Coming Home
New Oak Park superintendent returns to his roots
By Crystal Kassab Jabiro
According to Angel Abdulahad, EdS, it is every superintendent’s dream to go back to his or her hometown.
Last month, his dream came true when the Oak Park Board of Education selected him as their new superintendent, 28 years after he graduated from Oak Park High School. The former Spanish and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher grew up in Oak Park in the 1980s and 90s when it had a large Chaldean population.
“My dad said he brought us to America to give us a good education,” Abdulahad recalled. “It was Oak Park Schools that taught me how to read and write. They gave me the skills I needed to flourish, and my family is blessed tremendously because of it.”
The Abdulahad family attempted to flee to America as political refugees and were denied, so they moved to Spain after the European country granted them clearance. Less than five years later in 1986, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Oak Park.
Abdulahad attended Key Elementary, Roosevelt Middle School, and Oak Park High School, where he wrestled and played baseball. He received mentoring from Oak Park Youth Assistance and got his first job as a stock boy at Arabic Town Market when he was 12. He later worked at Beeper Express, activating accounts, taking payments, and fixing pagers. It is what he did in Oak Park every day after school.
After graduating from OPHS in 1994, Abdulahad attended Oakland Community College (OCC) and then Wayne State University while working 50-60 hours a week. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Language - Spanish and got his first job as a Spanish teacher at Pontiac Northern High School in 2002. Two years later, he obtained a Master of Education in Bilingual Education and ESL. In 2009, he acquired an Education Specialist (EdS) degree.
Abdulahad moved on to Madison Public Schools in 2013 where he taught Spanish and ESL, mostly at Wilkinson Middle School. Two years later, he became the principal there.
“I wanted to have a bigger footprint on the influence of students,” remarked Abdulahad. “It’s a joy to serve kids and be a role model, especially for those like me, the immigrant kids who came with nothing.”
In 2019, the Madison Board of Education asked him to be the interim superintendent for a month and then just appointed him to the position. He has had a highly effective rating every year since. Though he enjoyed Madison, he is ecstatic to return to his roots.
“I want to go back home as living proof of the education you get at Oak Park,” he beamed.
In the meantime, Abdulahad, 45, got married and had four kids who now range from six to 16. He is excited for this new school year to return to some sense of normalcy that was, according to him, very visible in the faces of children this past year. He wants nothing to slow them down.
He encourages parents to keep their kids reading this summer and to enroll them in summer programs to bridge learning gaps because of COVID. Many of these programs are free and provide breakfast and lunch. Parents can check their local school districts and libraries and even places of worship.
Abdulahad is ecstatic to be home. “Everything I am is because of the education I received in America, specifically Oak Park. I am Oak Park!”