Campaign email: lucmangelot@gmail.com
Website: www.lucangelot.com
Age: 18
Employment: College student; Director of visual & auditory arts at EBC
Education: Graduated in 2021 from Wicomico High School
Why are you running for the school board?
I decided to run for many reasons, but I chose to run mainly to bring a young voice to the board. This board’s decisions primarily affect teachers, parents and young people – students or not. Yet, I am also running to give immigrants, mainly Latino immigrants, a voice. As a first-generation Haitian American and a not-so-distant graduate, I will bring a well-needed fresh perspective to the Wicomico County School Board.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
My ability to connect with the masses. Many people who have never voted have pledged to vote for me because they see me as “one of us.” My goal is to refresh the board with new ideas; although they are new, they have been lauded as common sense solutions by groups on both sides of the political spectrum.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Dorchester, Wicomico). I genuinely look up to her. She represents her district well, is charismatic, approachable and always has a smile on her face every time I speak with her. When people think of me, I hope they think of someone with similar characteristics.
What is the most important issue facing your school board, and what would you do about it if elected?
Presently, the No. 1 issue facing the district is learning loss due to COVID restrictions. I plan to expand tutoring and make the mental health of our students, teachers and staff a priority, all to ensure that we can move forward. As for the No. 1 issue facing the school board, like most in the community, I agree they’re out of touch. Getting elected is the No. 1 solution. We could also look into term limits and age limits.
How concerned are you about school safety, and what if anything should be done to improve it?
I am very concerned about school safety. I was 9 years old when the Sandy Hook shooting took place. My generation grew up fearing a possible shooting happening at any moment. From my plan to make mental health a priority, to continuing to work with local law enforcement, retrofitting our buildings to be well secured and taking social media threats seriously, we can do things to make sure students feel safe.
Do you have any concerns about the way history is taught in your district’s schools, and if so, what are they?
I do not have many concerns; however, as a history nerd and Afro-Latino, I notice our history glosses over what people who looked like me went through. Let’s teach the good, the bad and the ugly. No one should learn more about history on social media than in school.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries, and if so, what kind of books should be removed?
We already have a process for approving books and removing obscene books. I do not believe books should be removed from our school libraries because they have LGBT topics or are heavily race-based. No one forces a student to check out a book from the library. Some people take books entirely out of context and demand they are banned. As a pastor’s son, I always urge people to read Ezekiel 23:20. If someone only read that excerpt with no context of what is going on in the rest of the book, there would be people demanding it is taken off of the shelves.
