What does "equity" look like for the calendar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again. People move here and/or convert knowing that the society is not constructed around their minority faith.

I keep seeing this argument on these calendar threads. Maybe it's you every time? Either way, it's a little bizarre and seems to imply that all minority faith families are foreigners who moved here from somewhere else? I'm not sure that's what you meant to imply; at least I certainly hope not. Many minority faith houses of worship have been in Fairfax for generations, and their members are not all new to the area. Regardless, the county has changed. I suppose by your logic, if recognizing this growing diversity bothers you, you could choose to move somewhere where they don't, but there's no guarantee that place won't change too.

Super sensitive.

Minority faiths have indeed been here for generations (actually centuries but that's a different topic). Every decade there are more houses of worship (we used to have none) supporting the religious needs. Speaking of muslims specifically Off the top of my head there is ADAMs center in Sterling and Dar Al Hijrah in Falls Church. They themselves are quite different and anyone who knows anything about it knows that they aren't the same and some muslims would rather not go at all than to one or the other. There's the Halalco, Madinah market, etc. etc. In every case the population that started to grow here in the 80s were mostly immigrant, and they knew very well that America and Fairfax County were not majority muslim, but that they and their children could attend school, marry, work, start their own businesses and get permits to build masjids.

They got their holidays off and took their kids off for holidays. As the community grew in this area they were able to put on larger gatherings for 'Eid and even festivals for the kids. (Attended by immigrant muslims, their children, and converts). There are some masjids very close to churches and they sometimes have agreements to allow the other to use their parking lots for overflow when they have large events. (It's very convenient for all that Juma is on Friday and most churches hold their large gatherings on Sunday)

Let's not pretend that everyone is running around scared of diversity. When it makes operational sense change the calendar. If you can't wait for that day, pull your kids out. No one currently enrolled in public school is going to do that because they LIKE the system. Get over it.

To do otherwise is discrimination. There are more than Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims in this county you know. If the new policy is to construct the calendar around religious holidays as a mere matter of embracing diversity, get ready for

Jain
Zoroastrian
Wiccan (of every type)
Various Pagans
ATR (do you even know what that is lol)
and others that I haven't listed

to demand their holidays off as well. They would be entitled to do so and I will stand with them. Don't tell them that they can't have it because there are too few of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again. People move here and/or convert knowing that the society is not constructed around their minority faith.

I keep seeing this argument on these calendar threads. Maybe it's you every time? Either way, it's a little bizarre and seems to imply that all minority faith families are foreigners who moved here from somewhere else? I'm not sure that's what you meant to imply; at least I certainly hope not. Many minority faith houses of worship have been in Fairfax for generations, and their members are not all new to the area. Regardless, the county has changed. I suppose by your logic, if recognizing this growing diversity bothers you, you could choose to move somewhere where they don't, but there's no guarantee that place won't change too.

Super sensitive.

Minority faiths have indeed been here for generations (actually centuries but that's a different topic). Every decade there are more houses of worship (we used to have none) supporting the religious needs. Speaking of muslims specifically Off the top of my head there is ADAMs center in Sterling and Dar Al Hijrah in Falls Church. They themselves are quite different and anyone who knows anything about it knows that they aren't the same and some muslims would rather not go at all than to one or the other. There's the Halalco, Madinah market, etc. etc. In every case the population that started to grow here in the 80s were mostly immigrant, and they knew very well that America and Fairfax County were not majority muslim, but that they and their children could attend school, marry, work, start their own businesses and get permits to build masjids.

They got their holidays off and took their kids off for holidays. As the community grew in this area they were able to put on larger gatherings for 'Eid and even festivals for the kids. (Attended by immigrant muslims, their children, and converts). There are some masjids very close to churches and they sometimes have agreements to allow the other to use their parking lots for overflow when they have large events. (It's very convenient for all that Juma is on Friday and most churches hold their large gatherings on Sunday)

Let's not pretend that everyone is running around scared of diversity. When it makes operational sense change the calendar. If you can't wait for that day, pull your kids out. No one currently enrolled in public school is going to do that because they LIKE the system. Get over it.

To do otherwise is discrimination. There are more than Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims in this county you know. If the new policy is to construct the calendar around religious holidays as a mere matter of embracing diversity, get ready for

Jain
Zoroastrian
Wiccan (of every type)
Various Pagans
ATR (do you even know what that is lol)
and others that I haven't listed

to demand their holidays off as well. They would be entitled to do so and I will stand with them. Don't tell them that they can't have it because there are too few of them.

there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

[Anonymous]

Exactly.

And by the way, it may interest the "don't be scared of diversity" person to know that there are already enough wiccans/pagans in the area to support several small businesses. Anyone who is paying attention knows that this area is VERY diverse. Start with the "our governmental policy is every single group gets everything celebrates/embraces their uniqueness" if you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again. People move here and/or convert knowing that the society is not constructed around their minority faith.

I keep seeing this argument on these calendar threads. Maybe it's you every time? Either way, it's a little bizarre and seems to imply that all minority faith families are foreigners who moved here from somewhere else? I'm not sure that's what you meant to imply; at least I certainly hope not. Many minority faith houses of worship have been in Fairfax for generations, and their members are not all new to the area. Regardless, the county has changed. I suppose by your logic, if recognizing this growing diversity bothers you, you could choose to move somewhere where they don't, but there's no guarantee that place won't change too.

Super sensitive.

Minority faiths have indeed been here for generations (actually centuries but that's a different topic). Every decade there are more houses of worship (we used to have none) supporting the religious needs. Speaking of muslims specifically Off the top of my head there is ADAMs center in Sterling and Dar Al Hijrah in Falls Church. They themselves are quite different and anyone who knows anything about it knows that they aren't the same and some muslims would rather not go at all than to one or the other. There's the Halalco, Madinah market, etc. etc. In every case the population that started to grow here in the 80s were mostly immigrant, and they knew very well that America and Fairfax County were not majority muslim, but that they and their children could attend school, marry, work, start their own businesses and get permits to build masjids.

They got their holidays off and took their kids off for holidays. As the community grew in this area they were able to put on larger gatherings for 'Eid and even festivals for the kids. (Attended by immigrant muslims, their children, and converts). There are some masjids very close to churches and they sometimes have agreements to allow the other to use their parking lots for overflow when they have large events. (It's very convenient for all that Juma is on Friday and most churches hold their large gatherings on Sunday)

Let's not pretend that everyone is running around scared of diversity. When it makes operational sense change the calendar. If you can't wait for that day, pull your kids out. No one currently enrolled in public school is going to do that because they LIKE the system. Get over it.

To do otherwise is discrimination. There are more than Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims in this county you know. If the new policy is to construct the calendar around religious holidays as a mere matter of embracing diversity, get ready for

Jain
Zoroastrian
Wiccan (of every type)
Various Pagans
ATR (do you even know what that is lol)
and others that I haven't listed

to demand their holidays off as well. They would be entitled to do so and I will stand with them. Don't tell them that they can't have it because there are too few of them.

there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

I don't think we should let an group of edgelord trolls ruin things for everyone else. There's a difference between someone wanting to take a high holy day off and someone being a dick and inventing holidays purely to complain that kids don't have to take a test on Rosh Hashanah or Good Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The taskforce included members from 12 different religious groups. I have no idea why FCPS and/or the school board has never released that fact. I don't want to believe it's because it destroys their narrative that only "certain" stakeholders had a voice but....

And as mentioned above, the group looked at every holiday and asked the question as to whether or not participation in its observance was hindered by attending school. The four holidays selected were chosen based on that criteria. Again, I don't get why that hasn't been made public, especially because two FCPS employees were at every meeting and can verify that.

If you don't agree with the recommendation, that's fine. But this idea that three religious groups pushed their way into this with an agenda to only do for themselves is starting to feel pretty ugly, on top of being patently untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again. People move here and/or convert knowing that the society is not constructed around their minority faith.

I keep seeing this argument on these calendar threads. Maybe it's you every time? Either way, it's a little bizarre and seems to imply that all minority faith families are foreigners who moved here from somewhere else? I'm not sure that's what you meant to imply; at least I certainly hope not. Many minority faith houses of worship have been in Fairfax for generations, and their members are not all new to the area. Regardless, the county has changed. I suppose by your logic, if recognizing this growing diversity bothers you, you could choose to move somewhere where they don't, but there's no guarantee that place won't change too.

Super sensitive.

Minority faiths have indeed been here for generations (actually centuries but that's a different topic). Every decade there are more houses of worship (we used to have none) supporting the religious needs. Speaking of muslims specifically Off the top of my head there is ADAMs center in Sterling and Dar Al Hijrah in Falls Church. They themselves are quite different and anyone who knows anything about it knows that they aren't the same and some muslims would rather not go at all than to one or the other. There's the Halalco, Madinah market, etc. etc. In every case the population that started to grow here in the 80s were mostly immigrant, and they knew very well that America and Fairfax County were not majority muslim, but that they and their children could attend school, marry, work, start their own businesses and get permits to build masjids.

They got their holidays off and took their kids off for holidays. As the community grew in this area they were able to put on larger gatherings for 'Eid and even festivals for the kids. (Attended by immigrant muslims, their children, and converts). There are some masjids very close to churches and they sometimes have agreements to allow the other to use their parking lots for overflow when they have large events. (It's very convenient for all that Juma is on Friday and most churches hold their large gatherings on Sunday)

Let's not pretend that everyone is running around scared of diversity. When it makes operational sense change the calendar. If you can't wait for that day, pull your kids out. No one currently enrolled in public school is going to do that because they LIKE the system. Get over it.

To do otherwise is discrimination. There are more than Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims in this county you know. If the new policy is to construct the calendar around religious holidays as a mere matter of embracing diversity, get ready for

Jain
Zoroastrian
Wiccan (of every type)
Various Pagans
ATR (do you even know what that is lol)
and others that I haven't listed

to demand their holidays off as well. They would be entitled to do so and I will stand with them. Don't tell them that they can't have it because there are too few of them.

there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

I don't think we should let an group of edgelord trolls ruin things for everyone else. There's a difference between someone wanting to take a high holy day off and someone being a dick and inventing holidays purely to complain that kids don't have to take a test on Rosh Hashanah or Good Friday.

they exist to litigate separation of church and state issues. If the school recognizes one religion's high holy days, what is the justification for not recognizing another's?

[Anonymous]

"There are more than Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims in this county you know. If the new policy is to construct the calendar around religious holidays as a mere matter of embracing diversity, get ready for

Jain
Zoroastrian
Wiccan (of every type)
Various Pagans
ATR (do you even know what that is lol)
and others that I haven't listed

to demand their holidays off as well. They would be entitled to do so and I will stand with them. Don't tell them that they can't have it because there are too few of them."

+1
There is NOT a fair way to handle this and draw any type of line to the endless number of requests that could reasonably be put forward once awarding a holiday is seen as "respecting" or "honoring" something rather than a practical admission that school can't functionally run that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The taskforce included members from 12 different religious groups. I have no idea why FCPS and/or the school board has never released that fact. I don't want to believe it's because it destroys their narrative that only "certain" stakeholders had a voice but....

And as mentioned above, the group looked at every holiday and asked the question as to whether or not participation in its observance was hindered by attending school. The four holidays selected were chosen based on that criteria. Again, I don't get why that hasn't been made public, especially because two FCPS employees were at every meeting and can verify that.

If you don't agree with the recommendation, that's fine. But this idea that three religious groups pushed their way into this with an agenda to only do for themselves is starting to feel pretty ugly, on top of being patently untrue.

THANK YOU! Yes, this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

It seems like your faith in people (not to mention your opinion of people of faith) must be pretty low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

It seems like your faith in people (not to mention your opinion of people of faith) must be pretty low.

my faith in local politicians dealing with anything concerning religion is very low

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

It seems like your faith in people (not to mention your opinion of people of faith) must be pretty low.

my faith in local politicians dealing with anything concerning religion is very low

Are local politicians going to claim flying spaghetti monster days off? Sounds like many people on here don't have a problem with religion, but with unreligious people who abuse the idea of religion. Or you're all just mocking religion for fun. I'm really at a loss as to why there's so much hostility and animosity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

It seems like your faith in people (not to mention your opinion of people of faith) must be pretty low.

my faith in local politicians dealing with anything concerning religion is very low

Are local politicians going to claim flying spaghetti monster days off? Sounds like many people on here don't have a problem with religion, but with unreligious people who abuse the idea of religion. Or you're all just mocking religion for fun. I'm really at a loss as to why there's so much hostility and animosity.

I know wiccan-types who take their holidays seriously.

I promise you that if school boards and local governments start explicitly handing out religious holidays at least some of them will demand their holidays too.

When they show up demanding Spring Equinox off so they can celebrate because it doesn't fall during Spring Break or on a weekend that year, I hope you will be on here defending them and all the other religious people who are also entitled to their share of the inclusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

It seems like your faith in people (not to mention your opinion of people of faith) must be pretty low.

my faith in local politicians dealing with anything concerning religion is very low

Are local politicians going to claim flying spaghetti monster days off? Sounds like many people on here don't have a problem with religion, but with unreligious people who abuse the idea of religion. Or you're all just mocking religion for fun. I'm really at a loss as to why there's so much hostility and animosity.

We are trying to protect our taxpayer dollars. There is a separation of church and state in this country, including in our public schools. You may find the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster silly but historically they have saved school districts from implementing creationism education. This is a constitutional issue so when some kid wears a spaghetti strainer hat to school during a calculus exam because "you don't recognize national cheese pizza day!" then you just lost a lawsuit including paying out attorney's fees. Good luck telling a court that a church or religion is bs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Education funds should follow the kids (vouchers), so that you could more easily afford to send your kids to a parochial or private school that met your scheduling needs, or get the ultimate in schedule flexibility, and homeschool.

+1. I can't 'like' this enough. Education should be about children, not systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
there are 'churches' that exist to challenge local governments (particularly school boards) over religious discrimination. Once the school board starts explicitly handing out religious holidays, they've already lost. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has designated 365 religious holidays a year- good luck to a teacher who wants to assign any work in a school system that has explicitly stated that religious holidays will be honored

It seems like your faith in people (not to mention your opinion of people of faith) must be pretty low.

my faith in local politicians dealing with anything concerning religion is very low

Are local politicians going to claim flying spaghetti monster days off? Sounds like many people on here don't have a problem with religion, but with unreligious people who abuse the idea of religion. Or you're all just mocking religion for fun. I'm really at a loss as to why there's so much hostility and animosity.

We are trying to protect our taxpayer dollars. There is a separation of church and state in this country, including in our public schools. You may find the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster silly but historically they have saved school districts from implementing creationism education. This is a constitutional issue so when some kid wears a spaghetti strainer hat to school during a calculus exam because "you don't recognize national cheese pizza day!" then you just lost a lawsuit including paying out attorney's fees. Good luck telling a court that a church or religion is bs!

This, the satanists and Flying Spaghetti Monster have done a lot to keep religion out of schools by requesting equal standing to other religions