Welcome to Henry Gwazda's Campaign

Hi, I’m Henry Gwazda, and I’ve been proud to call Marblehead home for the past 15 years. My wife and I moved here, bought a house, and have since welcomed two amazing daughters into our lives. My oldest is at Brown School, and my youngest will be joining her next year — so I’m deeply invested in the future of our schools.

Professionally, I have a background in marketing and graphic design, which means I’m always thinking creatively and strategically, and I need to make decisions based on a wide range of stakeholder feedback — skills I believe would serve me well on the School Committee. But more than that, I love this community — the people, the sense of connection, and the history. That’s what makes Marblehead so special, and it’s why I’m passionate about giving back.

I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.

If you see me around town, please don't hesitate to chat with me!

What I Believe

Value for Taxpayers

Investing tax dollars in our schools and our students' futures is essential in any town in America. I support fully funding our schools, paying our teachers and school staff a fair and competitive wage, and keeping our schools and facilities in first-class condition. In Marblehead, we have specific tax challenges that we face when deciding how to fund our schools, and sometimes we need to pass overrides to keep our schools competitive and fund our children's future.

It's important to me that the people of this town feel their money is being managed responsibly, and they are informed about where that money is being spent and why. There are many instances of the current School Committee not meeting this standard of responsibility, including the High School roof project proposal, legal and public relations fees, and firing our former Superintendent, John Buckey, without a suitable explanation.

If elected, I will ensure the community knows how their money is being spent. When we need to ask for more money, you'll know you why we are asking, and you can trust us to spend it effectively.

Student Success

Anyone elected to serve on the School Committee has made a commitment to our students to provide them with the best education and experience we can provide them, and has a responsibility to uphold this commitment in everything they do.

The stated mission of the Marblehead School Committee is to foster in our students a passion for learning, and to provide a safe and nurturing environment in which they can develop the values, knowledge, and skills needed to achieve full potential in their personal, social and work lives, and become contributing members of society.

I believe in this mission, but there is still a lot of work to do in order to succeed.

We need to listen to our educators and provide them everything we can to help them succeed. We need to be sure the schools are properly staffed and they have all the resources they need to provide a safe and functional environment for our students. These are our front-line workers and they need our support.

I want to find ways to be competitive with the best schools in the Commonwealth and provide our students with a first-rate education that will bring them success for the rest of their lives, while also providing a supportive and enriching environment that they will look back on fondly.

Community Engagement

One of the School Committee's primary responsibilities is to provide the community with a voice in our schools. This is exactly why is it an elected position. But that responsibility doesn't end after election day.

The current School Committee has not been effectively listening to the community, the teachers, or the students. They've also failed at communicating back to the community.

The way they handled issues such as the High School roof project, the flag policy, the teachers strike, and staffing issues in the administration, including Superintendent John Buckey, show a complete lack of transparency and communication that needs to be addressed.

In February 2024, 140 Marblehead residents gave the School Committee a failing grade, and almost 800 people signed a petition agreeing with them. In November 2024, 1,370 people signed a petition saying they had lost confidence in the School Committee. We need to make a change.

As representatives of the community, we need to listen when people speak. As decision-makers for our students' educations, we need to be clear about our decisions, and communicate why we made them. I consider these responsibilities to be absolutely central to running our schools.

My Stance on Current Issues

Upheaval in the School Administration

Marblehead High School Roof

Our High School needs a new roof. The issues with the roof are creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for our students. It also reflects poorly on our investment in our students to have leaks, mold, and ceiling tiles falling. It is essential that we approve the funds for this project.

However, the School Committee already asked for $5.3 million for the roof, which was approved at Town Meeting in 2022. This project never happened. There are a lot of excuses and claims as to what happened with this project, but clearly there were issues with the request made in 2022, and now we need to approve an $8.6 million debt exclusion, which includes the roof and new HVAC units.

While I unequivocally support securing the funds for this project, the sentiment that I hear in town is hesitation that the same people who mismanaged the original project are responsible for managing the new one. I'm hoping a change in the School Committee will assure people that it will be done right this time.

Flag Policy

The current School Committee's insistence on spending 18 months developing a flag policy is, frankly, baffling to many in this community. This is outside of the primary responsibilities of the committee. I think it speaks to the motives of member of this committee, and unnecessarily politicizes the School Committee's mission. This is a dangerous step down the slippery slope of regulating our students' constitutional and civil rights, and feels like a preamble to dictate what topics can and can't be taught in our schools.

However, now that the issue is on the table I am so proud of this community for getting involved and making their voices heard. Your engagement is inspiring. Being a student at our schools is much more than academics. It's a time when you make lifelong friends and connections, discover who you are, and find a community that supports you. In the public forums it was clear that flags and representation are important. I'm particularly proud of the students who stepped up and created a very thorough and reasonable proposal, which was reviewed by legal experts. These students embodied the values of being engaged and active members of society. This is the policy that should be adopted by the School Committee.

The School Committee asked for our feedback and heard overwhelming support from the public for allowing students to fly the flags of their choice. However, in the end, the only opinions they acted on were their own. This is not the representation that we deserve.

Teacher Contract Negotiations

Allowing the contract negotiations with school employees and educators reach the point where our teachers went on strike was unacceptable. This didn't happen all in one day. There were many opportunities over an extended period of time to resolve these issues and reach a fair contract. School Committees all over the Commonwealth are able to do this successfully, but our School Committee failed us, our educators, and our students. The way this was handled was frustrating and demoralizing for everyone involved, and does not reflect the community values that make Marblehead great. Most importantly, it negatively affected the students and set a bad example from the people who are meant to be our leaders.

We saw a massive outpouring of support for our teachers during the strike. I was there holding signs, delivering food, and supporting the negotiations at the High School, along with scores of other members of the community, as well as the students most affected by the strike. Everyone was working toward getting the students back in school and providing our educators with fair and competitive compensation that meets the standard of the education we want our students to receive. The School Committee was unwilling to negotiate in good faith, and instead seemed to be more concerned with talking to their lawyers and PR firms and exploring ways to punish union leaders, rather than coming back with reasonable counter-proposals. The committee spent $152,286 in legal fees on the Unit A negotiations alone. In the end, after threatening a painful override to pay for the new contracts, we had the money the whole time, and no override would be required for the new contracts. This process was mishandled from start to finish, and we need to make changes to the School Committee to be sure it doesn't happen again.

We've never received a satisfying explanation for why John Buckey was removed as Superintendent, less than two months after a unanimously approved evaluation by the School Committee where he was rated at "proficient" in all the evaluated standards, and having met or made significant progress toward the district's goals. There have been attempts to provide some reasoning behind their abrupt decision, but they haven't justified such drastic action. The whole thing is suspicious, and evidently based on issues outside of the committee's evaluation criteria. This decision not only created confusion and upheaval in our school administration, but it cost the town a lot of money in compensation and legal/PR fees, and damaged our credibility. The reasons for that decision should have been clear. Two years later, and we still don't have a permanent Superintendent in place.

Contribute

It's important to create as much name recognition as I can and spread my message before the election on June 10th. I'm accepting donations to post as many yard signs as I possibly can. Venmo contributions are capped at $50 per individual. If you'd like to write a check, email me and I will send you my mailing address.

Contact Me

Reach out to discuss your vision for Marblehead schools and how we can work together for a better future for our students.

If you want a yard sign to show your support for changes to the School Committee, please let me know your address and I'll drop one off. Thanks!

Call or Text

412-225-3504

Email

henrygwazda@gmail.com