of risk and strategic planning. Trustees learn whether a goal is completed on target, in progress, postponed, or will not be completed. Trustees are provided the data to assure that students are receiving a quality education. Harper has recently provided 2.2 million dollars in tuition relief for students by freezing tuition, the elimination of distance learning fees, suspending the differential tuition rate for 11 health career majors until spring 2022, the Business EdVantage and in-district tuition for the new Health Information Technology class. I believe Harper provides students an excellent education.
Q: From the college's point of view, 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?
A: Harper College's mission is to provide quality, affordable, and accessible education to its community. A guiding principle in determining tax policy should be to ensure the institutional quality of Harper College and its value to the community is maintained. This requires an awareness of the very real fiscal risks and issues caused by uncertainty of state funding. In addition, the state legislation could freeze taxes or shift full pension funding to the college. These risks have been mitigated by the college budgeting conservatively and projecting that they will not receive 100% of the state funding. Annually we review program costs and expenses. Currently, we do not have plans to eliminate programs. I fully support the college recommendation to not raise taxes or have any fee increases for our students. This is the second year that we have not increased student fees. Harper College policy requires reserve fund balances sufficient to provide a surplus to maintain college operations in the event of unexpected adverse economic conditions. I am pleased that Harper College has been able to maintain a balanced budget throughout my tenure on the board.