19-yr-old recent HS grad wins school board race in New Jersey, motivated by ‘awful’ Covid restrictions

A recent New Jersey high school graduate who said he suffered through “awful” COVID-19 rules and restrictions as a senior last year won a seat on the local school board this week, reports noted.

Nicholas Seppy, 19, ran against and defeated incumbent school board member Terry Alabarda in a race that was not close in order to win a seat on the Egg Harbor Township School District in Atlantic County, according to the Washington Examiner.

When the votes were tallied, Seppy managed to secure nearly 59 percent of the ballots (4.042 votes) to Alabarda’s roughly 41 percent (2,830 votes).

Seppy earned 58.78% support with 4,042 votes while Alabarda earned 41.15% with 2,830 votes, according to the election results from Atlantic County.

“Parents were not being listened to,” Seppy told the outlet when he was asked what motivated him to run for the school board, adding that he “wanted to give them a voice on behalf of their children.” He added that he aimed for his campaign to be “run in positivity, not in negativity” or because he had a grudge against Alabarda.

In a statement to the College Fix, Seppy — who only endured three-fourths of his final high school year under COVID restrictions — said that he does not believe a hybrid learning approach consisting of remote and in-person classes is best, describing the coronavirus lockdowns as “awful.”

“Hybrid education was not yielding the enthusiasm in students they thought it would,” he told the college outlet, adding that younger students, especially, wound up missing “out on an entire year of education.”

Before the election, Seppy noted, “It is my intention to serve with the utmost integrity when making decisions on behalf of the public and the staff to make a more prosperous and safer district,” according to a statement he made to the Press of Atlantic City.

He also said that while he was attending Egg Harbor Township High School, he noted a dearth of “vocational” education and training. As a board member, Seppy said he will seek to “expand civics education and increase vocational training” for students.

Including Seppy’s victory, New Jersey experienced a rebellion of sorts during Tuesday’s elections.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to eke out a victory over GOP challenger and former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli after the incumbent was forecast to win his reelection race handily. Also, Edward Durr, a truck driver who ran as a Republican, managed a major upset over Democratic state Sen. Steve Sweeney, who is president of the New Jersey Senate, in one of the bigger upsets this week.

“I didn’t beat him. We beat him,” Durr noted during a Fox News interview following his victory.

“The state of New Jersey, the people of New Jersey beat him. They listened to what I had to say and I listened to what they had to say, and it’s a repudiation of Governor Murphy [who] went and locked us down and ignored the people’s voice and senator Sweeney chose to do nothing for those 18 months,” Durr added.

“You cannot tell people they can’t have a job. You can’t tell people they can’t go to church, and that’s what was done. And there was nothing done by the legislature, so this was the people’s voice being made heard clear,” he added.

Missy Halsey

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