HFC alumnus has taught special ed across the country

As a teenager, HFC alumnus Michael Shelton mowed people’s grass to make money. Little did he know that one of his customers would set him on his career path to becoming a special education teacher.

“There was a man who had a child who’d been burned over his entire body. The boy had a lot of surgeries. Many kids didn’t want to play with him. I’d spend time with him and play with him to make his day a little better. It made me look at myself and realize things that I thought were significant really were not. It put things in perspective. It made me think of people other than myself. This is what led me to work with students with disabilities,” said Shelton, who currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Rebecca, his wife of 20 years. Together they have five children.

HFC's quality set the standard

A Dearborn native and the second of three children, Shelton graduated from what is now now Garden City High School in 1979. From there, he attended HFC (then Henry Ford Community College).

“The College had a good program. It was known as a good liberal arts school. I tell my brother (and fellow HFC alumnus) John all the time that the rigor of HFC was equal or better than many other colleges. I think their programs were well thought out. For me, it was proximity too; it was close to home. Everyone was so helpful. I met with a counselor who figured out what I needed to do and what classes I needed to take. They were very supportive from the day I started,” recalled Shelton.

After graduating from HFC in 1982 with his associate degree in arts, Shelton transferred to Eastern Michigan University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in special education and his teaching certificate in 1985. He later earned his master's degree in educational leadership from Wayne State University in 1995. He also took 20 credits at Wayne State to become a special education director.

Making a bigger impact

Shelton spent the majority of his 35-year career in education in the Dearborn Public Schools, having taught special ed for 10 years at Fordson High School. After a decade in the classroom, he decided to go into administration.

“I loved teaching, but I wanted to make a bigger impact,” he said. “I was always trying to grow. When you go into administration, you think you’re making a bigger impact on more people. We’re doing our best to make the world a better place, corny as that may sound. It gave me the opportunity to feel like I’m doing that.”

Shelton’s first foray into administration was serving as assistant principal at Franklin Middle School in the Wayne-Westland Community School District. After four years at Franklin, he returned to Dearborn and served as an assistant principal at Dearborn High School for seven years. He went from DHS to Ten Eyck, the district’s administrative center, serving as the special education coordinator for three years and the director of special education for six years.

Diamonds in the rough

Shelton retired from Dearborn in 2016. But he didn’t retire from education.

“I had enough years in and could retired, so I started looking at options,” he explained. “My wife and I wanted to know what part of country we’d be interested in. I took a chance and interviewed with Anderson School District Four in Pendleton, SC. I came across a dynamic and energetic superintendent. I wasn't ready to leave, but I had options and wanted to look elsewhere. Since all our kids are out of the house, we thought we’d see what life is like in South Carolina. God has blessed me in finding these school districts that are little diamonds in the rough.”

He was the director of special education at Anderson 4 from 2016 to 2021. Deciding he and his wife wanted to see another part of the country, they moved to the West Coast. Shelton recently began a new position as the special services director at Gladstone School District 115 in Portland, OR.

“When you work in a small district, you wear a number of different hats,” said Shelton. “Special ed is the biggest part of what I do. I have homeless students, English language learners, homebound students – anything not in someone else’s box fits in mine. I’m also in charge of crisis plans.”

Shelton stated that Gladstone is his final step in his career. He plans to put in five more years before retiring.

“My wife and I will be ready for new adventures,” he said.

Leadership and service at HFC

Shelton has a special fondness for HFC.

“It’s very rigorous, very challenging. I had some of the best teachers at HFC. I’m very impressed with the teaching staff. Listening to my brother going to HFC and starting over… his teachers helped him through that. It was nice to hear that they understood where he was coming from, given that he was an older student. They were very supportive of him,” he said. “I was excited that John had a chance to tell his story. He gives me a little bit of credit. I’m very proud of him. It’s not easy to finish one career in an area where you work with your hands and then go back to school and work in an area you’re not experienced in, but he did it.”

Shelton highly recommends students, both traditional and non-traditional, get their education at HFC.

“It’s one of the best community colleges you can select,” he said. “We did a program called Project: SEARCH at the College, which provides special ed services for people with cognitive and physical disabilities until the age of 26, as opposed to the majority of programs that go until the age of 21. When looking at programs for older students, HFC gave us the space for Project: SEARCH (circa 2014). That just shows you the kind of leadership they have at the College.”