Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 22:07     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.




Columbus Day and Veterans Day ceased being school holidays the year that the Jews insisted that their holidays become school holidays. Its a fact.


Imagine the ski trips we could take if we had February Break, instead of a break scheduled around Christmas!
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 19:12     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.




Columbus Day and Veterans Day ceased being school holidays the year that the Jews insisted that their holidays become school holidays. Its a fact.


There was a time when most of the workers in this area were federal govt employees who got Columbus Day and Veterans Day off from work. That time has long since passed, and while there is a sizable federal government employee population in the area, it is not a majority by any means. Therefore it makes no sense to give these holidays off from school.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 19:11     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.




Columbus Day and Veterans Day ceased being school holidays the year that the Jews insisted that their holidays become school holidays. Its a fact.


What exactly is your point?
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 18:35     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.




Columbus Day and Veterans Day ceased being school holidays the year that the Jews insisted that their holidays become school holidays. Its a fact.


Just thought you might want to consider that saying "Jews" can be considered derogatory. Unless you mean to be a bigot, say Jewish people.





So if you say "Catholics" or "those Methodists" is that derogatory? Or should we say "those Catholic people"?
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 17:03     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.




Columbus Day and Veterans Day ceased being school holidays the year that the Jews insisted that their holidays become school holidays. Its a fact.


Just thought you might want to consider that saying "Jews" can be considered derogatory. Unless you mean to be a bigot, say Jewish people.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 16:06     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.




Columbus Day and Veterans Day ceased being school holidays the year that the Jews insisted that their holidays become school holidays. Its a fact.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 15:24     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
I'm in my 40s and moved from DCPS to MCPS during elementary school (junior high for my older sibling) and recall being surprised that MCPS was open for Columbus Day and Veterans Day but very pleasantly surprised to find out that MCPS was closed for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 13:23     Subject: Re:Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
I am 37 and went to MCPS. When I was in elementary, the schools were not closed for YK or RH. However, students who stayed home to observe the holidays had an "excused absence" and I think some of our teachers stayed home too. I was at Burning Tree and at that time I would say maybe 1/3 of the students in each class were Jewish. I don't know the amount today. Basically, having that many people out on the same day just meant that the work and teaching had to be done again the next day. I think that the school system is just being practical.


I'm 41 and went to MCPS my entire life. I remember being off for the holidays in middle school and high school. I honestly cannot remember ES but I know I was absent for those days anyway. My mother went to MCPS also and she tells stories of having to go to the principal and getting an unexcused absence every single time she was out for a Jewish holiday.


Hmmm, this is weird because I'm 39 and went to two different MCPS elementary schools in the B-CC cluster instead and distinctly remember them being closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And I did not go to MCPS for middle or high school so that is not what I'm remembering.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 10:33     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:I am 37 and went to MCPS. When I was in elementary, the schools were not closed for YK or RH. However, students who stayed home to observe the holidays had an "excused absence" and I think some of our teachers stayed home too. I was at Burning Tree and at that time I would say maybe 1/3 of the students in each class were Jewish. I don't know the amount today. Basically, having that many people out on the same day just meant that the work and teaching had to be done again the next day. I think that the school system is just being practical.


I'm 41 and went to MCPS my entire life. I remember being off for the holidays in middle school and high school. I honestly cannot remember ES but I know I was absent for those days anyway. My mother went to MCPS also and she tells stories of having to go to the principal and getting an unexcused absence every single time she was out for a Jewish holiday.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 09:51     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
I am 37 and went to MCPS. When I was in elementary, the schools were not closed for YK or RH. However, students who stayed home to observe the holidays had an "excused absence" and I think some of our teachers stayed home too. I was at Burning Tree and at that time I would say maybe 1/3 of the students in each class were Jewish. I don't know the amount today. Basically, having that many people out on the same day just meant that the work and teaching had to be done again the next day. I think that the school system is just being practical.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 09:39     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:There are, as other posters have indicated, a bunch of other Jewish holidays on which a traditional orthodox Jew would not work, including 4 days of Passover and 4 days in the fall (other than Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).


A teacher who is a very observant Jew will most likely work at a Jewish school, where they holidays are oserved, not at a public school.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 09:27     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:to agree with an earlier post, an MCPS teacher told me it was more about the teachers than the kids - there's way more jewish teachers than available subs. It seems practical - a kid can miss a day for a holiday but a teacher had to be replaced. Eventually we might have enough teachers to close for major hindu or muslim holidays, but until then, it's a student only absence.




The teacher was wrong. I worked in two different schools. One a high school and the other a middle school. The high school had 120 adults and I can remember only three Jews. I was only at the middle school for two years but I can't remember any.


So in your high school (we have about that many professional staff), you can honestly say that you knew EVERY Jew? really? I've been at my school for years and don't know half the staff.





Yes I did know every adult in the building. I was not a recluse.





So you lived at school. I chose to do my job and leave - and NOT wander about, trying to make friends with everyone.





Now that I think of it we did have a few weird people like you.
Anonymous
Post 09/07/2012 05:45     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:to agree with an earlier post, an MCPS teacher told me it was more about the teachers than the kids - there's way more jewish teachers than available subs. It seems practical - a kid can miss a day for a holiday but a teacher had to be replaced. Eventually we might have enough teachers to close for major hindu or muslim holidays, but until then, it's a student only absence.




The teacher was wrong. I worked in two different schools. One a high school and the other a middle school. The high school had 120 adults and I can remember only three Jews. I was only at the middle school for two years but I can't remember any.


So in your high school (we have about that many professional staff), you can honestly say that you knew EVERY Jew? really? I've been at my school for years and don't know half the staff.





Yes I did know every adult in the building. I was not a recluse.





So you lived at school. I chose to do my job and leave - and NOT wander about, trying to make friends with everyone.
Anonymous
Post 09/06/2012 23:50     Subject: Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
There are, as other posters have indicated, a bunch of other Jewish holidays on which a traditional orthodox Jew would not work, including 4 days of Passover and 4 days in the fall (other than Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).
Anonymous
Post 09/06/2012 23:42     Subject: Re:Why MCPS off for all Jewish holidays??
poster 23:00, said teacher is jewish, and an mcps teacher her entire career. And she's retirement eligible. So she seemed plenty credible. Certainly it's shifting over time, therefore my theory that eventually the holidays would shift, too. One complication is you can't do any work on one or both of those holidays if you're observant, right? Vs, say, passover where you celebrate in the evening but it's not a work forbidden day?