PSA- Diwali day off date change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Easter yes, but Christmas? How does one even write this.

Google Orthodox Christmas date. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

It's January 7, because they use the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. It does not move around like Rosh Hashanah or Eid, because it isn't linked to the lunar calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

X1,000 and all the more reason to get rid of them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are.

APS has never offered an operational efficiency justification. FCPS did, but FCPS is not APS. APS has hitched themselves to the “celebrating diversity” bandwagon. If you studied it, we probably have more Christian orthodox than observant Jews who actually take religious days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are.

APS has never offered an operational efficiency justification. FCPS did, but FCPS is not APS. APS has hitched themselves to the “celebrating diversity” bandwagon. If you studied it, we probably have more Christian orthodox than observant Jews who actually take religious days off.

At the school board meeting to discuss that potential Eid day off change, it was very clear the school board members just liked the vibe/warm fuzzies they got from recognizing diversity through these extra days off. There was no reference to data or a high number of excused absences under the old policy causing problems. They just loved the feeling of being school board members who support diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are.

APS has never offered an operational efficiency justification. FCPS did, but FCPS is not APS. APS has hitched themselves to the “celebrating diversity” bandwagon. If you studied it, we probably have more Christian orthodox than observant Jews who actually take religious days off.

At the school board meeting to discuss that potential Eid day off change, it was very clear the school board members just liked the vibe/warm fuzzies they got from recognizing diversity through these extra days off. There was no reference to data or a high number of excused absences under the old policy causing problems. They just loved the feeling of being school board members who support diversity.

Exactly. Two of them were so tortured thru couldn’t even bring themselves to vote on it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are.

APS has never offered an operational efficiency justification. FCPS did, but FCPS is not APS. APS has hitched themselves to the “celebrating diversity” bandwagon. If you studied it, we probably have more Christian orthodox than observant Jews who actually take religious days off.

At the school board meeting to discuss that potential Eid day off change, it was very clear the school board members just liked the vibe/warm fuzzies they got from recognizing diversity through these extra days off. There was no reference to data or a high number of excused absences under the old policy causing problems. They just loved the feeling of being school board members who support diversity. [/quote

That meeting was trippy. They fell all over themselves to talk about how much they loved giving all these random days off. The poor school bus driver stood up and begged to be allowed to take the day off to celebrate Orthodox Good Friday during public comment. They didn't even acknowledge the dramatic disconnect between how they were on the one had falling all over themselves to give the entire school system days off for some religious holidays, but on the other hand not even allowing a bus driver to take a day off on his religious holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used.

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule.

This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year.

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.

Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points.

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse).

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense.

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . . Pick a reason any reason.

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify.

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.

If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant. You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all.

You are literally observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else.

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are.

APS has never offered an operational efficiency justification. FCPS did, but FCPS is not APS. APS has hitched themselves to the “celebrating diversity” bandwagon. If you studied it, we probably have more Christian orthodox than observant Jews who actually take religious days off.

At the school board meeting to discuss that potential Eid day off change, it was very clear the school board members just liked the vibe/warm fuzzies they got from recognizing diversity through these extra days off. There was no reference to data or a high number of excused absences under the old policy causing problems. They just loved the feeling of being school board members who support diversity. [/quote

That meeting was trippy. They fell all over themselves to talk about how much they loved giving all these random days off. The poor school bus driver stood up and begged to be allowed to take the day off to celebrate Orthodox Good Friday during public comment. They didn't even acknowledge the dramatic disconnect between how they were on the one had falling all over themselves to give the entire school system days off for some religious holidays, but on the other hand not even allowing a bus driver to take a day off on his religious holiday.

+1 that was awful. Going on and on about equity when a bus driver was begging to just be allowed to take his holiday off.

They are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's odd, FCPS has had the correct day since they released the calendar. I updated my calendar in June and it's October 20.

Same with LCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's odd, FCPS has had the correct day since they released the calendar. I updated my calendar in June and it's October 20.

Same with LCPS.

APS is uniquely inept.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t the bus driver just take a personal day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Argh several months ago I scheduled neuropsych testing for the 21st so my kid wouldn’t have to miss school. How does this keep happening??????

I scheduled medical appointments, too, and it’s too late to change now - the wait would be many months. I’m so tired of this. So tired!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Argh several months ago I scheduled neuropsych testing for the 21st so my kid wouldn’t have to miss school. How does this keep happening??????

The moon.

That doesn’t make sense. The moons path is known for centuries out. Is it about clouds blocking visibility on a certain decision day or something? But it’s two months away…

It’s because these religions don’t truly go by the moon (astronomical calendar which is well known far in advance), no, instead they go by their religious leaders in different countries actually seeing the moon. And we are now a part of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why Arlington got the date wrong - FCPS and Loudoun have had the correct date this whole time. Someone messed up.

+1 Because they're incompetent. The date of Diwali is known well in advance. APS just screwed up.

Again? How is this possible!