Charlie Castro

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Charlie Castro

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Charlie Castro ran in a special election for an at-large seat of the Saint Paul Board of Education in Minnesota. Castro lost in the special general election on November 3, 2020.

Elections

2020

See also: Saint Paul Public Schools, Minnesota, elections (2020)

General election

Special general election for Saint Paul Board of Education At-large

The following candidates ran in the special general election for Saint Paul Board of Education At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Jim Vue (Nonpartisan)	23.3	26,606
	Submit photo	Jamila Mame (Nonpartisan)	20.3	23,198
	Submit photo	James Farnsworth (Nonpartisan)	19.1	21,814
	Submit photo	Charlie Castro (Nonpartisan)	15.2	17,339
		Omar Syed (Nonpartisan)	10.7	12,200
		Keith Hardy (Nonpartisan)	10.4	11,832
		Other/Write-in votes	1.0	1,142

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 114,131
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2019

See also: Saint Paul Public Schools, Minnesota, elections (2019)

General election

General election for Saint Paul Board of Education At-large (4 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Saint Paul Board of Education At-large on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Marchese (Nonpartisan)	17.1	23,845
✔		Zuki Ellis (Nonpartisan)	17.0	23,753
✔		Jessica Kopp (Nonpartisan)	14.3	20,021
✔		Chauntyll Allen (Nonpartisan)	13.8	19,209
	Submit photo	Charlie Castro (Nonpartisan)	8.6	11,950
		Jennifer McPherson (Nonpartisan)	7.6	10,557
		Omar Syed (Nonpartisan)	7.0	9,833
		Tiffany Fearing (Nonpartisan)	5.7	8,024
	Submit photo	Ryan Williams (Nonpartisan)	5.0	6,920
	Submit photo	Elijah Norris-Holliday (Nonpartisan)	3.1	4,325
		Other/Write-in votes	0.8	1,147

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 139,584
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Charlie Castro did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Charlie Castro completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Castro's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

My top three priorities include fighting for all children to have the services available that they need to get a good education - this could include providing more counselors and para professionals in the classroom to updating books that students have access to. I believe we need to empower teachers to teach imaginative lessons that will allow each teacher to engage students in the lessons of the day. Lastly, I believe that we need to restructure our budgets to better give teachers and children the ability to be on an even playing field when it comes to the very foundation of where they will go and what they will become.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I'm passionate about tailoring the educational experience to the students that are served in the communities they belong to. I believe that the School Board needs to do a better job of incorporating music and art back into the classroom. I believe we need to bring back the trades into the schools as viable options with good paying jobs for our youth. The school board is the hub for a lot of services in the community, but we need to do a better job of providing for as many students as possible to keep our communities continuously moving forward.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I believe that my job as a St. Paul School Board member is not just to get in line with the Superintendent, but to challenge him/her to ensure we are on the best path that we can be. The Latino community makes up the 3rd largest racial demographic in St. Paul Schools and not one individual on the board is representing these interests. My job is to serve each of the 7 Wards that call St. Paul home - the families, the teachers, the students. I'm here to listen to parents, teachers, students and concerned citizens to work toward the best outcome for everyone - now that's not to say that everyone will get what we want, but we have to get the most progressive outcome for our students.

What legacy would you like to leave?

The legacy I wan to leave on the St. Paul School board is one that brought me to where I am today. When I was a child I was told I could be whatever I wanted by both my parents and my teachers. I want every students that attends St. Paul Schools to believe that they can be whatever they want from the moment they enter a pre-k program to the day they walk across the stage and graduate. Having an education is powerful - it can lift you out of poverty, it can allow you to travel or innovate for your community, but without an education you're on an uneven playing field and education should be a basic necessity.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

The primary job of a school board member is to listen to it's constituents. If elected to office, I will call for more open discussion during our school board meetings so that teachers, parents, students and other citizens of the community can really engage and start having the needed dialogue to tackle some of the most pressing issues in St. Paul. Our school board needs to be transparent and it needs to be accessible.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

I believe it is hugely important to recruit teachers and other professionals into the school district to mirror the diversity that exists inside our schools. If a student see's someone that looks like them fulfilling roles in the community, it creates an academic momentum that will allow a student to reach it's full potential. I believe we need to create greater relationships with higher education institutions to bring those teachers and other professionals into the school community to serve our children. Once we recruit though, our job as a school board is not done, we need to give teachers the opportunity to collaborate, mentor and be supported in their new role.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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