Why is There no School Next Year on Monday, October 20th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

No, the month of Ramadan is not an off for children or teachers.

Don’t be stupid. We are not shutting down a school system for a month. Then, you would complain about learning loss.

There is a day off for Eid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

No, the month of Ramadan is not an off for children or teachers.

Don’t be stupid. We are not shutting down a school system for a month. Then, you would complain about learning loss.

There is a day off for Eid.

I think PP was trying to gently correct the person who doesn't know the difference between Ramadan and Eid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

No, the month of Ramadan is not an off for children or teachers.

Don’t be stupid. We are not shutting down a school system for a month. Then, you would complain about learning loss.

There is a day off for Eid.

I think PP was trying to gently correct the person who doesn't know the difference between Ramadan and Eid

Yes. I am that PP. I do find that reply to my post ironic in its allegation only being self-incriminating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

MCPS has Jewish holidays off since late 70s when I was attending. It’s been decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

MCPS has Jewish holidays off since late 70s when I was attending. It’s been decades.

Yes! It was originally done because there were too many Jewish teachers and not enough subs. But I don’t think that is really true anymore and I think it is worth exploring whether we can have school on those Jewish holidays and other religious holidays. Because there’s no way MPS can take into account every single religion and give everyone their holidays off and still run a system.

[Anonymous]

See this article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/montgomery-county-schools-holidays-calendar/67424/
I remember they had taken Jewish holidays off for years due to difficulty with getting subs and a high number of students being absent. In an effort to be more inclusive they removed the holiday name from the calendar for these days off. I believe this then morphed into efforts to include holidays from various religions/cultures as days off/teacher work days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

MCPS has Jewish holidays off since late 70s when I was attending. It’s been decades.

Yes! It was originally done because there were too many Jewish teachers and not enough subs. But I don’t think that is really true anymore and I think it is worth exploring whether we can have school on those Jewish holidays and other religious holidays. Because there’s no way MPS can take into account every single religion and give everyone their holidays off and still run a system.

They did explore this a few years ago and found that it was still true. And it's even harder to get subs in general now, post-pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

MCPS has Jewish holidays off since late 70s when I was attending. It’s been decades.

Yes! It was originally done because there were too many Jewish teachers and not enough subs. But I don’t think that is really true anymore and I think it is worth exploring whether we can have school on those Jewish holidays and other religious holidays. Because there’s no way MPS can take into account every single religion and give everyone their holidays off and still run a system.

They did explore this a few years ago and found that it was still true. And it's even harder to get subs in general now, post-pandemic.

+1 and for what it’s worth, those two holidays are observed with important services during the daytime (in addition to evening services and ceremonial meals) so they legitimately conflict with school hours.

If you feel MCPS cannot accommodate every single religion, feel free to tell them you don’t need the day off for YOUR religion or culture. It’s not great to just pick someone else’s that you know nothing about and insist it’s not needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

How far back in the past are you talking about? I went to school in the late 80's and we were off for Jewish holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

MCPS has Jewish holidays off since late 70s when I was attending. It’s been decades.

Yes! It was originally done because there were too many Jewish teachers and not enough subs. But I don’t think that is really true anymore and I think it is worth exploring whether we can have school on those Jewish holidays and other religious holidays. Because there’s no way MPS can take into account every single religion and give everyone their holidays off and still run a system.

They did explore this a few years ago and found that it was still true. And it's even harder to get subs in general now, post-pandemic.

+1 and for what it’s worth, those two holidays are observed with important services during the daytime (in addition to evening services and ceremonial meals) so they legitimately conflict with school hours.

If you feel MCPS cannot accommodate every single religion, feel free to tell them you don’t need the day off for YOUR religion or culture. It’s not great to just pick someone else’s that you know nothing about and insist it’s not needed.

I’m a Jewish teacher and parent and I did tell them that when they did the survey about the calendar preferences a couple of years ago.

There are so many religions and every time they try to accommodate one religion, others will want equity for their own (which I agree with). That’s why I don’t think MCPS is in a position to take off for every holiday. I think we should have used June 6th as a make-up day instead of having a random day off a week before school is out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you asking in May? Also,WHO CARES? This is why everyone hates MCPS parents.

It impacts parents who need to find childcare for a random holiday. Just like June 6th this year- it should have been removed instead of adding June 17th.

Not every religious holiday needs to shut down our county. Let those who celebrate have the day off.

The problem is finding coverage for those who take the day off. Like Yom Kippur, there are so many Jewish people employed by MCPS. You can't find enough substitutes for their classes.