Ann Arbor School Board OK is a resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza
In the United States, some unions, city governments and councils have spoken out about the war between Israel and Hamas, issuing statements in support of a ceasefire – often despite vocal objections from some of their own members and voters.
On Wednesday evening, the school board in Ann Arbor, Michigan, became one of the first public school districts in the country to vote in favor of such a declaration.
Supporters of the resolution, including Palestinian Americans and… Jewish board members said the declaration was an urgent moral imperative amid a humanitarian crisis.
But the vote — 4-1, with two members abstaining — was divisive in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan and a sizable Arab and Jewish population.
At a meeting punctuated by cheers and jeers, some parents said they did not see any role for the local school board in the conflict, despite their own desire to end hostilities in Israel and Gaza. And they feared that singling out Israel for condemnation, in a world full of wars and suffering, could fuel anti-Semitism in the district.
One father said he planned to remove his children from the district's schools.
And several parents asked the board to refocus on other issues, such as the district's search for a new superintendent and the academic recovery from the pandemic.
“Refocus your attention on the needs of our children,” said one parent.
The war between Israel and Gaza has created enormous divisions within education, both at universities and in local school districts, especially in left-wing enclaves like Ann Arbor.
In Oakland, California, some Jewish parents are pull back their children from public schools after teachers taught an unauthorized, pro-Palestinian lesson last month.
And after one public outragea Brooklyn elementary school removed a classroom card that depicted the Middle East without Israel, labeled “Palestine.”
Ann Arbor City Council last week endorsed its own ceasefire resolution. But in December, the University of Michigan prevented the student government from voting on several ceasefire declarations.
“The proposed resolutions have done more to incite fear, anger and hostility on our campus than they could ever accomplish as recommendations to the university,” university President Santa J. Ono wrote in a letter to the community.
Rima Mohammad, who had supported the statement as president of the Ann Arbor school board, acknowledged that the ceasefire resolution was “symbolic.”
But the war between Israel and Gaza “is absolutely something that we need to address, especially because I believe that the ongoing conflict abroad is leading to an increase in racism and discrimination locally,” she said in an interview before the vote. “The Arabs, Muslims, Jews, Palestinians and Israelis are all in pain.”
Ms. Mohammad is a Palestinian American and immigrated to the United States at the age of 5.
On Wednesday evening, as planned, the school board elected a new president, Torchio Feaster, who abstained from voting on the resolution.
In addition to calling for a “bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and Israel,” the resolution condemned Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
It also encouraged teachers in the 17,000-student district to facilitate classroom discussions about the conflict.
That became one of the most divisive elements of the proposal. Many established curriculum resources on Israeli-Palestinian issues have been created by advocacy groups and are themselves highly controversial.
Marci Sukenic, a parent of three students in the district and a staff member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, said she was “absolutely opposed” to the resolution, in part because “our teachers are not equipped for those conversations.”
“There are a lot of prejudices,” she says. “There is misinformation.”
In the past, she said, her children were called upon in the classroom to represent “the Jewish view” on issues, a role she felt was unfair. “Our children could be taken out,” she said.
Jeff Gaynor, the Jewish school board member who sponsored the resolution, is a retired high school social studies teacher who once wrote his own curriculum on Israeli-Palestinian issues. He said he trusted teachers would not venture outside their expertise.
Ernesto Querijero, the board chairman who sponsored the resolution, said he didn't think teachers should avoid the issue, especially since students were exposed to so much discussion about the conflict on social media.
“We need to make space for students to be able to talk about this,” said Mr. Querijero, an English professor at a community college. “Can you create a space where students can express their own opinions?”
The resolution was introduced by Malek Farha, a 16-year-old high school student from Ann Arbor, who said he wrote the statement with his uncle. As a Palestinian American, he said, he supported teaching students about the conflict so that his peers could understand that “the oppression of Palestinians has been going on for decades.”
He said most students got their information about the conflict from social media and the news. But he disputed the idea, put forward by many adults, that the war had divided his Jewish and Muslim peers, adding: “It never caused conflict between us.”
If so, the same cannot be said of the adults. Wednesday's board meeting had to be adjourned several times to try to quell the crowd's bickering and personal attacks.
Alain Delaqueriere research contributed.