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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's really important to vote in the School Board caucus. Three School Board Members did NOT vote to keep schools open on June 6. Only two did. Everyone else ignored all of the emails. You need to speak to School Board Members, and vote in sanity. [/quote]

We don’t know how many emails there were?   It’s puzzling to me that Duran and staff were moving to close schools without a second thought, especially in light of the magnitude of the economic impact and the newness of the holiday. [/quote]

Are we sure he wanted to close? He can look like the good guy to some groups from an inclusion perspective, knowing full well it would be voted down.[/quote]

If you watch the video of the board meeting, it's obvious that staff was all in on adding this holiday. They actually seemed angry that they had to defend their decision. All of their answers about other scheduled events were dodges about how they would work with the school communities without actually committing to anything at all. It really makes me question their competence, frankly. [/quote]

How exactly would they work with the schools to replan events that have been paid for with vendors booked for months? Travel plans made? Or for the graduation, are they going to reschedule Gramma and Gramps hotel and flights who are already booked to come?

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They didn’t care about that or even consider it. They wanted kudos from the Muslim community and over the top white liberals [/quote]

It’s clear the Islamic community now feels discriminated against because the school district did not shut down on short notice to “celebrate” their holiday. APS is practically begging for a lawsuit at this point. The best policy is not to pick winners and losers among ANY religion. Accommodate religious practice, as you must, but for heaven’s sake stop pretending that it is progressive to “celebrate” it. [/quote]

Exactly, you either recognize (and accommodate) all of them, or none of them. This is the slippery slope APS fell into.[/quote]

My dislike about accommodating religious holidays notwithstanding, I reviewed the video and didn't see a disagreeable attitude by staff - as some previous posters suggested.  However, for staff to not have foreseen the pushback on this (very) last minute calendar change shows remarkable naiveté. [/quote]

The real problem IMO is lack of planning. When should staff have known this holiday was going to be on June 6? Surely that was knowable in advance. I would have no problem with this day off if there had been enough lead time. My issue was you can't just do this 2 weeks ahead of time after plans have been made, especially in a busy time of the year. [/quote]

No, it actually was not possible to know in advance that it was, in this case, June 6th.  It could have been June 7th or June 8th.  The problem is that not only does it go by the moon, but a local Imam has to see the lunar phase in the sky, and then call it.  That happened only the Monday before the vote (less than 3 days before the meeting).  This is also the reason why the holiday is often not celebrated on the same date around the world.  Different Imams see different things in different countries. The holiday also lasts at least 3 full days. We will have an additional 6 days blocked each school year, blocked for all tests, events, etc. So… not an easy holiday to integrate into life in a country that is not majority Islam.  [/quote]

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