ANN ARBOR  — Early Thursday morning, the Ann Arbor school district became the first in the state to pass a resolution calling for a bilateral cease-fire in Gaza and Israel, and encouraged its educators to discuss the international conflict in classrooms.

The board heard more than two hours of heated public comment before approving the nonbinding resolution just after midnight. The seven-member board approved the measure in a 4-1 vote, with two members abstaining.

“What is a ceasefire? It’s a call to ease the pain for everyone to promote peace, humanity and moving forward,” said Trustee Rima Mohammad, who is a Palestinian American. “This is needed right now to heal the community.”

“This resolution says that kids who have names like mine are seen, heard and valued,” Mohammad said just prior to the vote.

Tempers flared during the debate over the resolution, which has divided the school community and city where large number of Jews and Arab Americans reside. Several attendees raised signs during the hearing opposing the measure, while some resolution supporters sang “from the river to the sea.”

Ann Arbor School Board President Rima Mohammad discusses the agenda of the meeting on Wednesday, January 17. – Courtesy of The Detroit News

New language was introduced into the resolution after midnight on Thursday, including support for the release of all hostages and unrestricted humanitarian aid to Palestinians at the levels recommended by the United Nations.

The board also added the statement, “Understanding its limited role in international affairs, (the board) expresses its support for seeking peaceful resolutions to conflicts wherever they may occur and for emphasizing the importance of protecting human lives and the dignity of all people.”

It also broadened a section on condemning hate speech and discrimination to include “all forms of anti-Arab racism, anti-Jewish racism, anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and discrimination against any individual based on personal background, whether Israeli or Palestinian.”

The proposal has stirred controversy in the progressive school district of 17,000 students, Michigan’s eighth largest, where just under 50 percent identify as non-White.

The district “expresses support for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and Israel”, according to the resolution, and “encourages educators within the Ann Arbor School District to facilitate informed and respectful dialogue about the conflict.”

Tasneem Madani, a student teacher in the district, supported the resolution and stressed its importance, saying that “our students are watching us.”

“It is my responsibility, particularly as an English teacher, to help students develop the skills to engage in informed academic dialogue in safe spaces,” Madani said at Wednesday’s meeting.

Madani said there has been a sharp increase in Palestinian racism in schools and that academic freedoms in higher education and at K-12 schools remain under threat.

Tasneem Madani speaks in favor of the resolution. More than 120 people signed up to speak on the issue, Ann Arbor, Michigan January 17. – AP

Other schools across the country have contemplated similar resolutions. In California, the Oakland Unified School District has considered a resolution calling for a cease-fire and release of hostages in Israel and Palestine, but has yet to pass it.

Ann Arbor has long been known for its progressive politics, but the city and its university has found itself divided over the Gaza conflict beyond the confines of its public schools.

Last week, the Ann Arbor City Council approved a similar measure called “Denouncing Rising Hate and Discrimination in Ann Arbor and Calling for a Lasting Bilateral Ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.”

In December, University of Michigan President Santa Ono barred students from voting on two resolutions related to the Israel war on Gaza, calling them “controversial and divisive.” The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations accused the university of suppressing free speech at the time.

“The proposed resolutions have done more to stoke fear, anger and animosity on our campus than they would ever accomplish as recommendations to the university,” Ono said in an online post at the time.