“It’s time to give students a voice; together, we can give a voice to the forgotten stakeholders of education”

Mussab Ali, a lifelong resident of Jersey City, announced his candidacy for Jersey City Board of Education today. Mussab is a product of Jersey City’s PS #23, PS#6, Academy 1 Middle School and McNair Academic High School, where he graduated in the top 10% of his class.

Mussab will use his experience as a recent student in the Jersey City Public School system to provide a new perspective to the board which has been ignored, the voice of the students.

Mussab is running for the one year seat on the BOE, his campaign will center around safety, diversity, and providing a more effective education in our schools.

During the 2016 campaign for JCBOE, Mussab’s opponents spent over $1,000,000. Mussab spent less than $4,000 and still managed to garner over 7,000 votes. Mussab’s campaign raised awareness for the student perspectives in education and effects of crime on education. For the current campaign, Mussab has created a robust fundraising operation that will raise over $75,000. This sophisticated campaign will target and reach more voters to secure victory for Ali.

Mussab was recently appointed to the Immigration Affairs Commission and elected as vice chair by his peers. He has consistently been involved in community service efforts within his schools assisting with toy drives, food drives and tutoring. Mussab is also the Secretary of the Hudson County Young Democrats. After excelling in the SAT, he choose to spend his summer with 20 financially challenged youth leading a 10-week SAT class. Mussab is speaking out about the violence in our schools. He believes that every board member should work to benefit the students.

Mussab was recently awarded the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship and was the sole recipient in the State of NJ. Ali was also selected as an Eagleton Undergraduate Associate Class of 2018—the only member selected from his campus. Mussab was recently honored by Haven Community Adolescent Respite Center, where he also serves on their board.

Mussab’s candidacy has been supported by Freeholder Bill O’Dea who said, “I have had the opportunity to get to know Ali over the last year and am impressed with his intelligence, compassion and enthusiasm. I support him and know that his youthful voice will be a welcome addition to the board.”

Various other public officials elected to the BOE, City, County and State are expected to come out in support of Ali in the next few weeks. Muslim community leaders including Ahmad Shadeed, Abid Islam, and Riaz Wahid, in addition to student leaders from the political caucus at Rutgers and St. Peter’s University have come out strongly in support of Ali assuring a strong Pan Muslim – Arabic, South Asian and student vote for Ali in addition to city wide support drawing from all demographics from all wards of the city.

“Our children need safe spaces that allow them the flexibility to build positive relationships and learn. I will work to establish those safe places,” Mussab said. “Our city has long touted its diversity, but ESL parents are regularly left out of the loop at schools. I will work to create a more inclusive environment for immigrant families. We live in a digital age, but many children in our school system have yet to take courses in computer science. I will work to provide a more effective 21^st century education.”

If you would like more information about this topic or to schedule an interview with Mussab Ali please call at (201) 448-7945 or email at info@fixitnowjc.com.