Hubbard.
The president of the Center Grove school board has vacated his seat.
Joe Hubbard resigned from his spot on the Center Grove Community School Corporation Board of Trustees during Thursday’s board meeting, as he is moving outside the school district’s boundaries.
He’s doing so to prepare for a mayoral run in Greenwood next year, Hubbard said. To be eligible to take office if he’s elected, he must live within Greenwood city limits for at least a year.
Much of the Center Grove school district is outside city limits.
Hubbard said he’s running because he’s dissatisfied with aspects of how the city’s running right now.
“I wanted to run for mayor; a lot of people asked me to run because of things going on within the city, whether it be over-TIFing of specific areas or shortcomings for police and fire who are understaffed quite drastically. The fire and police departments are overworked and understaffed,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard also said he would aim to work with Simon Property Group to make the Greenwood Park Mall safer, and shift the focus of development in the city.
“I want to guide Greenwood into the future,” Hubbard said. “I want to bring in restaurants, things for families to do and shift the focus from the warehouses and apartment complexes and low-income housing. I want to increase law enforcement and (the number of) firefighters to increase safety for my family and I want to bring in things for families to do.”
Hubbard said he plans to launch his campaign and begin fundraising efforts sometime in November.
Hubbard has served on the Center Grove school board for one four-year term. During that time, the school board had to navigate decision-making surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, including mask mandates, quarantine guidance and in-person versus virtual schooling.
“The biggest challenge I felt I had was COVID and COVID protocols. That’s why I voted ‘no’ on that. The community I represent was not in favor of putting masks on kids, and I wanted to be their voice,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard also served on the Central Nine Career Center school board for four years as Center Grove’s representative. During his time on Central Nine’s board, he said he was most proud of the dedication of an EMS building on campus to a former Central Nine student who died during military training.
On Center Grove’s board, he touted his push for a junior ROTC program at Center Grove High School, which will begin next year.
“I feel pretty happy with the things I accomplished and was involved in,” Hubbard said. “I appreciate the fact that not all five of us agreed on everything, I liked agreeing to disagree with everybody around COVID things and a lot of us didn’t agree with masks or no masks and how to quarantine, but we worked it out as a team. It’s a really good board and hopefully, the new members can carry professionalism into the future.”
A selection process to replace Hubbard on the board has not been announced. Hubbard’s term expires at the end of this year. His seat is one of the three school board seats on the ballot. For the election, voters are asked to choose three from among eight candidates.
To learn more about the candidates, voters can visit dailyjournal.net to read the candidate’s answers to our school board questionnaire in their own words.
Voters can also attend a candidate forum hosted by Center Grove Education Foundation at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Center Grove High School auditorium.
