Michael Licata is in his third year as a member of the Sachem Central School District Board of Education, and he is still as dedicated and passionate about the position as he was when he was first elected.
Licata, 44, was elected to his three-year term on May 20, 2008 and plans to seek reelection next year. In addition to volunteering his time to the board of education, the father of two has worked for the last 19 years for Child Protective Services, where he is currently the assistant director of the child placement bureau. Licata has lived in the Sachem area for more than 35 years.
"We moved out here from Queens in January of 1975," said Licata who currently resides in Ronkonkoma with his wife of 16 years and their two children. "When I got married we decided we wanted to raise our children out here. When I grew up I remember Sachem was the best district around, and we are working to keep it that way."
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Licata graduated from Sachem in 1983. He enrolled at Stony Brook University in the fall of that year and graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in liberal arts in December of 1987. His interest in volunteering his time to the education system was sparked when his son Michael started school.
"I spent a lot of time out in the community because I was involved in coaching in local sports leagues," he said. "I heard a lot of complaints about Sachem from people I spoke to and I wanted to do something about it. I'm the type of person that feels if you have complaints about something, unless you put your money where your mouth is, then nothing is going to change."
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Serving on the board is an aspect of Licata's life in which he takes great pride. He has a vested interest in improving the school system as he is raising a son and a daughter who are enrolled in Sachem. Some of the more difficult decisions Licata has faced have involved budgetary issues.
"The budget we just passed was the first budget that wasn't a zero percent tax increase [in my tenure], so that was really difficult for me," said Licata. "None of us want to increase taxes but the reality of it was that it was just impossible to not increase taxes. Anytime you have to increase taxes people are unhappy and they get mad at you, but people forget that board members are taxpayers too, so any time taxes go up, they go up for us as well."
Living in the community and being friendly with its residents has given Licata an appreciation for their needs and desires. Licata feels that being transparent about where taxpayer's money is going is fundamental to building a trustworthy bond with those citizens.
Licata spends a good portion of the summer taking his children to their lacrosse games. He enjoys watching sports and playing softball on the weekends.
"I've been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. I'm a big Jets fan and Yankees fan," said Licata. "My son plays on the lacrosse team and my daughter just finished up her season in the spring and now she's playing with the Sachem Youth Sports lacrosse program. Between the two of them that's pretty much where we spend most of our summers."
Licata plans to continue to contribute to the community for as long as he can. Some of the proudest moments in his life have been serving on the board.
"Anytime I do something that benefits Sachem it's really personally gratifying for me because it benefits everybody I know," said Licata, who is up for reelection in May of 2011. "Everyday I'm on the board makes me proud because I love to be able to give back to the community that's given me so much."
