Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The plural of anecdote is not data.

OMG I love you. I am going to use this phrase daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plus, it's not "all Jewish holidays." It's two. You want to see closings for all Jewish holidays? My kiddo at JCC preschool is off two days a week for four straight weeks for various Jewish holidays.

as is mine at his preschool

And we're not even Jewish

OP, you're an idiot. There are TONS of observant Jews in this area. Move to Carroll County if this bothers you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to agree with an earlier post, an MCPS teacher told me it was more about the teachers than the kids - there's way more jewish teachers than available subs. It seems practical - a kid can miss a day for a holiday but a teacher had to be replaced. Eventually we might have enough teachers to close for major hindu or muslim holidays, but until then, it's a student only absence.

The teacher was wrong. I worked in two different schools. One a high school and the other a middle school. The high school had 120 adults and I can remember only three Jews. I was only at the middle school for two years but I can't remember any.

So in your high school (we have about that many professional staff), you can honestly say that you knew EVERY Jew? really? I've been at my school for years and don't know half the staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The easy answer is that Montgomery County, especially the west side, is full of Jews.

Jews have a lot of political pull and their campaign contributions are important.

The eastern side of the county has large numbers of observant Jews: Kemp Mill/Arcola; Woodside/Woodside Park, and other areas. Silver Spring in particular is heavily Jewish.

Your comment about political pull and campaign contributions is just silly and vaguely anti-Semetic. MCPS respects the major Jewish holidays (two, we are talking TWO) because historically there have been significant numbers of students and parents who observe them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The plural of anecdote is not data.

OMG I love you. I am going to use this phrase daily.

I love her, too! I howled laughing. I have a background statistics and will definitely be using this comment at work.

[Anonymous]

Not this AGAIN!

[Anonymous]

Actually Baltimore County schools have all of the Jewish holidays off too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually Baltimore County schools have all of the Jewish holidays off too

Reisterstown rocks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:



Your kids don't get off because of Easter. Montgomery County always schedules its spring break to coincide with Easter.

Are you suggesting that is it pure coincidence that MoCo always schedules its spring break on a week that happens to coincide with Easter, or if they intentionally schedule it around Easter but just don't call it Easter break then that somehow means it has nothing to do with Easter? Does either of those really make sense to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to agree with an earlier post, an MCPS teacher told me it was more about the teachers than the kids - there's way more jewish teachers than available subs. It seems practical - a kid can miss a day for a holiday but a teacher had to be replaced. Eventually we might have enough teachers to close for major hindu or muslim holidays, but until then, it's a student only absence.

The teacher was wrong. I worked in two different schools. One a high school and the other a middle school. The high school had 120 adults and I can remember only three Jews. I was only at the middle school for two years but I can't remember any.

So in your high school (we have about that many professional staff), you can honestly say that you knew EVERY Jew? really? I've been at my school for years and don't know half the staff.

Yes I did know every adult in the building. I was not a recluse.

[Anonymous]

Actually the day after Easter, Easter Monday, is a STATE holiday. All state offices are closed, and I beleive the state forces all public schools to be closed that day as well.

The percentage of teachers who are Jewish has decreased over the past few decades, but it still would be difficult to find subs for all of them should schools be open on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

I wonder if MCPS will continue to close on the Jewish holidays going forward, however. As our county becomes more diverse, I believe there will be a push to close on religious holidays other than those that are Christian and Jewish. The Board coould respond by not closing on any of them, well not on the Jewish ones. Ain't no way they'd open on Christmas!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually the day after Easter, Easter Monday, is a STATE holiday. All state offices are closed, and I beleive the state forces all public schools to be closed that day as well.

The percentage of teachers who are Jewish has decreased over the past few decades, but it still would be difficult to find subs for all of them should schools be open on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

I wonder if MCPS will continue to close on the Jewish holidays going forward, however. As our county becomes more diverse, I believe there will be a push to close on religious holidays other than those that are Christian and Jewish. The Board coould respond by not closing on any of them, well not on the Jewish ones. Ain't no way they'd open on Christmas!

Actually, "why do we have Christmas off in this modern day and age?" is another recurring DCUM thread. Wait for it, usually starting right after Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

Bigots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bigots.

You sound like a thoughtful person, one who bothered to read the entire thread and give some thought to each response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The easy answer is that Montgomery County, especially the west side, is full of Jews.

Jews have a lot of political pull and their campaign contributions are important.

Ha. If Jews are the ones with all the political pull and cash for campaign contributions, why do my kids have to take time off for Easter? It's not even on a weekday! I think the PPs are right... lots of students and teachers out for the only two Jewish holidays MCPS gets off. Some things are about practical needs--not "campaign contributions." But thanks for reminding me that the Jewish Conspiracy folks are still out there.

Your kids don't get off because of Easter. Montgomery County always schedules its spring break to coincide with Easter. It has never been called Easter break.

The MCPS calendar this year lists "Easter" as the reason why the school is closed on March 29 and April 1st.