Jordan School Board 2 Candidates

Given the short time and short information, I've not vetted these as thoroughly as I have some other candidates, but the choice seems fairly clear for me. The candidates are Gary Hansen, Matthew Young, and Ben Hunter. I'm voting for Ben Hunter. Keep reading for the details.

Gary Hansen has been working with school systems for many years. He's done work for both Canyon's and Granite School Districts. And is currently doing work for one of the two (Granite I think it was). Some consider this a conflict of interest, but he's talked with his employer, they see no issue with it, and he gives assurances he'll be able to put in the needed time as a member of the Jordan School Board. His wife is a teacher as well. He believes this makes him a very qualified individual because he spends so much time in and around education and believes he knows the issues. However... He indicated he supports Utah Core. At that point I asked about SAGE testing (we texted our questions to the moderator). He confessed he'd heard of SAGE testing, but didn't know anything about it. That flushing sound you hear is all of his credibility going down the toilet. If you're married to a teacher, claim you discuss education with her, work in education, claim you understand the issues, and can stand up and say you support Common Core, you better know what SAGE testing is... If he had actually researched SAGE testing, I bet he wouldn't be claiming to support Utah Core. Either way, I can't support him because he supports Utah Core, and I also can't support him because he has so much exposure to the educational environment and yet is clearly very ignorant of the issues. He's a nice guy though - just not informed.

Matthew Young is a CPA and currently self-employed. He's the only one of the candidates that currently has a child in the Jordan School District. Matt is a compelling candidate. He's already started digging into the budget and looking for ways the financial situation with Jordan might be rectified. He indicates he's against Sage Testing because parents don't have access to the results, and that he doesn't like the way Utah Core is being handled. He appears to believe the largest failing of the Jordan School District overall is one of communication and wants to put a lot of effort into reaching out to other organizations (Cities, Businesses, etc.) that the school system interacts with to see if better results can't be achieved. He also wants to do the same with parents to see if the disconnect between parents and the school board can't be bridged. Overall though, I find his approach a bit soft in the sense that he wants to do a lot of talking looking for answers, doesn't seem to stand as strongly on issues as I would like to see him stand, and his initial analysis of the budget is more exploratory and "fund X changed by Y percent and that's a bit unusual" kind of approach. When it comes to finance, I'm looking for more of a "we're spending more than we're bringing in" and "Why are we doing this program?" and "Why can't we do this more cheaply by changing X, Y, and Z?"

Ben Hunter is a Civil Engineer and definitely thinks like an engineer. He's very analytical and appears to be well versed in thinking outside of the box to see all possible options and find a solution that fits. He comes from a educational background of public school, home schooling, and college education. He's very supportive of home schooling and charter schools and feels strongly that not any one educational setting is the best environment for everyone. He believes in doing what works for the individual. He ended up running for the School Board after having run across some information on Common Core, doing research, and then feeling compelled to become involved because he doesn't currently believe home schooling is a good option for his family, he believes it unlikely they're going to be able to get into a charter school, and his oldest is 4 and will soon be starting school. Ben has taken a strong "anti" stance against Utah Core and SAGE testing. He sees real issues with the educational curriculum, the implementation of the curriculum, and he understand that just throwing technology at education is useless and a waste of money. He believes in integrating technology into education in ways that make sense and are designed to meet clear goals.

Ben also appears to have the social skills needed to be able to interact well with others and establish the relationships needed to help him be successful in the position and help the Jordan School Board do better than they have been in interacting with parents and others. Ben understands the need for those in the School Board to be representing the needs of the parents in educating their children and believes that the parents, not the school system are the ones responsible for directing the education of their children.

As an engineer, Ben finds solutions and solves problems. He believes he can take the same skills that make him a good engineer and apply them to solving the issues we have with education in the Jordan School District. I'm inclined to agree with him (though I'm admittedly biased as I'm also an engineer).

The only real strength that Matthew Young appears to have over Ben Hunter appears to be that Matt is a CPA. From personal experience, I know it doesn't take a CPA to understand a budget - even for a large entity like Jordan School District. I have no formal accounting training at all and yet I've been able to pull apart city budgets and whatnot when I was looking for something. Ben did take some accounting classes in college though he does not have a degree in accounting. Ben is eager to start digging into the budget for Jordan and believes he can do it. Given the mentality, traits, and engineering mindset I saw coming from Ben as I talked to him, I believe he can as well. The budget piece aside, Ben was much more informed on the issues than Matt, and clearly took a stance on issues. Ben, when he disagreed with something, he seemed to be more questioning implementation, communication, etc. rather than a hard stance of "this is right" or "this is wrong". Add to that that Ben has a home schooling background and I think we can be assured that Ben will be friendly to alternative forms of education and not just "tow the party line" coming from the State School Board Council or the UEA.

My vote goes to Ben Hunter.

Ben's website can be found here: http://ben4jordandistrict.nationbuilder.com/

Matthew Young's website can be found here: http://www.jordanisourdistrict.com/

Gary Hansen I don't have a website for. You can get some information from his candidate filing on the state website though. I sensed trouble with the opening statement in there: "I understand responsibilities of Board governance that needs to focus on higher level, future-oriented matters of strategy and policy and will perform responsibilities in rigorous but more efficient manner." I just didn't find that statement encouraging. He does seem to be a nice guy, just not the guy I want on my school board.