by P.D. Lesko

Rabbi Nadav Caine leads the congregation at Beth Israel synagogue on Washtenaw Ave. On Jan. 15 he sent out an email to the members of the synagogue in which he sharply criticized the members of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education. Caine criticized the BOE members for taking up a “Resolution Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza” introduced by Trustee Ernesto Querijero. The board debated Querijero’s resolution at length at its Dec. 20 meeting. The Trustees will vote to approve the Resolution Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza at their January 17, 2023 meeting.

Caine, in response to Trustee Querijero’s resolution wrote in his Jan. 15 email, “Today, I want to share with you that a group of Jewish parents of Ann Arbor Public School children have spoken up for themselves by initiating a change.org petition to take a resolution calling for a ‘bilateral ceasefire in Gaza‘ off the agenda of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education. As current parents of two children in AAPS, Lynne and I have both signed this petition.”

Rabbi Caine went on to say that, Querijero’s “…resolution is not really about taking a moral position. Rather…this resolution is meant to divide the community and stigmatize our Jewish children, who are already a woeful minority in their schools, when AAPS has faced no more pressing time in its history to focus on the academic and socio-emotional deficits of its children following the pandemic.”

Querijero was elected to the AAPS Board of Education in 2020. His Twitter account has not been updated since shortly before his election. His campaign website has been deleted, but the Google Wayback resource archived the site.

• On his Meet Ernesto page, Querijero the candidate played the DEI/race card: “Support for Ernesto is also support for inclusion and representation, another fundamental reason for his run in this election. He can identify with many types of voters and educational stakeholders. He is a first-generation Asian- American….”

• Querijero told voters if elected he would adhere to two “guiding principles” in his work as a trustee: “First, I will support and recommend policies that advance long-term student learning. Second, I will support and recommend policies that increase representation, fairness, and inclusion.”

• His campaign website shows he was endorsed by the Ann Arbor Education Association, the Washtenaw County Democratic Party, the Huron Valley Labor Federation, and former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed. In his endorsement of Querijero, El-Sayed wrote, “Ernesto knows firsthand how to prioritize students in Ann Arbor.”

School Board Trustee Susan Ward Schmidt contacted the Michigan Association of School Boards and was told that Querijero’s resolution was outside the purview of any school board. Listen to an audio clip of Trustee Ward Schmidt discussing her consultation with the head of the Association, Jennifer Smith.

AAPS parents have expressed outrage at the “Resolution Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza” sponsored by Querijero.

I am local, my daughter graduated from AAPS and I am sickened by this. It is inappropriate, outside the scope and extremely anti-semitic….I HAVE FAMILY AMONG THE KIDNAPPED HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA….School is NOT the place to have these complex discussions on JUST ONE of many crises that exist in the world and impact your students–what about Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, Saudi Arabia? Why focus on Israel/Gaza? What place does that focus have in your schools; what training will you provide and how will you handle the students who are hurt by this. Stick to what IS IN YOUR SCOPE, EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN. –Amy Ritchie, Ann Arbor resident

Dr. Jennifer Kirsch VanBeck is a clinical psychologist and Jewish. She signed the Change.org petition.

“It’s totally outside the scope of the Ann Arbor Board of Education to consider a biased resolution which ignores and distorts many facts about the complex issues in the Middle East,” said Dr. VanBeck. She also said, “It is clear that several members of the Board’s personal and biased agendas were driving the meeting. Aren’t elected officials supposed to make everyone in their community feel like their voices are valued and heard? The Ann Arbor Board of Education needs to focus on what they were elected for, improving our schools and out student’s lives, and not getting involved in geopolitical issues.”

Nika Baraket also signed the Change.org petition. She said, “Did you [AAPS BOE] issue a resolution on the war in Syria, on the slaughter of Yemenites by Saudi Arabia, on the war against Ukraine, or the displacement of over a million people in Sudan as we speak? If you did, I want to see them. If not, if the only resolution you are issuing is one involving the Jewish state of Israel, then you are raging anti-Semites and are not fit to be in leadership positions in an open and diverse community like Ann Arbor.”

At its Jan. 11 meeting, the members of Ann Arbor City Council unanimously passed the “Resolution Denouncing Rising Hate and Discrimination in Ann Arbor and Calling for a Lasting Bilateral Ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.” Council’s lone Jewish member, Lisa Disch (D-Ward 1), was a co-sponsor of the resolution. The other co-sponsors of the resolution included Ayesha Ghazi Edwin (D-Ward 3), Erica Briggs (D-Ward 5), Linh Song (D-Ward 2), and Dharma Akmon (D-Ward 4).

The Council members’ resolution included this language: “The Ann Arbor City Council requests that the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission engage with affected communities during this crisis, to uphold the enforcement of Chapter 112 of the Non-Discrimination Ordinance, and to educate residents on how to file complaints of discrimination or harassment in our city.”

The Council members’ resolution called for the “release of all hostages,” and “unrestricted humanitarian aid at the levels recommended by the United Nations for the Palestinian people.” The resolution, co-sponsored by four women, did not condemn Hamas’s use of rape and sexual torture against Jewish children, women and men on Oct. 7, or call for an end to the rape and sexual torture of those currently held captive by Hamas.

In his email in response to Querijero’s Dec. 20 resolution, Rabbi Caine pointed that, “it became clear to me at the City Council Meeting this past week that even the best intentioned and best worded ceasefire resolution means something different to a Jew and to those who are calling for them, as I was surrounded by about 150 activists who cheered and laughed at the mention of the sexual violence and mutilation of Israeli women, and who screamed their support for Hamas.”

The most recent FBI data show that in Ann Arbor, a city of 121,900, there were a total of 19 hate crime reports. The most recent hate crime in the city that made the news was an August 2023 incident on the campus of the University of Michigan. Homophobic graffiti was found on the sidewalk in front of the Jewish Resource Center on Hill Street. Two U-M students were eventually identified, but no charges were filed against them.

Focus on Education: Community Petition for Immediate Withdrawal of Ceasefire Resolution has been signed by 1,760 individuals. The Change.org page created to host the petition includes several updates, including one titled: “**CALL TO ACTION: CONTACT BOARD MEMBERS, SHOW UP AT MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY**” This update encourages Ann Arbor parents of school kids and others to attend the AAPS Board of Education’s Wednesday Jan. 17 meeting. Attend and Make Your Voice Heard:

“PLEASE join us at the meeting on Wednesday for support and/or SIGN UP HERE to either speak or submit commentary to be read on your behalf. (you MUST sign up no later than Wednesday 1/17 at 3pm). Due to the high number of speakers, plan to keep your comments under one minute. Use the petition content and comments for talking points, emphasizing the negative impact this resolution has on our community’s unity and the need to focus on local school board issues.”

The Change.org petition page included contact information for each member of the AAPS Board of Education.

Krystle DuPree: dupreek@a2schools.org or 734-926-8315

Torchio Feaster: feastert@a2schools.org or 734-531-7434

Susan Ward Schmidt: schmidts@a2schools.org or 734-845-9706

Susan Baskett: baskett@a2schools.org or 734-994-2232

Jeffrey Gaynor: gaynor@a2schools.org or 734-277-2305

Rima Mohammad: mohammadr@a2schools.org or 734-681-0181

Ernesto Querijero: querijeroe@a2schools.org or 313-936-0719 

The authors of the Change.org petition say, “While we all mourn the innocent lives lost in the current Middle East crisis along with all innocent lives lost in the numerous humanitarian crises that plague our imperfect world, the AAPS Board is not the appropriate forum for addressing these international and humanitarian crises. We implore the Board to return to its duties prioritizing education.”

Rabbi Nadav Caine was somewhat less politic in his reaction to Ernesto Querijero’s resolution: “We believe the AAPS Board is charged with representing all students, and this resolution is not intended to do so.”

Marcia Polenberg is a long-time Ann Arbor resident. Of Ernesto Querijero’s resolution and the Board’s upcoming vote on it, Polenberg said, “Israel has the right to exist as a country. Hamas denies Israel’s very existence and launched a violent [attack] on peace loving Israelis on October 7th. Hamas captured Israeli hostages and is still holding over 100 individuals captive. Hamas has continued to launch rocket attacks into Israel. The onus is on Hamas to release the hostages and then talks of peace can begin, not before. The school board has no business getting involved in foreign affairs. Its action is nothing short of anti-semitic and unfair to the Jewish children who attend Ann Arbor Public Schools.”