Diwali peition
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Anonymous
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Sharing below information for anyone interested in supporting this initiative. There are two links one each for Montgomery and Howard County. Please forward on other listservs too.
| | | | | | | | Petition for Diwali Holiday Montgomery and Howard County Public Schools | | Dr. Murali Balaji, Director of Education and Curriculum Reform of Hindu America Foundation, in concert with Dr. D.C. Rao and CMWRC Dharma Ambassadors are leading our efforts in soliciting the School Boards declare Diwali a school holiday. We have a great opportunity as a community to voice our interest in Diwali Holiday be added to the School calendar. Recently, a significant discussion regarding the INCLUSION OF DIWALI as a holiday along with some changes to Jewish holidays and Chinese New year day in the Howard County and Montgomery County Public School System calendar took place. A few mission members testified in the Howard County Board of Education (HCBOE) hearing on Dec 17th.We are making an URGENT appeal to all CMWRC members to join in one voice to urge the county BOE to add Diwali as a holiday in the public school calendar. We need your support.The public is able to submit written testimony until January 5th (Montgomery) and January 12 th (Howard). Here's all you have to do. 1) Click on the following link and sign the petition. Every family member (parents, grandparents, and children) is urged to sign the online petition. Link for Howard County:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cwDzWWm_x01ieb2CSZnc8aeafA47qLcArYveMczVg4s/viewform?usp=send_form Link for Montgomery County:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1oIEwyoucYlL8exxeEZGjgCPWWCgvsgmDeSsZJYEv7uw/viewform?usp=send_form 2) In addition, every family member with an email address (parents, grandparents, and children) is urged to write a personal email to the board of education Example write ups are also available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-P309fCgIDmY19QanB3eWs0ZjQ/view?usp=sharing Please bcc the email to CMWRC point of contact Nagaraj Neerchal (DewaliPetitions@Gmail.com) so that number of responses can be kept track of and used during negotiations. Please also reach out to all your friends who are receptive to this idea, and ask them to sign the petition as well.Thank you,Hari Om!Dharma Ambassador Team | |
Anonymous
| Well, we knew this was coming... |
Anonymous
Yes! Only Christian holidays should be recognized! 
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Anonymous
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For the love of God, the kids will never be in school in Fall at this rate. Google says this is an Oct/Nov holiday. We have enough days off then already.
I disagreed with the Ramadan decision too though. We simply cannot recognize every single holiday anyone in the county might be celebrating. So long as kids can take the day off and not be penalized for missing things I do not see why a holiday is needed. |
Anonymous
I hear you on the number of days, but then we should cancel Christmas, and only celebrate secular and federal holidays. I don't think the answer is f*ck you and your non-Christian holiday, which is essentially what the norm is. |
Anonymous
| Christmas is a Federal holiday. |
Anonymous
Yes, because it's a Christian holiday and Christian holidays are normalized in a way that the people who celebrate them are reluctant to acknowledge. It shouldn't be a federal holiday. |
Anonymous
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So, we know from past discussions that one of the criteria for having the day off is whether kids/teachers would be out of school. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are great examples, because both require full-day temple attendance plus fasting on YK.
Does Diwali require observance between 8:30 am 3:30 pm? |
Anonymous
No, observance ends at 8:12am and doesn't begin again until 3:36pm.
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Anonymous
all I have to say is that thank god it's a federal holiday. Our offices have to remain open and I would hate to be stuck working every Christmas. 
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Anonymous
This is how I feel every Rosh and Yom Kippur. Sure you can take the day off but if things are crazy at the office, it looks really bad. I would have had to cancel a work trip this year and instead fasted through a day on-site with a client. It was extremely difficult and I didn't get to observe the day. |
Anonymous
According to the internet, there are 5 days of Diwali and the big celebrations are at night. So, which of the 5 days is being requested off from school, and are the holidays normally celebrated during the day or at night? |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| I read this as they are asking that Diwali be marked on the calendar. Not that school be closed on the day. |
Anonymous
That's interesting, since MCPS decided not to mark *any* holidays as of last year. So, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are off, but marked as teacher planning days or something. Basically, the district decided not to actually call any religious holidays by their name. So, if this petition doesn't want the day off, and MCPS has a policy of not noting religious holidays, then I'm not sure what the petition is meant to do. For HCPS it is a different story, I guess. |