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G
ina Erpardo of Farmington Hills
had never been to a school board
meeting until March 5. She went to
listen after hearing about the February meet-
ing from a friend, who was concerned that
Jewish parents’ voices weren’t being heard in
the debate about the school board calling for
a ceasefire resolution. She went to listen and
to add to Jewish representation at the meet-
ing, as her children, 17 and 12, attend North
Farmington and Warner Middle School in
the district.
She’s from Turkey, and her Turkish family
has Jewish and Muslim friends, she says,
emphasizing that in her family there is no
hate. As she attended the meeting, she says,
she was moved to speak spontaneously.
“I’m very sympathetic to the civilians on
both sides, but the point I tried to make is
that schools are not the place to make a deci-
sion,
” she says. “I wanted to stand up and say
that this topic should be kept away from our
schools and from our children.
”
Growing up, they had to hide their iden-
tities in certain places, she says, adding
that she never expected to feel this kind of
discrimination in the United States. “Here
we are in the United States and my children
feel uncomfortable — I don’t want to hide
my identity. I don’t want to feel threatened. I
don’t want my business threatened,
” she says.
“But I think every Jew feels like they have to
keep quiet, and I am done keeping myself
quiet, because this is how I grew up.
”
Right now, if people are willing to keep
quiet, she says, a decade from now, they
might not have the option to speak out.
The idea of making sure Jewish voices are
represented in public forums is an increas-
ingly common thread for parents and com-
munity members these days at school board
meetings and beyond. Some are even bring-
ing their children along as they navigate the
realities of situations made even more tense
since Oct. 7.
That’s part of what inspired Brooke and
Chaim Leiberman of Farmington Hills to
spend their Valentine’s Day at the session
as the school eyed a resolution calling for
a ceasefire. Alerted by texts and on social
media, moms also took to Facebook to dis-
cuss the issue, with some looking to coordi-
nate their attendance and others expanding
the conversation by joining a newly launched
Facebook group about blocking school
boards from calling for a ceasefire. Many
parents who couldn’t attend tuned in online.
It was hours before the meeting’s floor
was opened for public comment, Brooke
Leiberman says, but well worthwhile to
attend. “I felt like us being there changed the
conversation,
” she explains.
Meanwhile, her phone buzzed with mes-
sages from people she knew — and some she
didn’t — who had tuned in online as well. “I
left feeling like me being there mattered.
”
Her daughter, Talia Leiberman, 11, stayed
up late on a Wednesday night in February
to take part in a Farmington Public Schools
school board meeting, sharing her experienc-
es last year being bullied for being Jewish.
“I think it was important for me to go up
there because there were a bunch of people
before and after I went to talk about how
they were getting bullied as a Muslim or
Palestinian or Arab, and they were only shar-
ing their side of the story,
” she says. “I think
it’s important that we need to stand up and
share things that have happened to us.
”
MOBILIZING THE COMMUNITY
Marcie Rosen of Farmington Hills has four
kids who graduated from the area’s public
schools and two grandchildren in kinder-
garten and fourth grade now in the district.
While her grandkids are too young for much
of the conversation taking place now, it’s
important to have Jewish pride and speak up
for their future and that of the community,
says Rosen, who is also regional president for
Hadassah Greater Detroit.
“People have to show up at these meet-
ings,
” she says. “
As far as what’s going on in
the schools, I don’t feel it’s proper for a city
council or a school board to get involved in
international politics.
”
She stayed at the February meeting until
11:15 p.m., and knows others who were
there a lot longer, says Rosen, who started
10 | MARCH 21 • 2024
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Parents mobilize against antisemitism in schools.
Making Jewish Voices Heard
KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER