Oct 31, 2019

Article #8 on the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education >>>>> District #3 Member Siad Ali >>>>> Hail Fellow, Well Met Needs to Develop Diligence and Philosophy While Stiffening His Spine


Siad Ali represents Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education District #3.  Ali is originally from Somalia, studied in India (where he obtained a master’s degree in business), and speaks Hindi, as well as Somali and English, at a high level of fluency.  Ali gained election to the board in 2014 and was reelected without opposition in 2018.  In his successful run, Ali replaced fellow Somali Mohamud Noor, who had gained controversial appointment when the previous District #3 representative died in office.  District #3 is centered on the Cedar-Riverside area wherein a large Somali population resides.  The district will for the foreseeable future most likely be represented by a member of the Somali community, with much discussion therein as to who will run for the position.


 

As is the case with all members of the current iteration of the MPS Board of Education, Ali has firm ties to the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT)/Democrat-Farmer-Labor cohort that determines most elections to school boards in Minnesota.   Ali is in fact employed by the DFL and has worked for Amy Klobuchar.  He gives no evidence as yet of finding fault with either group in the cohort.  Like so many, he appreciates the greater propensity of DFL politicians to provide generous funding for education, by comparison with Republicans, and to assume that more funding in the absence of  meaningful change is a good thing.  He does not understand or does not want to think about the deleterious effect that DFL administrations (e. g., Mark Dayton with his Minnesota Department of Education [MDE] Commissioner Brenda Cassellius;  Tim Walz with his MDE Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker) have on enforcement of state academic standards and objective measurement via the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs).

 

Thus, Siad Ali bears the same taint of political corruption that is true of all members of this board.  And he gives no indication of having any more knowledge of the history and philosophy of education in the United States than do the others.  But he is an amicable, proverbial “Hail Fellow, Well Met” who professes love for everybody and seems to mean it.  He does not do his homework very well to apprise himself of policy details, but neither does he make clearly lamentable judgements.  In support of the work of Ed Graff  and especially Chief of Finance Ibrahima Diop, Ali voted with the minority to uphold the budget as presented in spring 2018, losing in the 5-4 vote to the contingent led by Rebecca Gagnon to restore $6.4 million that upon budget trimming had engendered opposition by affluent parents whose students’ high schools had been affected.

 

Although he has as yet to take meaningful action, Ali listens more empathetically than do most other board members to Public Commentators  such as the Hispanic parents who have appealed for “priority enrollment” giving their children the option of attending schools perceived as “higher performing.”  He also listens to my Public Comments and is the only member of the MPS Board of Education who still approaches me personally (and only one of three whose approach I would welcome).  But in private conversation, Ali is a terrible listener who, despite understanding the main thrust of my advocacy for a knowledge-intensive curriculum and the paramount importance of academics, cannot get far enough beyond the MFT/DFL party line to digest cognitively my comments.

 

Like Ira Jourdain, Siad Ali has faint potential to become a better board member.

 

But Ali must do more homework, read tracts on the history and philosophy of education in the United States, stiffen his spine, and lend a more careful ear in assessing words of dissent and advocacy.  Should he do these things, Ali has a slight chance for becoming a more thoughtful and independent voice on the MPS Board of Education;  that slight chance is more than can be assigned to Bob Walser, Nelson Inz, Kim Ellison, Jenny Arneson, Kim Caprini,  and KerryJo Felder.

 

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