About me & Why I'm running
Hello! Thank you for visiting my campaign website.
My name is Nick Hill, dad of a 3rd grader at PPES, avid golfer, snowboarder, and project management professional. I am running to represent District 5 on the Park City School Board this year to restore integrity, accountability, and transparency to the school district. I grew up in Southeast England - about 25 miles east of London, in a small town called Rochester. I immigrated to the U.S. in 2008 and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2019.
For over 20 years I've been employed across technology and professional services industries, working with diverse groups of stakeholders at all levels of some of the biggest corporations in the world. Currently I'm a Senior Program Manager, handling growth initiatives for an organization undergoing transformational change in one of the most volatile environments in living memory. Through my professional experience, supplemented with a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of Colorado Boulder, I have learned how to work collaboratively to drive success in complex organizations. I understand the strength that comes from authentic, inclusive, ethical leadership. I also know how difficult it is to build success when leaders are disconnected from those they lead.
Effective leadership requires a reciprocal trust built on open and honest communication. Unfortunately, the Park City School District has seen a series of controversies and broken communication that have eroded that trust, including the below, yet the Board of Directors responsible for overseeing the district administration and its Superintendent evade accountability:
Through it all, when they should have been most communicative, the School Board has become increasingly insular, shutting themselves off from the people they were elected to serve. At board meetings dissent is discouraged and often actively shouted down by sitting board members. The Board intentionally positions itself as a monolith, keeping all discussions behind closed doors for deliberately secretive decision-making. This is destructive to trust and transparency and certainly a violation of the spirit of open meeting laws, if not technically the letter of them.
We need to change the culture of the Park City School District. Board meetings must be restored to show the public productive discussion and give insight into how decisions are made. Different stakeholder voices must be welcomed, and respected. Communication must not stop there, however. Parents and teachers alike must be, and feel, empowered to communicate and question issues that directly impact our children without fear of reprisal. Open and honest communication channels, transparent decision-making, and demonstrated accountability for the District's failures are essential to restoring trust in both the Board and the wider district administration.
Parkites can always be counted on to give their school district financial support, as we saw just last year with a $79 million bond overwhelmingly approved. It is imperative that the board responsible for guiding how that money is spent operates transparently, and ethically. When we are honest about the challenges our school district faces, we can move forward together to meet those challenges. We can give our world-class ski town the world-class school system it deserves.
My name is Nick Hill, dad of a 3rd grader at PPES, avid golfer, snowboarder, and project management professional. I am running to represent District 5 on the Park City School Board this year to restore integrity, accountability, and transparency to the school district. I grew up in Southeast England - about 25 miles east of London, in a small town called Rochester. I immigrated to the U.S. in 2008 and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2019.
For over 20 years I've been employed across technology and professional services industries, working with diverse groups of stakeholders at all levels of some of the biggest corporations in the world. Currently I'm a Senior Program Manager, handling growth initiatives for an organization undergoing transformational change in one of the most volatile environments in living memory. Through my professional experience, supplemented with a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of Colorado Boulder, I have learned how to work collaboratively to drive success in complex organizations. I understand the strength that comes from authentic, inclusive, ethical leadership. I also know how difficult it is to build success when leaders are disconnected from those they lead.
Effective leadership requires a reciprocal trust built on open and honest communication. Unfortunately, the Park City School District has seen a series of controversies and broken communication that have eroded that trust, including the below, yet the Board of Directors responsible for overseeing the district administration and its Superintendent evade accountability:
- Failure to report suspected sexual abuse despite legal (and moral) obligation to do so.
- Rejecting health mandates during a pandemic that has killed over a million Americans.
- Ongoing loss of experienced educators and associated growing class sizes.
- Embarking on a major building program without construction permits.
- Consistent budget overruns and debt-financing leading to inevitable tax increases.
Through it all, when they should have been most communicative, the School Board has become increasingly insular, shutting themselves off from the people they were elected to serve. At board meetings dissent is discouraged and often actively shouted down by sitting board members. The Board intentionally positions itself as a monolith, keeping all discussions behind closed doors for deliberately secretive decision-making. This is destructive to trust and transparency and certainly a violation of the spirit of open meeting laws, if not technically the letter of them.
We need to change the culture of the Park City School District. Board meetings must be restored to show the public productive discussion and give insight into how decisions are made. Different stakeholder voices must be welcomed, and respected. Communication must not stop there, however. Parents and teachers alike must be, and feel, empowered to communicate and question issues that directly impact our children without fear of reprisal. Open and honest communication channels, transparent decision-making, and demonstrated accountability for the District's failures are essential to restoring trust in both the Board and the wider district administration.
Parkites can always be counted on to give their school district financial support, as we saw just last year with a $79 million bond overwhelmingly approved. It is imperative that the board responsible for guiding how that money is spent operates transparently, and ethically. When we are honest about the challenges our school district faces, we can move forward together to meet those challenges. We can give our world-class ski town the world-class school system it deserves.
