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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ugh. Why is spring break so late again? Either make it early March or add a Feb holiday. [/quote]

Seriously?  Winter break runs into early January.  You need a week off less than two months later but are fine with no meaningful time off for the last three months of the school year?[/quote]
+1
People want a late start, long winter break, a mid-Feb break, spring break, and early-June end date....but still observe all the holidays and religious days and give teachers planning/grade prep days. I'd love for one of those people to propose an actual calendar that does that.[/quote]

Lame strawman. No one person is asking for all of that.

I'm the top PP and I don't think we should have any religious holidays - including Christmas. I'm ok with starting end of August and getting out mid-June end. Consolidate the days off so we don't have a bunch of one offs. Have better spacing between the breaks. 
[/quote]
So move winter break to start with New Years Eve and run through early January?

I mean, I agree with you that we shouldn’t be prioritizing certain religions’ holidays over others, but they probably wouldn’t be able to get enough subs to cover all of the teachers who would call out on Christmas. [/quote]

Exactly, the fact is in this country. The majority of citizens celebrate the Christmas holiday. That’s why it qualifies as a federal holiday. [/quote]

right- the Christmas and Easter things are really red herrings.  I really don't think anyone cares about Easter being tied to Spring Break b/c of religious observance.  As an observant Christian, I would really rather Easter not be tied to Spring Break b/c we like to be in church for Easter and we like to travel for Spring Break- so always end up coming home early from Spring Break in order to celebrate Easter.  
Christmas and New Years are federal holidays, 1 week apart.  Many many businesses shut down completely or are on significantly reduced staffing during this week.  It would be really difficult for schools to function this week- again not b/c of any 'religious' observance of Christmas, but because so many teachers want to be off this week, etc.  The Thanksgiving break also falls into this category- we take it b/c it is a cultural holiday.

APS has not articulated a clear rationale for why they added the religious holidays of Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, DIwali, and EId.  Is it based on attendance data and the need for sub coverage?   That is a supportable rationale if true- but I seriously seriously doubt that it is.  
Is it b/c of 'equity' 'diversity' or similar concerns?  This really cuts all sorts of ways.   If we are concerned about honoring diversity no matter how small the number of impacted families, there are a LOT more potential holidays out there that would fall into this category- Lunar New Year, Dias de los Muertos, etc- Immediately come to mind.  
Do we think it is inequitable that some students have to miss school for a religious holiday while Christian students 'automatically' get Christmas off?  Equity can cut all sorts of ways in this situation.  Is it equitable that children with special needs who struggle with changes in routine have numerous school weeks interrupted mid week to accommodate these holidays?  Is it equitable that working families have to struggle to find child care, pay for it, arrange transportation for it, etc? to accommodate all these holidays?  [/quote]

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