Reply to The number of student holidays is insane.

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Reply to "The number of student holidays is insane."

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday. [/quote]

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for  the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover. [/quote]

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off.  I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years.  They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye.  There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year.  We really shouldn't be taking any of them off.  Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).[/quote]

Ash Wednesday is a minor holiday.  Catholics the their major holidays off every year.  As a Catholic teacher if someone suggested I work Christmas or Easter I'd take leave too!  My first responder husband works them and we figure it out, but I don't have that kind of job. [/quote]

Wow! Are you really a Jew? Even non-practicing ones know that Yom Kippor absolutely cannot wait until the evening to, and I use this term very loosely since it a day of atonement, "celebrate".  Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor are such important holidays that schools in NYC are closed for those holidays. How can you not know this?[/quote]

Clearly I am not really a Jew when I wrote "As a Catholic teacher, I. . . "  I'm as Catholic as they come.

I'lll also point out for the post below that there's a difference between using PTO for a religious holiday if you work in a job where you have weeks of PTO.  As a teacher, I got two discretionary days (days when I didn't have to document that I was sick).  That's two days for my adoption homestudy, my dog's veterinary emergency, my kids' parent teacher conferences or field trips, etc . . . If the school said I had to use 1/2 of that leave to have Christmas (or Yom Kippur, if i was Jewish) off, I'd be advocating for a change too.  [/quote]

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