MCPS Removes Religious Holiday Designations from School Calendar

[Anonymous]

In this MCPS. Yes, the school will still be closed. But talk about bullying! Just wow.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/11/montgomery-county-school-board-strips-calendar-chr/

[ Edit by Admin: The subject line of this post has been changed to reflect the actual actions of the MCPS Board. ]

[Anonymous]

Christian AND Jewish holidays!

[Anonymous]

Who cares! We call our Christmas party "Festivus" and it is hilarious.

Complaint taken care of... move on.

[Anonymous]

How is this bullying?

[Anonymous]

And we now call our office holiday party the "end of the year party" to appease the lone atheist Wiccan. But the party is coordinated by a group of older AA women who decorate with traditional Christmas decor, so it's all good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And we now call our office holiday party the "end of the year party" to appease the lone atheist Wiccan. But the party is coordinated by a group of older AA women who decorate with traditional Christmas decor, so it's all good.

No such thing as an atheist Wiccan. Wicca is a religion.

[Anonymous]

I wish MCPS would publish stats instead of saying "large numbers". Just be transparent. If say 40% of the MCPS population is out on a religious day and 20% of the teachers have called in for subs--- is that high? Is it 20% students out and 5% of teachers?

The Muslim community is asking for their holidays to be recognized just as the judeo- Christian ones are. MCPSs argument is that there are not enough absentee people to warrant that. That's a fine answer, but at what number would it be warranted?

[Anonymous]

Well, a young girl stood up at an all staff meeting to protest the announcement of the annual holiday party date, and she said she doesn't celebrate a holiday in December bc she is an atheist Wiccan. She also protested the recent diversity survey because it didn't include a category for asexuality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish MCPS would publish stats instead of saying "large numbers". Just be transparent. If say 40% of the MCPS population is out on a religious day and 20% of the teachers have called in for subs--- is that high? Is it 20% students out and 5% of teachers?

The Muslim community is asking for their holidays to be recognized just as the judeo- Christian ones are. MCPSs argument is that there are not enough absentee people to warrant that. That's a fine answer, but at what number would it be warranted?

Today's Washington Post said that in 2013, 5.6% of students and 5% of teachers were absent on Eid al-Adha, which is only slightly higher than a comparable day the previous week. But it doesn't say how high the numbers were for the Jewish holidays before they were added to the calendar in the 1970s.

This change makes sense to me -- the effect is the same, and there really isn't a reason why the school system should be acknowledging certain religious holidays and not others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish MCPS would publish stats instead of saying "large numbers". Just be transparent. If say 40% of the MCPS population is out on a religious day and 20% of the teachers have called in for subs--- is that high? Is it 20% students out and 5% of teachers?

The Muslim community is asking for their holidays to be recognized just as the judeo- Christian ones are. MCPSs argument is that there are not enough absentee people to warrant that. That's a fine answer, but at what number would it be warranted?

Which holidays are the Judeo-Christian ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this MCPS. Yes, the school will still be closed. But talk about bullying! Just wow.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/11/montgomery-county-school-board-strips-calendar-chr/

Try reading the article in the Post and get back to us once you're actually informed about what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, a young girl stood up at an all staff meeting to protest the announcement of the annual holiday party date, and she said she doesn't celebrate a holiday in December bc she is an atheist Wiccan. She also protested the recent diversity survey because it didn't include a category for asexuality.

Why does your workplace employ children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish MCPS would publish stats instead of saying "large numbers". Just be transparent. If say 40% of the MCPS population is out on a religious day and 20% of the teachers have called in for subs--- is that high? Is it 20% students out and 5% of teachers?

The Muslim community is asking for their holidays to be recognized just as the judeo- Christian ones are. MCPSs argument is that there are not enough absentee people to warrant that. That's a fine answer, but at what number would it be warranted?

MCPS does not "recognize" religious holidays, they recognize it does not make sense to have school when a large population will be absent. They do it for the flu too.

I don't understand why it is such a big deal to take and excused absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, a young girl stood up at an all staff meeting to protest the announcement of the annual holiday party date, and she said she doesn't celebrate a holiday in December bc she is an atheist Wiccan. She also protested the recent diversity survey because it didn't include a category for asexuality.

What line of work are you in may I ask? I think this will help the story be even funnier for me.

[Anonymous]

I think probably the stupidest thing in the world is closing but not saying the real reason you are closing.