(Via Blue Mass Group) The Boston Globe reports that Winchester, MA parents aren’t happy over the calendar for the upcoming school year:
After weeks of debate, the Winchester School Committee has decided to open school for classes on Good Friday next year—a move that is not sitting well with some residents and area Catholics.[...]
Superintendent of Schools James Marini said the decision was made after the School Committee wrestled with the idea of incorporating other religious holidays into the school calendar. He said a growing number of parents had asked that school be suspended on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Adding days off for Jewish and Muslim holidays would lengthen the school year—a problem because of a lack of air conditioning in the buildings and a tangle of issues with teachers’ contracts—so a majority of the board thought it was only fair to observe none. Christmas will remain because it is a national holiday and falls within a week-long winter break.
The article mentions that on major religious holidays for the major faiths in the community, no homework will be due, no tests given, and no field trips given… and that there will be no penalty for being absent those days.
Personally, I think the right call has been made by the school board. Of course, I’m someone who grew up in an area where there weren’t that many days off during the school year to begin with. Aside from that, I agree that it isn’t the place for any government entity to decide for its subjects which religious holidays are or aren’t deserving of observance.
Of course, if it turns out that absences on Good Friday are so high that a quorum cannot be reached in the classroom… well, perhaps school officials could “cheat” by using the same tactic that my high school did—scheduling spring break to coincide with Holy Week.