The race for the upcoming school board election is approaching rapidly. In a press release on Friday, November 9th, current board members Matt Sinde and Mike Welch announced they will be running for re-election. Dan Moon, who previously ran with Sinde and Welch, will not be running. Attorney Ed Jepson, whom Moon endorses, will run to replace Moon.
Moon decided that, due to professional and personal reasons, he would not try for re-elction. This will end the SWiM team that involved Sinde, Welch, and Moon’s campaign slogan in the 2009 school board election. SWiM team stood for Sinde, Welch, and Moon with the “i” standing for “integrity.”
“Serving the RB community is an honor,” said Moon in an interview to the Landmark.
Jepson, who is planning on replacing Moon, is an attorney for Chicago law firm Vedder Price. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1980 and has two kids, one who attends RBHS and the other who attends Hauser Middle School. Jepson will be actively campaigning with Sinde and Welch.
“I have researched the school, attended board meetings and spoken with current and past board members,” said Jepson in an interview to the Landmark.
While Sinde, Moon, and Welch endorse Jepson, he may not be the only candidate for the election. The election will not occur until April of 2013, and board candidates may still submit application packets. It is expected that others will try to run for the same seats that are opening for election.
Jepson, who specializes in employment, labor law and litigation, hopes to aid in a better change in the RB community.
At issue for the next board will be the renegotiation of the teacher contract, which expires on June 30th, 2013, as well as the long-term financial stability of the school. Sinde noted that he was proud of his board’s accomplishment of changing a $1.6 million dollar projected budget deficit to a $300,000 budget surplus this year. That change resulted primarily from laying off the equivalent of nine full-time teachers, cutting payroll, and benefitting from property tax appeals that never actually materialized last year.
