APS calendar options are here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So… I just voted twice. You can vote as many times as you want. Seems like a flaw….

It’s because they already chose the calendar and don’t care what the survey says. Vote 100 times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So… I just voted twice. You can vote as many times as you want. Seems like a flaw….

It’s because they already chose the calendar and don’t care what the survey says. Vote 100 times.

They can see your IP address from the response and filter out multiple responses. So it's more effective to vote from different devices, if you accept the idea that they actually care about your feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So… I just voted twice. You can vote as many times as you want. Seems like a flaw….

It’s because they already chose the calendar and don’t care what the survey says. Vote 100 times.

They can see your IP address from the response and filter out multiple responses. So it's more effective to vote from different devices, if you accept the idea that they actually care about your feedback.

I assume this too, although then I wonder what they do because often two parents are answering from the same IP address. Do they just accept two per IP address?

I tend to agree that this is all for show and they already have their choice, or their choice is somewhere in the middle and the middle will look like a compromise but is what they wanted in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

You still didn't explain your "safe" comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to[img] spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

So childcare workers are making big bucks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

You still didn't explain your "safe" comment.

The public schools are picking winners and losers among the religions whose holidays they are “celebrating”. You don’t see how that could be a slippery slope for a publicly funded institution that should be taking no position on religious exercise whatsoever?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

You still didn't explain your "safe" comment.

The public schools are picking winners and losers among the religions whose holidays they are “celebrating”. You don’t see how that could be a slippery slope for a publicly funded institution that should be taking no position on religious exercise whatsoever?

Did none of you grow up in areas where you got certain religious holidays off in public school? My public school had the Jewish holidays off when I was there 30 years ago and last I checked my hometown has not become a theocracy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to[img] spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

So childcare workers are making big bucks?

Maybe $100-$200 per day for one off care isn’t a big deal to you. For a lot of people it is. A days’ work. All so 5 people don’t have to write an absence note to get their kid an excused absence for a religious holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

And then will they take time out of the following school day to re-teach everything covered on the holiday to students who were absent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

And then will they take time out of the following school day to re-teach everything covered on the holiday to students who were absent?

Teaching doesn't matter. Schools are for childcare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

And then will they take time out of the following school day to re-teach everything covered on the holiday to students who were absent?

Is this done when kids miss school for illness (also excused)? Heck, they all missed 3 months of school in spring 2020 and APS seemed to think that was fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

You still didn't explain your "safe" comment.

The public schools are picking winners and losers among the religions whose holidays they are “celebrating”. You don’t see how that could be a slippery slope for a publicly funded institution that should be taking no position on religious exercise whatsoever?

In some parts of the country, emphasizing certain religious holidays may be more "picking" but generally speaking, my experience and understanding has been that those are the holidays a significant portion of the school populace observed and therefore would traditionally take off and miss; and when a significant portion do so, the schools have found it best to just close for the day. Arlington and other districts - particularly in more diverse parts of the country - are trying to be more inclusive. I don't see that as a bad thing and not necessarily a "slippery slope." It isn't "taking a position on religious exercise." It is precisely the opposite of picking winners and losers because it is trying to be more inclusive. It is being practical (originally) and more "fair" (more recently by accommodating more denominations' observances). Yes, it would be equitable and fair to not acknowledge or observe any religious holiday whatsoever. But winter break is always going to fall over christmas and new year's because even many non-religious, atheists, and agnostics "celebrate" Christmas - as a commercial holiday, not a religious one. To Christians, that is (or should) be more offensive than not having a break to accommodate their holiday schedule.

If any "position" is being taken by the public schools, it is one of respecting the basic foundations of our government: religious freedom. If you don't follow a given religious holiday, you get the day off to do whatever you choose while tolerating the rights of others to observe according to their beliefs. Separation of church and state does NOT mean the state can never acknowledge or accommodate a religious observance or faith. It merely means there will be no state-sponsored religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

Your “childcare” and “wages” are not the school’s problem. You get the calendar months in advance. Plan accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Jewish and very much appreciate having Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off but giving time off for Passover is crazy. Kids can totally go to school and still celebrate Passover!!


In terms of "where does it end?", The same holidays have been off for several years now, seems like there is no need to add more or take some away, unless demographics change dramatically.

For those who don't celebrate, this seems like a good chance to talk to your kids about being respectful of different religions and making reasonable accommodations (ex not serving pork when a Muslim friend comes over).

You can be respectful of different religions without contorting a school calendar to privilege the exercise of them. Excusing the absences and making them no-test days is a reasonable accommodation. Not letting kids get 5 straight days in school for months on end is not reasonable.

Kids love days off. This is about you needing childcare. That's fine, it's a valid need, but let's stop trotting out nobler-sounding needs rather than say "I have ES kids and a full-time job"

It doesn’t matter either way. Being able to work to pay your bills is an immensely greater priority than the optional celebration of a holiday. Heck, me wanting to use my PTO and money to go get my nails done mid-week should be a greater priority than burning my leave/disposable income on getting kids to/from school break camps so other people can celebrate their holidays. I shouldn’t have to give up my limited time off and money so someone else can feel warm and fuzzy about their special little holiday.

But even more so, kids need a predictable schedule, especially young kids and those of us who have kids with special needs who thrive with routine. This needs to be the ultimate priority. Every day my kids wake up they ask whether they have school today because they’re so confused about when is a school day and when isn’t. I try to go over it with them the week before, but it constantly changes, no wonder they can’t keep up. Sprinkle in some sick days and they basically haven’t had a full week of school yet. It’s not as hard on my neurotypical kid as it is my neurodivergent kid, but it sucks for both of them.

People should exercise their religious freedoms on their own time. There are A LOT of other priorities that are way more important than religion. And if we’re going to bend over backwards to rearrange the school calendar for this nonsense then we may as well open ourselves up to pruning the library of books that are “offensive” to certain religions. Because clearly we’ve decided to be non-secular at this point.

How are we non-secular if we're observing all the religious holidays?

That’s the point. We’re basically becoming non-secular if we’re deciding to prioritize religion. The hypocrisy though is that liberals want to give days off for non-Christian holidays to score progressive brownie points, but dismiss things like complaints about books in the library (largely made by Christian conservatives) even though restricting some books in the library is certainly less disruptive and a lesser accommodation than making the entire school district resolve their calendar around these days off. I’m not saying we should ban books (in fact I don’t think we should be catering to religion is a mistake). But let’s be real about how APS is picking and choosing which religious beliefs to accommodate based on liberal politics instead of just focusing on education.

You are equating these things, saying, APS is picking one over the other due to politics? If you don't understand why one would choose accommodation of minority religious beliefs vs censorship, I don't know what to tell you.

I’m a NP, and I don’t want any religion or any religious beliefs in my taxpayer funded schools, period. Maybe for the high schoolers who are old enough to study it objectively. You get accommodated as the law requires, you get the same respect any human is entitled to, and no privilege. That goes for every religion out there from the Christians to the oppressed minorities. It’s not safe for one (or the “nones”) until they’re all out.

It's not "safe?"!
Your anti-religiousness shouldn't dictate for everyone else, either. At least by accommodating the various (major/significantly observed) religious holidays, everyone is in the same boat and there's something to be learned about respecting different cultures and beliefs and customs - including non-religious people who get no religion or other offensive celebrations for the vast majority of the school days. Get over it.

We can readily accommodate the religious holidays by excusing the absence for the people who CHOOSE to observe them. Not by punishing everyone else by forcing them to[img] spend out the nose on one off childcare or forego wages for the day. And I wholly disagree that we are respecting different cultures by shutting down our PUBLIC schools to observe their RELIGIOUS beliefs. We are privileging the exercise of religion. And not all religions, as you’ll notice there are no East Asian or purely Catholic or Wiccan holidays on the calendar.

So childcare workers are making big bucks?

Maybe $100-$200 per day for one off care isn’t a big deal to you. For a lot of people it is. A days’ work. All so 5 people don’t have to write an absence note to get their kid an excused absence for a religious holiday.

Too damn bad.