Name: Omar Syed
Age: 49
Neighborhood: Summit Hill
Omar Syed is the owner of Chilly Time Coffee in St. Paul and has children in St. Paul Public Schools. He is a former member of the St. Paul Planning Commission. Syed looks to serve as a bridge between diverse communities and the school district.
He hopes to keep his East African community in the district by providing representation in decisionmaking, supporting ELL students, building strong relationships with legislators to secure funding and being a voice for all immigrant communities.
He is endorsed by the St. Paul DFL, SPFE Local 28 and AFSCME Council 5.
“All the community has to have representation at the school board, no matter what color they are,” Syed said. “I will be that voice.”
The candidates are competing for three at-large positions on the school board, which represent voters in every part of the city.
Syed spoke with Sahan Journal on Oct. 1. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why do you want to be on the St. Paul school board?
I grew up in a small village in Somalia that had no school, and my mom and dad never went to school. There were no opportunities in the village where I grew up. When I came to this country as a refugee, I had nothing but public schools, and the St. Paul Public School that I graduated from is helping me to build business, serve a community and help my neighbors. I know the strong people of the St. Paul Public Schools. The reason that I decided to run is that I want to build the bridge between a diverse community and ensure that our public schools are safe and welcoming for every student.
St. Paul, like many districts, has seen a decline in English language learners since Trump’s second term began, and lost nearly 500 students following Operation Metro Surge. What impact does that have and how should the district respond?
One of the reasons that I decided to run is that I am from Somalia, and I know our community here from East Africa. [Many] of them went to charter schools. Because of that, they don’t feel that they have representation here at the district, and also sometimes the language is hard, and so I want to help the district to bring back those people, whose families left St. Paul Public Schools. Language is hard, and communication might be hard in public schools. I am a DFL-endorsed candidate and a labor-endorsed candidate, and I will be helping to bring those people back.
Last year St. Paul cut ELL funding after a decline in ELL students. How can St. Paul best support those remaining students?
We have education on the ballot this year [in a proposed constitutional amendment]. We can use that money for the people whose families were cut off last year, and we can use that money to bring them back. We can hire more teachers.
The district has grappled with some major budget challenges in recent years leading to cuts in 90 school-based positions in the most recent budget. Looking ahead, what challenges do you see in keeping the district on track financially? How do you think the district can address those challenges?
I want to help build a relationship with our elected officials in St. Paul, and then go to the state and get the funding for our schools. You have to have a relationship with our legislators, and whether it’s a county, a city, or state, you have to have a relationship to move the agenda.
The children, our students, are the future of our city, our state, so we all have to look at what our schools need, how we can get money from the state, and right now, our federal government is not helping. And so in order for our schools to succeed, then we need to have funding.
Last year, parents raised concerns about overcrowding at Txuj Ci Hmong Language and Culture Lower School. The school board rejected their proposal to address the overcrowding, and the parents’ concerns remain. Now there is no Hmong member of the school board. How will you make sure this community feels heard and their needs are met?
I am an immigrant, and our Hmong community is immigrant. I will represent all the immigrants in the district, our board members at the board of education. So if they bring their concerns, whether they are Hmong, if they are Ethiopians, if they are Somalis, if they are Latinos, we will work together. I will be the voice of all of them.
What’s another school board priority of yours we haven’t talked about?
One priority is that all the community has to have representation at the school board, no matter what color they are, and to make sure that all families in St. Paul have a voice. So I will be that voice. The Somali community never had representation in the school board, but this time we have a chance.
