Reply to What does "equity" look like for the calendar?

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Reply to "What does "equity" look like for the calendar?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Problem is you only have four but, other religions have four or three and it all adds up.  [/quote]

I'm not sure who "you" is in your sentence. The four holidays represented three religions: Eid (Islam), Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Judaism), Diwali (Hindu). The task force that created the calendars was made up of interfaith stakeholders in the county. They didn't just pick holidays out of a hat; it was a considered, thoughtful effort aimed at starting toward equity. The OP asked what the solution was to the equity problem and I think the answer is still one of those two calendars, because they took steps toward equity. The seven members of the School Board who voted for Calendar D only pointed out that the calendars weren't perfect, which I don't think anyone claimed, and then decided that maintaining essentially the same excused absence and no testing policy that hasn't worked for years was just fine. I don't think stronger wording of the existing policy and some Os on a calendar are going to make a difference, so they spent a lot of time and heartache to change nothing. I'll be glad if I'm wrong and this all works out great, but I guess we'll see in the fall.[/quote]

Was it really made up of interfaith stakeholders? As I understood it, those represented were from the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu faiths only. That’s selective, not inclusive.
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The taskforce included members from 12 different religious groups. I have no idea why FCPS and/or the school board has never released that fact. I don't want to believe it's because it destroys their narrative that only "certain" stakeholders had a voice but....

And as mentioned above, the group looked at every holiday and asked the question as to whether or not participation in its observance was hindered by attending school. The four holidays selected were chosen based on that criteria. Again, I don't get why that hasn't been made public, especially because two FCPS employees were at every meeting and can verify that.

If you don't agree with the recommendation, that's fine. But this idea that three religious groups pushed their way into this with an agenda to only do for themselves is starting to feel pretty ugly, on top of being patently untrue. [/quote]

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