SIDNEY — “School should be fun. It’s it’s not, then we’re not doing our job.”

Those sentiments were shared by newly-named Fairlawn Local Schools Superintendent Jeffrey Hobbs, of Sidney, Wednesday night after receiving the Board of Education’s unanimous vote for the position.

Hobbs, who has been the Fort Recovery High School principal since 2009, received a three-year contract effective Aug. 1, 2016. His salary will be $105,672 annually.

A crowd of teachers were present for the meeting to welcome their new superintendent on board.

“I told the board two things when I was interviewed,” said Hobbs. “I’ve lived in Sidney for 10 years and I have a good feel for Sidney and Shelby County.

“Fort Recovery is similar in size to Fairlawn,” he said. “You have great parents. You have great kids and you have a great staff. We all care about the kids. I’m fired up.”

Hobbs said at Fort Recovery the students are required to be involved in some type of school activity.

“I promise to be the hardest worker here,” said Hobbs.

After the meeting, Hobbs said he’s looking forward to getting started in his new job.

“I always wanted to be a superintendent,” said Hobbs. “I want to oversee the big picture. I knew this was a special place or I wouldn’t have moved to Sidney 10 years ago. Fairlawn is a small family environment school and has good Christian values.”

Hobbs said he’s ready for a 7 mile drive to work instead of the 38 miles he’s currently driving twice a day from Sidney to Fort Recovery.

He and his wife, Carol, have three children, Jackson, 18, who is a senior at Fort Recovery High School, Alexis, 17, who is finishing her junior year, and Kurt, 13, who is in the seventh-grade. All three of his children rode with him to work each day and attended Fort Recovery Schools.

His daughter, said Hobbs, will continue the commute next year so she can graduate with her class at Fort Recovery. Kurt will be attending Fairlawn School in the fall.

His wife is an accountant with Brady/Ware Accounting Firm in Dayton.

“This (Fairlawn) is a great place and I want to make it even better,” said Hobbs. “You don’t want to ever settle for great, you always want to make it better.

“I want to make education be a fun place to be. We are setting the students up for their future,” he said.

Prior to his job in Fort Recovery, Hobbs spent a year at Sidney High School as principal during the 2006-07 school year. Hobbs has also been an administrator at Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Center in Columbus, where he was the director of Business Affairs and Greenville High School as principal, as well as Chillicothe High School as assistant principal and School to Work coordinator. Previous to his educational administrative positions, Hobbs taught at Kenton Ridge High School and Grayhill Elementary School in Springfield, Ohio.

Hobbs is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where he received a Masters of Science in Educational Administration and Wittenberg University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and minored in physical education. He attended Miami-Trace High School and was born and raised in Washington Court House.

Hobbs replaced Steve Mascho, who retired in February.

Twenty-one people applied for the position. Ten people were interviewed for the first round and three for the second round. The school board was assisted by the Midwest Regional Educational Service Center in their quest for a new leader.