UTICA — Utica City School District Board of Education President Joseph Hobika Jr. says he has “no choice but to run for re-election.” 

Hobika has announced his bid for a second term on the board. Hobika says that while much has been accomplished to improve accountability and oversight, there’s so much more that needs to be done, “if we want to continue our quest to be an exemplary high, performing school district and we should accept nothing less.” 

“We already have an excellent student body and highly qualified teachers and staff,” said Hobika. “However, we have tolerated years of bad policies, practices and wrongdoing that have put the district at risk, and squandered the resources that were meant for the betterment of our children. It is my civic duty to finish what I started and continue the work to improve the district for all of our students, teachers, staff and the taxpayers.”

“I decided I was going to run again when we discovered several “no-show” jobs and blatant abuses of overtime, along with inappropriate purchasing practices and a lack of inventory control that completely left us in jeopardy,” Hobika added. “This was when I realized I had no choice but to run for re-election.” 

Hobika said, in addition to cleaning up the past, he’s also very proud of what’s been accomplished in moving the district forward during a short period of time. 

“While president, we’ve worked together as a board to assist the administration in creating sweeping change that will make a positive difference for our students,” he said.

They are creating a better work environment for faculty and staff to improve communication with their students and their parents, Hobika said. They have re-established college partnerships for district students, as well as developing strategic planning for career and tech education with a regional high school.They have worked to solve contract disputes with teachers, service employees and administrators.

They have also placed a priority on early childhood education and established partnerships with Safe Schools, Ican, Hillside Work Scholarship Connection, OnPoint for College and others. They have added social workers, reading teachers, mental health professionals and are currently restructuring the special education department with a qualified department head to oversee the process.

They are also working to improve communication with parents to better include them in their child’s educational experience, Hobika added. 

“This is all just the beginning for the Utica School District,” he said. “I’m asking for the people’s vote on election day and in return I promise to leave them with a clean, well operating school district that will be efficient and will appropriately benefit our children for years to come. We owe the taxpayers of Utica nothing less.” 

The annual budget vote and school board election will be held Tuesday, May 16.