Meet The Cherry Hill School Board Candidate: Nick Gaudio

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Nick Gaudio is one of seven candidates running for three open seats on the Cherry Hill Public School District Board of Education.

Patch sent questions to all candidates in the race, and is running profiles for each candidate that returned a response. Responses run exactly as they were submitted, with minor edits for grammatical errors.

Read below to learn more about Nick Gaudio and his platform for the upcoming election, which takes place Nov. 2:

Name: Nicholas Gaudio, Jr.

Age (as of Election Day): 40

Town of residence: Cherry Hill

Position sought: Board of Education

Family: My 2 daughters, aged 9 and 11.

Does anyone in your family work or attend school in the district?: My 9-year-old is in elementary school and my 11-year-old is in middle school, both in the district.

Education: I attended Kingston, Carusi, and Cherry Hill West, followed by a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Engineering from Villanova University, and I later obtained my Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Occupation: Systems/Security engineer for a defense contractor

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: Vice President of a labor organization representing over 2,000 employees and board member of a condominium association

Why are you seeking elective office?

I became frustrated with the political virtue signaling projected by the current BOE throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily the last minute shut down prior to the commencement of the 2020-2021 school year, the lack of commitment to drop the mandatory mask policy as soon as the governor’s Executive Order is withdrawn, and the endorsement of politically-motivated lawn signs being placed on school property throughout the township. As soon as I realized that nobody on the current board was fighting for the freedom and rights of our children, I decided to stop complaining from the audience and make whatever sacrifices were necessary to get involved in the most effective way possible – to join the fight directly. I understand that a board position is thankless, from my current and previous experience on other boards, but if nobody steps up to the plate, the status quo will continue, unchecked.

The single most pressing issue facing our board is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing our board is the restriction of personal freedom and the lack of willingness to fight for our children and families. Our current board has done nothing to urge the governor to back off of his mandate and allow the local districts to set their own policies. In every opportunity, our district has pushed policies to reduce freedom, such as a domestic travel ban and their unwillingness to denounce the mask mandate and a future COVID-19 vaccine mandate. I intend to push back on every restriction and encourage the public to attend our meetings and speak their minds about how they feel about these restrictions. We just had success a few weeks ago when I initiated the fight against the travel ban during the public comment portion of a BOE meeting and was supported by a tremendous outpouring of parents reinforcing my argument. The district listened and offered a remote option for those students who traveled domestically. While not the preferred end to any travel restrictions, this was the first step of many we need to take to regain our freedom, and I can be more effective from a position on the board than in a 2 minute public comment session during a BOE meeting.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Freedom. My campaign is centered around freedom. Our children are miserable at school, with their faces forcefully muzzled, breathing restricted, and the inability to socialize with their friends at appropriate times throughout the school day. The negative energy and degraded morale is affecting their education. Once we restore happiness, friendliness, and smiles to the faces of all of our students and teachers, their education will improve and we can concentrate on more academic issues. I am also the only candidate to outright denounce the mandatory course that degradingly isolates and marginalizes a single demographic, exploring culture and history, as opposed to equally distributing the social study of cultures amongst all nationalities and backgrounds present within our multicultural and diverse district. I firmly believe that we are creating a segregation of thought as opposed to an inclusive atmosphere that celebrates people of all backgrounds equally. While the ancestry of our children is internationally diverse, the one thing we have in common is that we are all Americans and that fact should be reinforced in a manner that creates unity, not division. No other candidate has taken a stance entirely against the course with the only acceptable replacement being an overwhelmingly inclusive curriculum.

Experience: My father was an elementary school teacher for the School District of Philadelphia from the 1970s through his retirement in 2008. I heard countless stories from him about how the lack of parental involvement directly correlated to the lack of success of the students. Therefore, he and my mother were always highly involved in oversight of my education, including volunteering at every opportunity. Similarly, I make every attempt to get involved with my children, chaperoning and volunteering often at school, attending all events, and passively guiding their education unless they request or require active intervention. My previous board experiences have given me the opportunity to fight for issues, even if I am in the minority, and to raise awareness and increase transparency to the public who might otherwise be uninformed of board activities. I don’t believe that closed door sessions are necessary unless there is a privacy issue at stake. I am willing to go head-to-head with anybody, regardless of a pecking order of authority, to fight for the rights of children, families, employees (faculty, staff, and administrators), and taxpayers and I have a track record of doing so.

Equality in education: All students have the right to a quality education that prepares them for success in life. I feel that significant improvements can be made in the long-term success for our most vulnerable students. There are multiple levels of potential inequality and some of the most vulnerable students are students with special needs, students of different socio-economic backgrounds, and students with parents who are unable or unwilling to assist them with their education. None of these are the fault of the student, and most of them are not the fault of the parent(s). Our district must be willing to accommodate all students, regardless of physical or mental capacity and abilities, financial status, or parental involvement. Mandatory remote learning was an utter failure for many students, especially those without a full time at-home parent who could dedicate his/her time to guiding them throughout the day and keeping them focused. The district must also be cognizant of mental health for all students, and virtual learning negatively impacted enough students that we should be treating the current state as a crisis that is a byproduct of our own doing. The BOE must accept the responsibility for perpetuating the crisis and state of stress and depression amongst students who were negatively impacted by virtual learning and the threat and implementation of periodic shut downs and mandatory quarantines. The district needs to take action to reverse the damage with a significant effort to increase the joy and happiness of all students and create a welcoming environment, as well as handle mental health on a case-by-case basis. Our local society was negatively impacted by the direct actions of the district and continues to be affected. We need to start taking action by reversing mentally destructive policies and perceptions, including travel related remote learning, isolation and quarantine, lack of committal to reverse or prevent future mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and the unspoken threat of a pending shut down. Additionally, we are punishing students of all income levels with disgusting, outdated, and unpalatable breakfasts and lunches. Students from wealthier families can easily overcome this degrading treatment, but we have many students who are reliant on assisted or free meals at school, and they are forced to consume cold chicken nuggets and pizza, moldy sandwiches, and chunky drinks. This derogatory treatment creates division amongst our students and unfairly punishes those from lower socio-economic households, setting the tone for inequality in education as their morale is already reduced before even entering the classroom. We need a BOE that will investigate further and ensure fairness for all of our students.

School funding: Our district has made strides in this area, and we need to continue pushing the state at all levels (not excluding litigation) to advocate for our fair share of our taxpayers’ dollars. This is one area that I believe the current BOE has made significant progress over the past few years and the fight most continue perpetually.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I survived being part of the political minority throughout all of my years living in Cherry Hill, including my school-aged years, without having any problems maintaining healthy, friendly relationships throughout town with all demographics of people (age, background, leadership positions). My commitment to equality, fairness, and freedom is obvious in the way I have lived my life, but my biggest accomplishment is the nature of my children and their reputations with everyone they meet. They are colorblind to race, indifferent to gender and orientation, and always fight to protect the weakest members of society. If I can handle successfully raising them alone, dealing with hostile opposition on the Board of Education will be a cakewalk.

The best advice ever shared with me was: “The right of the people…shall not be infringed.” This applies to all of our freedoms, and I refuse to back down from my moral beliefs that inherently protect all of us from tyrannical leadership at all levels of authority, whether it be administration, government, or any other source.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I maintain an open door, first name basis policy. I am extremely approachable and willing to hold friendly, civil discussions with anyone – regardless of whether we agree on any or all issues. I am willing to make personal sacrifices to ensure the success of our school district with regards to all stakeholders – students and their families, employees, and taxpayers – as long as our freedom remains protected. On the inside, I’m a big softie and always sentimental. I come from an Italian-American family, so I love handshakes and hugs, and I trust my immune system, so I will never turn down either.