Reply to PSA- Diwali day off date change

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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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Religious holiday closures are a failed experiment. Give all students and staff 2 personal holidays. If you want to ensure operational efficacy have them be payable if they don’t get used. [/quote]

+1. The only winner of this experiment is Syphax. Syphax gets a paid holiday for every single one of these holidays. They want more holidays on the schedule. [/quote]
This is so true.

I have heard that it can be an issue with getting bus drivers and that's one that's difficult to find adequate subs.[/quote]

Based on a school board meeting I watched, most APS bus drivers are a different religion than those recognized with school closer days by APS (I believe most are Orthodox Christians). According to one bus driver testimony, they have to work during their most sacred day of the year. [/quote]

The thing with the drivers was really unfair.[/quote]
Yes, but APS bends to Muslims more than orthodox Christians, it gets them more woke points. [/quote]

There have to be more Orthodox Christians than Muslims in APS. Staff and students. And definitely more of either than Hindus. APS' choice of religious holidays doesn't make any sense.[/quote]

We have a lot of Orthodox Christians (Ethiopians) and Muslims (many countries of origin), only a sprinkling of Hindus and Jews (most of whom are minimally observant like my spouse). [/quote]

So why does APS observe Hindu and Jewish holidays but not orthodox ones? It makes no sense. [/quote]

Virtue signaling, wokeness, equity . . .   Pick a reason any reason. [/quote]

But the orthodox Christians I know are non-white, including people who are African and Middle Eastern. So they are minorities too.

If we’re going to hand out religious holidays off like candy, what non-discriminatory reason can APS cite to for their selection? It seems at best arbitrary and at worst like they’re picking groups as favorites. I wonder if the school board ever regrets going down this path in the first place. It’s hard to turn back now without angering multiple groups of people. Such a dumb move.[/quote]

They are minorities, but still Christians. I thought the idea was to add non-Christian holidays to the calendar to diversify. [/quote]

The dates for Christmas and Easter are completely different most years. Not sure why that’s less valid than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. [b]There are probably more devout Orthodox Christians than devout Catholics/Protestants in Arlington when you get down to it.[/b][/quote]

Not remotely. And why is "devout" the standard for Catholics and Protestants and not "observant"? Take a look at the parking lots in the Catholic Churches in Arlington on Easter Sunday. For no other religion do we entertain asking "yeah, but how much do you really believe it?"

This is a separate issue from whether or not "Easter Monday" is an actual religious holiday, which it certainly is not and there's no good reason for giving it off, especially when the previous week has already been declared spring break.[/quote]

[b]If you’re only there on Christmas and Easter, you aren’t observant.[/b] You’re culturally Christian and that’s all. I think we should consider the general level of observance and number of adherents for any religious holiday. Apparently that’s not a thing we do because I don’t think Diwali or the Jewish holidays pass any kind of operational hardship test for APS. The Eids probably don’t either. I would ditch them all. [/quote]

You are [i]literally[/i] observing the holiday by going to church. You may not be devout, but that's not a standard applied to anyone else. [/quote]

+1 the legal standard is operational efficiency. APS has to have an operational reason to observe all of these holidays. Not how devout people are. [/quote]

APS has never offered an operational efficiency justification. FCPS did, but FCPS is not APS. APS has hitched themselves to the “celebrating diversity” bandwagon. If you studied it, we probably have more Christian orthodox than observant Jews who actually take religious days off. [/quote]

At the school board meeting to discuss that potential Eid day off change, it was very clear the school board members just liked the vibe/warm fuzzies they got from recognizing diversity through these extra days off. There was no reference to data or a high number of excused absences under the old policy causing problems. They just loved the feeling of being school board members who support diversity. [/quote]

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