A community member & school board president - Rima Mohammad - was faced with racist comments by secretary Susan Baskett during the Ann Arbor Public Schools Meeting on December 20, 2023. 

No elected official should make such prejudiced statements without being held accountable. If Secretary Baskett felt comfortable saying such bigoted comments during a public meeting, we can only imagine her sentiments in private. It is absolutely unacceptable to tell an elected official that their race, ethnicity, religion, national origin or background means they cannot be objective on a matter directly effecting their constituents and community. 

Therefore, the Ann Arbor Community Demands that:

1) The AAPS Board formally censure Secretary Basket

2) Secretary Baskett submit her resignation from AAPS

Susan Baskett’s Comments from the December 20, 2023 meeting:

“Madam president, I am sorry, but you are the least objective in this matter. This is not fair. This is not proper. And again, in your position, and I do respect the position that you are in, you often remind us you’re the first Arab American Muslim Palestinian elected to the board. And I respect that. But of this, sensitive nature, probably should have stepped back and talked with the committee members before taking the stance that you did to put this on special briefing or even to approve it for board action. Again, we have processes in place and to follow what we have established a long time ago. Okay? So again. This is not a proper item for us…