Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: D.C. Board of Education race draws big field Date: Sun, 1 Nov 92 20:06:09 EST Message-ID: \SE A;METROPOLITAN \HD D.C. Board of Education race draws big field \BY Darryl Lynette Figueroa \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES D.C. Board of Education candidates are getting a little math lesson of their own in this election: Two at-large board seats divided by 10 candidates equals fierce competition. The candidates offer city voters a rich range of options, although most have a background of community involvement and experience working on education or youth issues. Most also have some sort of city name recognition. The candidates include Valencia Mohammed, the mother of six children in D.C. public schools; Philip Pannell, a human rights and homosexual activist; the Rev. Albert Gallmon; and Jerusa Carl Wilson, a childless lawyer who says he would use his $29,300 school board salary for scholarships. "I come with a vested interest," says Mrs. Mohammed, 42. "My last child will graduate in the year 2003." Mrs. Mohammed is a Ward 1 homemaker who runs a parents program called Operation Know Thyself. This is her second run for a school board seat. Mr. Pannell lives one block from Ballou High School in Anacostia and wants to get more men involved in the city's public schools. He ran for the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat in 1988 but withdrew. "Go to PTAs in low-income black neighborhoods and you will see very few men," he says. "I hope I'm proving in my campaign that gays care about education too." Mr. Gallmon, 40, is pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, lives in Ward 7 and is active citywide. He has been in the news recently for opposing the death-penalty initiative. He opposes school condom distribution and worked on a successful battle to get stricter liability laws for assault weapons. Mr. Wilson's interest in the school system comes from his work with homeless children through Project Northstar. He is also a member of Concerned Black Men. The 31-year-old Ward 3 resident says he feels he can help by not being part of "the political education status quo." Mary Draper Janney, 71, also a Ward 3 resident, started her campaign with the most money ever raised for a school board race, $35,000. She has chaired the board of trustees at Vassar College and says she can help bring private resources to public schools. Anita Bellamy Shelton says top priorities are school safety and raising teacher and principal morale. Ms. Shelton, 57, said her approach comes from her many work experiences, including currently training social work students at Howard University and directing the Mental Health Association of D.C. She lives in Ward 1. Charles "Chuck" Ballard, 44, is a vocational education teacher who lives in Ward 6. He wants to find a way to raise teacher salaries and help Superintendent Franklin Smith implement his five-year plan. His two children and a grandchild attended Ketcham Elementary School in Southeast, where candidate Romaine Thomas has been principal for 20 years. He says his views are similar to hers. Mrs. Thomas, who will not give her age, lives in Ward 5, where her husband, Harry, has long held the D.C. Council seat. A graduate of D.C. public schools who became a teacher, she says the board needs to streamline its budget and provide more and better early-childhood education. Stella Gomes, 50, is an education professor at Howard University who conducts parent involvement programs at seven junior high schools. The Ward 2 resident wants to change outdated school curricula and wants teachers trained to teach interactively. One-term incumbent Karen Shook is a former teacher and television journalist who lives in Ward 3 and heads the board's Finance Committee. She is expected to win re-election easily, leaving the other candidates to fight over the seat vacated by the death of the Rev. David Eaton. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM