Reply to Is the 22-23 Calendar designed to be an f-u to parents?

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[quote=Anonymous]Abrar Omeish quoting the Quaran and religious holidays in her FB post. Thought religion not supposed to be considered in the calendar.

🚨 Yesterday, our board voted to pass the FY22-23 Standard School Year Calendar. We have finally, for the first time ever, put one in place that begins to reflect this community: inclusive of Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, Orthodox Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Veterans Day, and Lunar New Year. 🙌🏻🙌🏼🙌🏽🙌🏾🙌🏿
 
Indeed, it is an E Pluribus Unum project. Like this nation, our community calendar requires unity and collective power to achieve. It remains in need of continuous improvement and involves every single one of us to build “out of many, one.” These are the values I grew with and will never give up on.
 
Calendars structure our time. They schedule our priorities. I am proud that everyone came together this year to pass a calendar that:
 
✅ Centers student achievement and instruction time
✅ Supports student and staff mental health through caring culture
✅ Minimizes disruption for families and students with disabilities
✅ Increases planning time for overworked staff
✅ Expands opportunities for staff development to respect the profession after years of cutbacks
✅ Reduces operational disruption for families
✅ Thinks more creatively about how we retain and recruit a premier workforce
 
To our dear bus drivers: we are not done yet. Those two days must be made up for, and the budget conversation remains ongoing to ensure this is the case. A working group that focuses on your concern will be meeting before the budget vote, and I commit to bringing an amendment if the promised correction is not made. Please review my comments from last night for more details: youtube.com/watch?v=yG0DJqAOH0U&t=4835s
 
Many may not realize that this win came only after a grueling two years of work– building coalitions with community partners, investing in interfaith relationships, deliberating to bring creative solutions that meet the needs of a vast array of constituent groups, and intentionally elevating the voices of those who are often unseen.
 
On the campaign trail, I used to share this as a “pie in the sky” dream of something I might try starting conversations around.
 
Today, it is a reality.
 
💪 Let this be a lesson that we must never allow those who seek to divide us claim our narrative.
💪 Let it be a reminder that, even if we are not successful the first time, we must keep on, and we must continue the fight.
💪 Let it be a permanent example that we are more powerful when we are together than when we are apart, and that EVERYbody wins when we work to construct, to build, and to improve upon, rather than to simply divide and destroy. 
We win when we lead with compassion, and sometimes we win bigger when we bring others along with us.
 
Indeed, it is befitting that yesterday was also Holocaust Remembrance Day. We think such human disasters could never happen again, but we forget that they don’t arise overnight. 
 
🌎 Teaching our children the realities of our past and exposing them to the many beliefs, practices, and worldviews of their neighbors help us cultivate a more peaceful world that can come together. Reaching this goal doesn’t come from merely telling one another to have empathy. It requires intentionally teaching our children about our varied beliefs and establishing comfort around our differences as we bring them to the table unapologetically. 
 
🌏 Recognizing days that matter to all of our community members is part of opening space for precisely that.
 
🌍 Through authentic understanding, we can *actually* see past our differences and reflect on the meaningful ways they reflect human experiences, building an empathy muscle that taps into our deeper humanity. The ability to do this makes it much more difficult to set us apart. It makes the plights of every one of us personal to the rest, and it is where I find my motivation to advance equity and inclusion at all costs.
 
Make no mistake– this is no easy task. In the toughest of times during this journey, I have challenged myself to remain steadfast towards this goal. I have sought comfort and inspiration from reminders in my own faith, which I will continue to carry forward as we lead ahead:
 
“O you who have believed, be constantly upright for God, witnesses with equity, and let not antagonism of a people provoke you to not do justice. Do justice; that (Literally: it) is nearer to piety. And be pious to God, surely God is Ever-Cognizant of whatever you do” (5:8).
 
🤝 Let’s keep the movement for a more equitable and inclusive future alive.
 
➡️ As much as I try, I cannot continue this work alone. Please support my ability to keep fighting: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fairfaxfighters[/quote]

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