Crestwood School Board Candidate Nadia Berry

DEARBORN HEIGHTS — It is estimated that more than half of the student population in the Crestwood School District is of Arab descent, yet not a single Arab is on the School Board. 

Arab American candidates have had a long history of competing in the district, only to come up short of the votes on Election Day.

Previous Arab American candidates for the School Board included Wayne County Corporation Counsel Zenna Faraj Elhasan; Zeinab Hussein, political director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Michigan; attorney Hamid Soueidan and local resident Wanda Saad. 

But local parent Nadia Berry is aiming to change that with her bid on November 8, where she will be running for one of two open six-year terms on the seven-member body. 

She will be competing against incumbents Ed Garcia and James “Randy” Taylor, along with newcomer Pat Helton.

It’s no secret the Arab population has had quite a bumpy journey to get some of their concerns addressed at Crestwood. Among the issues were a tug-of-war to implement halal food options for Muslim students, a struggle to establish an Arab language course and a rigorous process to approve an Arab Student Union (ASU). 

There was even an edict from the Department of Justice to improve educational services for students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), following months of cries from Arab parents.

Last month, Taylor contacted The AANews to disclose that some of his fellow trustees were giving the Arab community a hard time and were intentionally sabotaging some of their efforts. 

However, in an interview with The AANews this week, Taylor appeared more diplomatic in his stance, claiming that the board is working to address the needs of its diverse student body.

“Some of those concerns have been resolved,” he said. “They are going to be teaching Arabic next year at the high school and we are encouraging the kids to take it. We have a new food director who has put in more choices for the kids.”

Taylor said the district addresses concerns accordingly and assesses its budget and resources before determining what avenues to seek. He noted that Crestwood wasn’t properly equipped to handle non-English speaking students at first, but the district was eventually able to adapt to the change. 

“There’s no way to know what kind of staffing you are going to need at first,” Taylor said. “I know it’s hard for a district to know how to plan for the kids. When things come up, we try to adjust those needs. It might not be immediate, because there has to be assessments so we can meet those needs. I think the district is doing pretty good right now, we’ve come a long way.”

However, Taylor noted that there were still some undertones within the district that needed to be ironed out. 

“There’s this bad taste in the air,” he said. “There’s got to be a connection of the entire community and I think the education of our kids can be that connection. Our district has done very well in academics, but there needs to be more open lines between Muslims and Catholics; and we need to put that aside and focus on our kids.”

Berry told The AANews that she decided to run for the School Board to establish stronger lines of collaborative efforts and to represent the community as a whole.

She has two children who are products of Crestwood and she attended the School Board meetings frequently throughout the years. 

“We need to hone our skills, not only as communicators, but as decision makers as a part of a collaborative unit,” Berry said. “Rigorous debate is an important part of the process, but we need to relieve parents from feeling like they have to be “watch dogs” – and create a successful collaboration that leads to best practices and the confidence that comes from knowing the best idea is what is driving our district. What we need now is change informed by all the input we have and will have ongoing.”

It remains to be seen whether Berry’s bid will be successful. However, some community members are being optimistic and pointing to City Councilman Dave Abdallah’s victory last year–signaling that the tides may be shifting. 

Abdallah’s win was the result of a larger Arab American turnout, an aggressive campaign and familiarity with voters as a real estate agent–all of which helped nab him a council seat.

In an interview with The AANews, Abdallah acknowledged that his successful campaign was not an easy one. In fact, he only won by about 90 votes. 

“For me, it became a lot more difficult situation than I had anticipated,” Abdallah said. “I’m known in real estate as ‘Dave’ and I had to run as ‘Wassim’, so there was no more name recognition. I had to start from scratch.”

Abdallah acknowledged that what tipped the scale in his favor was a thriving new generation of Arab Americans who are more politically savvy and who turned out to the polls. That, and Abdallah’s cross-appeal with non-Arab voters, ultimately helped him win.

Abdallah said he ran an aggressive campaign that included going door-to-door, social media outreach and an organized voter registration effort. He cited some flaws in previous Arab American candidates’ bids.

“They’ve never organized and gotten voters involved in the campaigns,” Abdallah said. “Arab Americans are known not to be big voters, but the new generation is starting to change that. I knocked on doors for months. There are also non-Arab voters now who will vote for an Arab candidate if they think that person can get the job done.”