What does "equity" look like for the calendar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes more sense to have Winter Break in January.

Snow days are often used in January. There are multiple federal days off too. Right now we have 2 weeks off in December, then the return to school is riddled with snow days, days off for the quarter, and federal holidays. It’s a bad start.

Christmas Day should be off as a federal holiday but not the week before and the week after. End the year strong and start the new year with holiday.

Well, we like it where it is. And, ftr, they don't always get the week before Christmas off. I think they went to school until the 22d or 23d this year.

Staffing, employee satisfaction, and student travel would be a problem. They need to keep this break where it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'll add that I think those who say "just send your kid to a private religious school" fundamentally misunderstand two things:
1. Many religious people actively want their kids in public schools, where they can get a great education and be part of our diverse community. Diversity is a strength and should be prized. Being religious shouldn't have to mean that public school isn't a viable option for my family. There is obviously going to be some give and take that wouldn't exist at a private religious institution, but Calendars A and B acknowledged that by only asking for four days off and not, for example, the first day of Passover. The Task Force recognized that religious families would still have to make choices about holiday observance and public school; they just wanted to make it a little easier.

2. Private schools are expensive. I'm not advocating for a voucher system, because I don't think that public money should go to religious education and I believe in the value of public school. But for many, private school is just not in the budget. What that means for religious education is a separate discussion and religious families who WANT religious private school education have those conversations with their families, their communities, and their private school admission counselors all the time.

In short (I know, too late), I think we were asking the School Board to take a STEP in the right direction, not SOLVE equity. And seven of them refused.

If you want religious holidays, attend a religious school.

Otherwise, deal with it.

So, I guess you didn't read my whole post. I know it was long. But again, public school should not only be available to non-religious families. Religious families were not asking for every holiday, just four of our holiest days. I think that recognizing the diversity of our community in the school calendar with just four days would have been an important reflection of the value we as a county and as a country place on diversity.

I read your whole post. It amounts to saying "I demand religious holidays in public school".

Public school is available to all children, but don't expect or demand that the public at large needs to celebrate your specific religious holiday.

Frankly, if you hold these religious beliefs to be so important, you would just have your children take the day off and accept the consequences as a suffering for your faith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'll add that I think those who say "just send your kid to a private religious school" fundamentally misunderstand two things:
1. Many religious people actively want their kids in public schools, where they can get a great education and be part of our diverse community. Diversity is a strength and should be prized. Being religious shouldn't have to mean that public school isn't a viable option for my family. There is obviously going to be some give and take that wouldn't exist at a private religious institution, but Calendars A and B acknowledged that by only asking for four days off and not, for example, the first day of Passover. The Task Force recognized that religious families would still have to make choices about holiday observance and public school; they just wanted to make it a little easier.

2. Private schools are expensive. I'm not advocating for a voucher system, because I don't think that public money should go to religious education and I believe in the value of public school. But for many, private school is just not in the budget. What that means for religious education is a separate discussion and religious families who WANT religious private school education have those conversations with their families, their communities, and their private school admission counselors all the time.

In short (I know, too late), I think we were asking the School Board to take a STEP in the right direction, not SOLVE equity. And seven of them refused.

If you want religious holidays, attend a religious school.

Otherwise, deal with it.

So, I guess you didn't read my whole post. I know it was long. But again, public school should not only be available to non-religious families. Religious families were not asking for every holiday, just four of our holiest days. I think that recognizing the diversity of our community in the school calendar with just four days would have been an important reflection of the value we as a county and as a country place on diversity.

Problem is you only have four but, other religions have four or three and it all adds up.

[Anonymous]

The cluelessness of those who demanded those 4 days is stunning. How can they ignore all the other holidays and demand 4 for just a few religions — one religion had two of the four days!

Did you see clueless op-ed in the Post? The writer couldn’t even keep Hinduism and Sikkhism straight. And Diwali is not one of the holiest Hindu holidays!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Problem is you only have four but, other religions have four or three and it all adds up.

I'm not sure who "you" is in your sentence. The four holidays represented three religions: Eid (Islam), Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Judaism), Diwali (Hindu). The task force that created the calendars was made up of interfaith stakeholders in the county. They didn't just pick holidays out of a hat; it was a considered, thoughtful effort aimed at starting toward equity. The OP asked what the solution was to the equity problem and I think the answer is still one of those two calendars, because they took steps toward equity. The seven members of the School Board who voted for Calendar D only pointed out that the calendars weren't perfect, which I don't think anyone claimed, and then decided that maintaining essentially the same excused absence and no testing policy that hasn't worked for years was just fine. I don't think stronger wording of the existing policy and some Os on a calendar are going to make a difference, so they spent a lot of time and heartache to change nothing. I'll be glad if I'm wrong and this all works out great, but I guess we'll see in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is you only have four but, other religions have four or three and it all adds up.

I'm not sure who "you" is in your sentence. The four holidays represented three religions: Eid (Islam), Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Judaism), Diwali (Hindu). The task force that created the calendars was made up of interfaith stakeholders in the county. They didn't just pick holidays out of a hat; it was a considered, thoughtful effort aimed at starting toward equity. The OP asked what the solution was to the equity problem and I think the answer is still one of those two calendars, because they took steps toward equity. The seven members of the School Board who voted for Calendar D only pointed out that the calendars weren't perfect, which I don't think anyone claimed, and then decided that maintaining essentially the same excused absence and no testing policy that hasn't worked for years was just fine. I don't think stronger wording of the existing policy and some Os on a calendar are going to make a difference, so they spent a lot of time and heartache to change nothing. I'll be glad if I'm wrong and this all works out great, but I guess we'll see in the fall.

Was it really made up of interfaith stakeholders? As I understood it, those represented were from the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu faiths only. That’s selective, not inclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The cluelessness of those who demanded those 4 days is stunning. How can they ignore all the other holidays and demand 4 for just a few religions — one religion had two of the four days!

Did you see clueless op-ed in the Post? The writer couldn’t even keep Hinduism and Sikkhism straight. And Diwali is not one of the holiest Hindu holidays!

I think you misunderstood the process that led to Calendars A and B. Nobody demanded anything. The School Board created a Task Force of interfaith leaders and asked them to create calendar options that would be more equitable, which they did over the course of several months of planning and conversations and consideration of each religion and its holidays. The calendars were not perfect, but they were more equitable than nothing.

Yes, I agree that the latest op ed in the Post was bad and riddled with errors that undermined her argument. However, her first point that students shouldn't be afraid to be who they are is a good one and part of what I think equity should look like in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Was it really made up of interfaith stakeholders? As I understood it, those represented were from the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu faiths only. That’s selective, not inclusive.

Yes, the Task Force included representatives from (per the December 3, 2020 board docs):
PTA
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE)
Islamic Circle of North America
Teacher, Operational Employee, and Principal Associations
FCPS Department Personnel
School Board

[Anonymous]

Does FCPS have a holiday for Columbus Day, or is it called Indigenous People Day?

[Anonymous]

“ The cluelessness of those who demanded those 4 days is stunning. How can they ignore all the other holidays and demand 4 for just a few religions”

+1
Yes this is my thought too. While I think some of the days added to D are not needed the fact is that there are MANY more minority religions (and cultures - Lunar New Year) -in the county then just the 3 represented in A and B calendars. To cherry pick out those and overlook the rest is not fair. But it also is not practical to keep adding days for every minority day off that other countries celebrate.

I thought the Post opinion piece glossed over this entirely plus its inclusion of Easter in saying things are not fair made no sense since that is a Sunday and in D is not even connected to spring break anymore. Very few people are pushing to change that and keep spring break aligned with Easter (those that had complained are mostly just complaining about the week not matching other districts not necessarily that is NEEDS to be next to Easter).

The only reasonable argument re: Christmas is to point out that that break could be shorter. 10 days (12.23-1/1) would be fine and capture the period during which the entire country almost is shut down. But those saying we need to move winter break to make it equitable are unhinged from reality. The overwhelming majority of people in the US take time off during this period. This is the one period during which they could not staff schools in practice and would have practically empty rooms as kids would just not show for most of it (although personally we stay home so have them at school 12/28-/12/30 would be fine for me).

I think they will be working hard to actually adhere to the new calendar rules about tests and I think that is enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Was it really made up of interfaith stakeholders? As I understood it, those represented were from the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu faiths only. That’s selective, not inclusive.

Yes, the Task Force included representatives from (per the December 3, 2020 board docs):
PTA
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE)
Islamic Circle of North America
Teacher, Operational Employee, and Principal Associations
FCPS Department Personnel
School Board

Too bad they didn't include their legal counsel who could have told them there was no legal justification for adding religious holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Was it really made up of interfaith stakeholders? As I understood it, those represented were from the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu faiths only. That’s selective, not inclusive.

Yes, the Task Force included representatives from (per the December 3, 2020 board docs):
PTA
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE)
Islamic Circle of North America
Teacher, Operational Employee, and Principal Associations
FCPS Department Personnel
School Board

Too bad they didn't include their legal counsel who could have told them there was no legal justification for adding religious holidays.

+1

[Anonymous]

"Too bad they didn't include their legal counsel who could have told them there was no legal justification for adding religious holidays."

Exactly! The fact that they came up with these lovely ideas is nice but they were not legally supportable. That's really the only reason they weren't adopted. But some people seem intent on insisting that FCPS roll the dice on pouring $$$ into defending a legal case it couldn't win by plowing ahead with these anyway.

[Anonymous]

There should be no religious days off. There should be the equivalent of "liberal leave" for those who want it, staff and students.

Done.

Christmas, insofar as you deem it a religious holiday (I do not as we do not celebrate the religious aspects of it), is an entirely different situation as noted by other PPs. You're delusional if you think that can or should change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Was it really made up of interfaith stakeholders? As I understood it, those represented were from the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu faiths only. That’s selective, not inclusive.

Yes, the Task Force included representatives from (per the December 3, 2020 board docs):
PTA
Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE)
Islamic Circle of North America
Teacher, Operational Employee, and Principal Associations
FCPS Department Personnel
School Board

I don't see Pastafarians or the Church of Satan represented. I'm looking forward to the kid who celebrates Pirate Garb Day challenging having a test that day since the district has clearly designated no tests on select religious holidays.