Diwali peition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read this as they are asking that Diwali be marked on the calendar. Not that school be closed on the day.

Well they won't have any luck in MCPS since no religious holidays are actually recognized as such on the calendar. But MCPS opened the door to having many more holidays "recognized" by closing schools for students on Eid and changing a professional day from August (sorely needed) to September (unneeded). They should have known that they can't choose to recognize one holiday without giving the same acknowledgement to other holidays. Now it's a free for all since they went against their own policy of only closing schools due to operational issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this as they are asking that Diwali be marked on the calendar. Not that school be closed on the day.

That's interesting, since MCPS decided not to mark *any* holidays as of last year. So, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are off, but marked as teacher planning days or something. Basically, the district decided not to actually call any religious holidays by their name. So, if this petition doesn't want the day off, and MCPS has a policy of not noting religious holidays, then I'm not sure what the petition is meant to do. For HCPS it is a different story, I guess.

Yes, as I recall this was so they wouldn't have to put Eid on the calendar, which was the same day as YK last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is a Federal holiday.

Yes, because it's a Christian holiday and Christian holidays are normalized in a way that the people who celebrate them are reluctant to acknowledge. It shouldn't be a federal holiday.

all I have to say is that thank god it's a federal holiday. Our offices have to remain open and I would hate to be stuck working every Christmas.

This is how I feel every Rosh and Yom Kippur. Sure you can take the day off but if things are crazy at the office, it looks really bad. I would have had to cancel a work trip this year and instead fasted through a day on-site with a client. It was extremely difficult and I didn't get to observe the day.

I will support this! I'd trade MLK, presidents day, columbus day and maybe a few of the other shitty federal holidays for days with actual meaning. Plus the Friday after Thanksgiving would be nice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, we knew this was coming...

Yes! Only Christian holidays should be recognized!

So now a SECULAR institution - public education - has to continue to restructure its calendar to accommodate all different belief systems?? What about Wiccan holidays? Should we add them to the calendar, too?

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I hope this petition passes. One day for Diwali shouldn't put a dent on anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is a Federal holiday.

Yes, because it's a Christian holiday and Christian holidays are normalized in a way that the people who celebrate them are reluctant to acknowledge. It shouldn't be a federal holiday.

all I have to say is that thank god it's a federal holiday. Our offices have to remain open and I would hate to be stuck working every Christmas.

This is how I feel every Rosh and Yom Kippur. Sure you can take the day off but if things are crazy at the office, it looks really bad. I would have had to cancel a work trip this year and instead fasted through a day on-site with a client. It was extremely difficult and I didn't get to observe the day.

I will support this! I'd trade MLK, presidents day, columbus day and maybe a few of the other shitty federal holidays for days with actual meaning. Plus the Friday after Thanksgiving would be nice!

So MLK was shitty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is a Federal holiday.

Yes, because it's a Christian holiday and Christian holidays are normalized in a way that the people who celebrate them are reluctant to acknowledge. It shouldn't be a federal holiday.

all I have to say is that thank god it's a federal holiday. Our offices have to remain open and I would hate to be stuck working every Christmas.

This is how I feel every Rosh and Yom Kippur. Sure you can take the day off but if things are crazy at the office, it looks really bad. I would have had to cancel a work trip this year and instead fasted through a day on-site with a client. It was extremely difficult and I didn't get to observe the day.

I will support this! I'd trade MLK, presidents day, columbus day and maybe a few of the other shitty federal holidays for days with actual meaning. Plus the Friday after Thanksgiving would be nice!

So MLK was shitty?

Well it's a shopping holiday instead of a religious or family holiday (like Thanksgiving). So yeah I'd trade it for a holiday with meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. I hope this petition passes. One day for Diwali shouldn't put a dent on anything.

Without commenting on whether Diwali should be off (and remember that the litmus test is whether a substantial portion of kids would miss school), do you remember the disaster of trying to include Eid off from school? One day absolutely puts a dent in the school calendar because there are a mandated number of instructional days, so another day needs to come off the calendar if you put Diwali on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, we know from past discussions that one of the criteria for having the day off is whether kids/teachers would be out of school. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are great examples, because both require full-day temple attendance plus fasting on YK.

Does Diwali require observance between 8:30 am 3:30 pm?

No, observance ends at 8:12am and doesn't begin again until 3:36pm.

According to the internet, there are 5 days of Diwali and the big celebrations are at night.

So, which of the 5 days is being requested off from school, and are the holidays normally celebrated during the day or at night?

In my religious tradition, the most important part of the Christmas celebration, midnight Mass, happens at night too. Still glad i have the next day off.

[Anonymous]

Do people actually believe she's real, or is it more cultural?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. I hope this petition passes. One day for Diwali shouldn't put a dent on anything.

Without commenting on whether Diwali should be off (and remember that the litmus test is whether a substantial portion of kids would miss school), do you remember the disaster of trying to include Eid off from school? One day absolutely puts a dent in the school calendar because there are a mandated number of instructional days, so another day needs to come off the calendar if you put Diwali on it.

So the system should make Diwali a professional day, and all adherents should have to take leave again. That was the thinking behind Eid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this as they are asking that Diwali be marked on the calendar. Not that school be closed on the day.

Well they won't have any luck in MCPS since no religious holidays are actually recognized as such on the calendar. But MCPS opened the door to having many more holidays "recognized" by closing schools for students on Eid and changing a professional day from August (sorely needed) to September (unneeded). They should have known that they can't choose to recognize one holiday without giving the same acknowledgement to other holidays. Now it's a free for all since they went against their own policy of only closing schools due to operational issues.

MCPS only closed on Eid because it coincided with a Jewish holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this as they are asking that Diwali be marked on the calendar. Not that school be closed on the day.

That's interesting, since MCPS decided not to mark *any* holidays as of last year. So, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are off, but marked as teacher planning days or something. Basically, the district decided not to actually call any religious holidays by their name. So, if this petition doesn't want the day off, and MCPS has a policy of not noting religious holidays, then I'm not sure what the petition is meant to do. For HCPS it is a different story, I guess.

No, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days the system is closed. They were considering making Eid a professional day and asking that people take leave if they wanted to worship on that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is a Federal holiday.

Yes, because it's a Christian holiday and Christian holidays are normalized in a way that the people who celebrate them are reluctant to acknowledge. It shouldn't be a federal holiday.

all I have to say is that thank god it's a federal holiday. Our offices have to remain open and I would hate to be stuck working every Christmas.

This is how I feel every Rosh and Yom Kippur. Sure you can take the day off but if things are crazy at the office, it looks really bad. I would have had to cancel a work trip this year and instead fasted through a day on-site with a client. It was extremely difficult and I didn't get to observe the day.

I will support this! I'd trade MLK, presidents day, columbus day and maybe a few of the other shitty federal holidays for days with actual meaning. Plus the Friday after Thanksgiving would be nice!

So MLK was shitty?

Well it's a shopping holiday instead of a religious or family holiday (like Thanksgiving). So yeah I'd trade it for a holiday with meaning.

I'll let your post speak for itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is a Federal holiday.

Yes, because it's a Christian holiday and Christian holidays are normalized in a way that the people who celebrate them are reluctant to acknowledge. It shouldn't be a federal holiday.

all I have to say is that thank god it's a federal holiday. Our offices have to remain open and I would hate to be stuck working every Christmas.

This is how I feel every Rosh and Yom Kippur. Sure you can take the day off but if things are crazy at the office, it looks really bad. I would have had to cancel a work trip this year and instead fasted through a day on-site with a client. It was extremely difficult and I didn't get to observe the day.

I will support this! I'd trade MLK, presidents day, columbus day and maybe a few of the other shitty federal holidays for days with actual meaning. Plus the Friday after Thanksgiving would be nice!

So MLK was shitty?

Well it's a shopping holiday instead of a religious or family holiday (like Thanksgiving). So yeah I'd trade it for a holiday with meaning.

It's a holiday with meaning for my family and friends. However, we're AA and my parents met in the movement.