Cardell Shelton

League of Women Voters^®
of the District of Columbia

Question 1:
Age: 80
Occupation: Building Contractor; Home Inspector; Commercial Building Inspector
Education: St. Thomas-St. Emma Military Academy, Phelps Vocational School, John Moncure, New York City College, Howard University, American University, California School of Specialty Contractors for Building Maintenance, Stratford Institute School of Home Inspection.

Qualifications for office sought: : I am a native Washingtonian, and through the years have been active in the DC Public School System for vocational trades, teaching youth and supporting them in on-the-job training, 'Earn While You Learn' Programs.

Question 2 - What State Board of Education policies would you advocate? I am a strong advocate for earn while you learn leadership programs, vocational trades being a part of the curriculum to learn life skills, rebuilding trusts and integrity in our youth, developing new and useful job training programs, helping our youth to gain economic survival, and I would encourage our youth to make choices that will not lead to incarceration but toward seeking education.

Question 3 - What are the major challengers to implementing the common core standards of learning? Including the youth in the curriculum. The youth are not involved with curriculum planning. They are bored to death in the classrooms. There are no field trips to museums to places of interest. Black history is not being taught in our schools. Vocational trades need to taught so that the youth feel that they will leave school with knowledge that will assist them to earn a living.

Questions 4 - Should high school students be required to have a semester of DC history and government? A semester or more of DC history and government is a must for our youth so that they will be knowledgeable about who is involved in government, how the government functions, and how decisions involving the community are made. The youth need to understand how they can go about making changes that they see in their communities.

Questions 5 - Is there a role for the State Board of Education in making charter schools accountable? Yes. In my opinion the Public Charter Schools are a waste of money. The money used for the Charter Schools should be used to expand the Public Schools in reaching out to the communities and hiring young people for real life skills. Seniors, home owners, and neighborhood business owners should be involved as educators who have real life experience in areas that the youth are interested in. There has been no proven advantage that children who attend Charter Schools have a better outcome than children who attend Public Schools.

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