The very day after all of the petitions had to be in to run for Hoboken Board of Education, candidate Sean Sovak got a call from Mayor Anthony Russo.
“The mayor gave me a call to wish me well,” said Sovak, who actually wasn’t there to get the call. Sovak’s wife spoke to Russo. “He was very gracious,” Sovak said.
Sovak, 28, isn’t politically involved in town, but Russo will surely remember his name. He’s the only person in the community who’s running for one of three slots on the Board of Education, other than Russo’s slate of three candidates.
Those candidates are incumbents Theresa Burns and James J. Farina, Hoboken’s city clerk. Running for his first term is Hoboken Police officer George Fonseca. School board member Paul Aponte has decided not to run for re-election. The spots on the board are three three-year terms.
The election will be held April 17. Those who want to vote must register by March 19.
The newcomer
“I feel like it’s going to be an uphill battle, but it’s something I really want to do,” said Sovak last week. “I’ve been so focused on my career. But wherever I’ve been historically, I’ve always been well-rounded and involved in improving education. I want to give back and get involved with the community.”
Sovak said he is the product of a public school education and wants to share his experiences, excitement and enthusiasm with others. “All I care about is focusing on the kids,” he said.
Sovak, who will be 29 in June, is a University of Pennsylvania graduate who works for a real estate finance company in Manhattan. “I dealt with personnel and budgets, I think I’ve had a wealth of experience,” he said. He is married with no kids. He has lived in Hoboken for about seven years .
The Incumbents
Theresa Burns believes that she can stand on her record and the school board’s record over the past three years. She is serving her second term and has several ideas about the future of the Board of Education. “This board is moving toward the future,” said Burns last week. “Ten years ago the school system was in shambles and now we are beginning to make some large scale differences.”
One of the major projects that she mentioned by name was plan to the fix the roofs on most of the Hoboken schools this summer. The mother of two said that in years past, this kind of sweeping improvements would have been next to impossible.
“We are moving towards the future,” Burns said. “I want to communicate more with the public and make them aware about what is going on in the school system, ’cause to me it seems most people are unaware. If let people know what is going on in the classroom I am confident they will be proud of what they see.”
James Farina and George Fonseca did not return phone calls seeking comment.