Saad Almasmari.

HAMTRAMCK — Saad Almasmari, a candidate for the Nov. 4 Hamtramck school board elections, is among the few Yemeni-Americans running the for board.  

Almasmari’s goals are to improve the transportation system, include bilingual options and improve the quality of the public education system. 

Hamtramck, which is almost completely bordered by Detroit, is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse cities in the country. According to the 2010 Census, 41 percent of the city’s 22,000 residents are foreign-born. Thousands of the city’s residents are of Polish descent and it is also home to large African American, Yemeni and Bangladeshi communities.

Almasmari emphasized the importance of adding Arabic classes into the curriculum in consideration of the large Yemeni community and the students who have Arabic as their first or second languages. 

He would like to improve the transportation system for the public schools since many of the students walk to school. 

According to Almasmari, the public school system in Hamtramck needs improvement with the quality of the education and is suffering with financial hardships. His goal is to improve the quality of the schools compared to the private schools in Hamtramck. 

Almasmari said that public schools have, for some reason, less quality education than the six to seven private schools that belong to business owners in Hamtramck. He wants to change that and improve the quality of education in public schools. 

Other candidates include four other Yemenis, some Polish, and Bangladeshi candidates. 

The candidates for the 6-year term are: Evan Major, Alan Shulgon, Anam Miah, Tufail Numan, Mohammad Huda, Nasir Sabuj, Malek Hussein (M. Alway) and Dennis Lukas.

The candidates for the 4-year term are: Eric Burkman, Cathie Gordon, Ataur Khan, and Anwar Almasmari.