The public school district in Ann Arbor, Mich., is looking to hire a new superintendent. It is building several new schools. And it is revamping how it teaches young children to read.
But over the past month, the Board of Education has debated many hours over whether to support a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war.
The closely divided board is now set to vote on that resolution on Wednesday, and could become one of the first public school systems in the country to pass such a statement.
Supporters of the proposed resolution, including the board’s Palestinian American president and a Jewish trustee, have said that the statement is an urgent moral necessity amid a humanitarian crisis. A few opponents of the resolution have said that they oppose a cease-fire because Israel has the right to defeat Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, after the Oct. 7 attacks.
But more often, Ann Arbor parents said that they did not see any role for the local school board in the conflict, despite their own wishes for the hostilities in Israel and Gaza to end. And they worried that singling out Israel for condemnation, in a world filled with wars and suffering, could fuel antisemitism in the district.
The Israel-Gaza war has created huge rifts within education, both at universities and in local school districts, especially in left-leaning enclaves like Ann Arbor.
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