Superintendent John O'Connor wants to be at Forestville "until I retire."

Almost one year ago, John O’Connor was selected to fill the vacant role of superintendent of the Forestville Central School District. At the moment, it appears as though the school board approved the right guy for the job.

Of course, they likely knew that going in.

This latest stint as superintendent is the second O’Connor, who originally served as Forestville’s top official from 2004 to 2012. Despite leaving for 10 years, O’Connor said Forestville always felt close to him.

“It was never far from my heart to be here,” said O’Connor. “In July (2022) the job opened up again and I met with the board and I liked the direction they were trying to go in. rebuilding things after the pandemic and it worked out for me to come back.”

Originally from West Seneca, which is where he lives now, O’Connor went into education a little later in his life. He began as a teacher’s aide in 1993 and worked part time as a custodian at Stanley G. Falk, a special education school in Buffalo. From there, O’Connor went back to school to become a teacher, which he was for a few years before becoming principal.

In 2001, O’Connor first applied to be principal at Forestville Elementary, which is how he got his start at the district. When he left in 2012, it was for greener pastures, as he became assistant superintendent at the Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

As a position that allowed him to have his hands in the pots of several different school districts, O’Connor felt his greater impact was higher, and it also allowed him to remain in touch with Forestville. After a decade on that job, he decided he wanted to shift his focus back to one district — and the time aligned for that place to be Forestville.

“I thought I had time to grow (as an administrator),” O’Connor said. “(At BOCES,) we did support a number of districts and I was involved with superintendent searches and felt I could serve in a much larger capacity. I did that for 10 years but you get to a point where I kept thinking about being a superintendent again. I didn’t think it would be Forestville but it aligned with a time where I was looking to do something different. It worked it out to be able to come back. I was really happy with what I walked back into.”

O’Connor said it’s been a pleasure for him to both reconnect with the veteran people he knew from his first stint, as well as make new connections with those people who came in during his 10 year gap. Forestville has always been home to O’Connor.

“It’s always been a place that’s been a tight-knit community and to be able to capture that but move forward academically is something we’re looking to here,” said O’Connor.

According to O’Connor, the last regime left him in a good spot to build on. There is an $8.4 million capital project that is starting at the end of June, which will include a new roof at the elementary school, a new partial roof at the high school, as well as other things like HVAC upgrades and bathroom renovations. While some of the flooring in the high school was already completed, there is more to be done, and work will go throughout the summer, but O’Connor said that he’s excited to do things he wanted to do during his first go round on the job.

“I can come back and finish some of the things I wanted to do the first time.”

O’Connor also mentioned assessing the school’s academic structure, while looking at doing a new reading series, and updating the school’s website to be more user friendly.

The main focus for O’Connor right now is finding an elementary school principal. The interim person they had serving the role has elected to retire following this year, meaning the school will have a vacancy, but that will be a fun challenge for O’Connor, as it will be one of the first people he has a direct hand in hiring since his return to Forestville.

“I came in when people and teachers were here so I didn’t have a hand in hiring,” said O’Connor. “We’re hoping to have a new candidate by July 1.”

Despite some difficulties with budgets in the past, the school has made a lot of headway, both during O’Connor’s first tenure and in the decade he was gone. And now, during his second tenure, O’Connor wants it to be his last, which the school district would likely welcome with open arms.

“I want to stay here until I retire.”