Reply to The Solution to the battle of days off with Hogan's calendar

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A couple of years ago, when the MCPS school board removed the names of religious holidays from the school calendar, they stated that it is their policy to only include religious holidays to the calendar if the student/teacher absentee rate exceeds 15%.  This is why Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur were added many years ago.  This is because public school systems cannot legally call a school holiday exclusively for religious purposes - it MUST be for operational reasons.

The school board made a terrible mistake last year when they reversed that policy and added Eid to the calendar as a professional day.  They admitted when they did so that they wanted to honor the diversity of our county and that the absentee data did not support it.  Notice that they are currently trying to get around that mistake by suggesting that the professional day on September 12 wasn't to honor a religious holiday and that it was simply a coincidence that it occurred on EID.  I would imagine that the lawyers for MCPS went bananas when the school board made that decision and that they are becoming more frustrated now that the board is considering adding Diwali and Lunar New Year, because like EID, there is not an operational reason to do so.

[b]I think it is vitally important that we honor the religious diversity of our students in MCPS, and we do so currently by allowing students and teachers to take excused absences when religious holidays occur.  However, we simply cannot honor everyone of every religious faith by having a day off - there is not enough time in the school year to do so.  By adding Eid to the calendar, the board has set a precedent that will most certainly result in inequity. [/b]

I believe we should collect new data on all of our religious holidays to ensure that they are meeting the 15% threshold.  In addition, I think we should be lobbying the state to eliminate Good Friday and Easter Monday from the list of state holidays and only include them if they meet the 15% absentee benchmark.  I am a religious person myself, but I understand that in a public school system, we simply cannot allow religion to dictate operations.

[/quote]

First, the area is not 15% Jewish. Second, there are many schools where the absentee rate for students is much more than 15% on Eid.[/quote]

It's about 12% Jewish.  High compared to other parts of the country.  Some schools are much higher.[/quote]

But to me that is not enough to have TWO days off for the rest of the 88%.  And most of upcountry has 0% Jewish population.  The county is too big.

And I personally like Hogan's new policy because it is making schools get rid of all the nonsense days off that parents have to take PPO for.  [/quote]

His policy is dumb though.  Why should there be more weeks off in the summer when it's already too long for most kids?  Seems better to have days off during the school year even if it inconveniences you (sorry you have to live in a diverse society).[/quote]

His policy will bring millions to the economy.  That is not dumb.  Giving 5-10% of the kids off for a holiday 90% don't celebrate.  That is stupid.  [/quote]

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