LULZ, Mooselimbs bitch about lack of holidays, so they're all taken away

[CountDeMoney]

ROFL, insha'allah.

Holidays' names stricken from next year's Montgomery schools calendar
Washington Post

Christmas and Easter have been stricken from next year's school calendar in Montgomery County. So have Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.

Montgomery's Board of Education voted 7 to 1 Tuesday to eliminate references to all religious holidays on the published calendar for 2015-2016, a decision that followed a request from Muslim community leaders to give equal billing to the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha.

In practical terms, Montgomery schools will still be closed for the Christian and Jewish holidays, as in previous years, and students will still get the same days off, as planned.

Board members said Tuesday that the new calendar will reflect days the state requires the system to be closed and that it will close on other days that have shown a high level of student and staff absenteeism. Though those days happen to coincide with major Christian and Jewish holidays, board members made clear that the days off are not meant to observe those religious holidays, which they say is not legally permitted.

The main and most noticeable difference will be that the published calendar will not mention any religious holidays by name.

Muslim community leaders have been asking Montgomery school officials for years to close schools for at least one of the two major Muslim holidays.

It is unclear how many Muslim students attend Montgomery schools, but in 2013, Muslim community leaders urged Muslim families and their supporters to keep students home for Eid ­al-Adha, hoping that the number of absentees would be persuasive as they made their case for a school closing. Montgomery school officials reported that absences for that day — 5.6 percent of students and 5 percent of teachers — were only somewhat higher than a comparable day the previous week.

Students who miss classes on religious holidays are given excused absences. But Muslim families have argued that students should not have to choose between their faith and their schoolwork and that missing even a day leaves many students behind. They say the day off is a matter of equity, with Christian and Jewish students getting days off for their holidays.

But Tuesday's outcome was not at all what Muslim leaders intended. They called the decision a surprise — and a glaring mistake.

"By stripping the names Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they have alienated other communities now, and we are no closer to equality," said Saqib Ali, a former Maryland state delegate and co-chair of the Equality for Eid Coalition. "It's a pretty drastic step, and they did it without any public notification."

Zainab Chaudry, also a co-chair of the coalition, expressed dismay, too, contending the school board's members were willing to "go so far as to paint themselves as the Grinch who stole Christmas" to avoid granting equal treatment for the Muslim holiday.

"They would remove the Christian holidays and they would remove the Jewish holidays from the calendar before they would consider adding the Muslim holiday to the calendar," she said.

Muslim leaders had focused their efforts for the next school year on having the holiday of Eid ­al-Adha recognized with equal prominence on the published school calendar because the holiday falls on the same day as Yom Kippur, when Montgomery schools are already closed. They had said the step was symbolic but important.

Superintendent Joshua P. Starr presented the board with three options to resolve the question Tuesday, and a majority of members supported his recommended proposal to do away with the names of both the Muslim and the Jewish holidays on the calendar. But amending the proposal, the board opted to ditch references to Christmas and Easter, too.

Board members pointed to the Fairfax County school system's calendar as an example; the largest school district in Virginia does not call out such religious holidays by name. In Montgomery, closing schools for Jewish holidays began in the 1970s. In voting to scrub the holiday names from the calendar, board members said they were trying to reflect the reason schools are closed on religious holidays: because of operational impacts — such as expected high absenteeism among students and staff on those days — not because the school system is observing a religious occasion.

"This seems the most equitable option," said board member Rebecca Smondrowski (District 2), who offered the amendment.

Board members talked at length about not wishing to disrespect the Muslim community or those from other faiths. Muslim community members and their supporters packed the meeting room.

Several board members pledged to produce a clearer standard for the kind of operational impacts that might lead to further consideration of closing schools on a Muslim holiday in the future. The calendar change Tuesday affects only the next school year.

Board member Michael A. Durso (District 5) was the sole vote against the calendar change. During the board's discussion, he noted that Montgomery brags about its diversity and its embrace of different cultures. "No matter how well-intentioned we are, it comes off as insensitive" to Muslim families, he said.

School officials said the time off in December would become "winter break," while the time off around the Easter holiday would be called "spring break." Other days, such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, would be simply listed as a day when there is "no school for students and teachers."

[CountDeMoney]

What could happen?

Backlash over Montgomery decision to strip Christmas from school calendar
Washington Post

The backlash was intense Wednesday to the Montgomery County Board of Education's decision to scrub Christmas and other religious holidays from its published school calendar — without disturbing the days off.

It came by e-mail, tweets and Facebook messages — passionate views, along with some confoundment. Several Montgomery school board members reported that few people of any faith seemed happy with their Tuesday vote.

Montgomery school board member Rebecca Smondrowski, for one, was flooded with angry messages. She had supported a proposal to strip Jewish and Muslim holy days from the calendar and offered an amendment to remove Christmas and Easter, too.

A day later, she stood by her decision and stressed that students would still have the holidays off; only the calendar presentation would change. The idea, she said, was to reflect that schools were not being closed for religious observances but because of high absenteeism among students and staff members on those days.

"I just thought it was the most equitable thing to do," she said. "I respect and appreciate so much that this is a very personal issue for so many people. I was in no way trying to imply that I don't respect people's religious practices. I do."

School board Vice President Patricia O'Neill said she is confident that the board made a good decision. "It seems we've made multiple religious groups mad, but I believe we did the right thing," she said. "And we're in good company. Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun — all are silent in calling out Christmas; they call it winter break."

Montgomery's school board vote to eliminate calendar references to religious holidays followed an earlier request by Muslim community leaders to give equal prominence on the calendar to the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha.

Muslim leaders had for years requested that Montgomery's schools be closed for at least one of the two major Muslim holy days. They had not succeeded, but in the 2015-2016 academic year, Eid al-Adha falls on the same day as Yom Kippur, which is a day off in Montgomery. So Muslim leaders asked for equal billing on the calendar.

Board member Michael A. Durso, who cast the lone vote against stripping away all religious holidays, said the board may have underestimated how strongly people feel about recognizing those days.

"I think in the board's efforts to resolve a situation, we may have created a few more problems than we intended," Durso said.

Montgomery County Council member George L. Leventhal (D-At Large), who had testified before the board Tuesday to support noting Eid al-Adha on the calendar, said Wednesday that he was disappointed in the board's action and had heard from many constituents who felt the same way. He said that with increasing amplification of the issue on social media, he worried that Muslims would be blamed for what some would wrongly perceive as a canceling of Christmas.

"No one asked the board to remove Christmas or Easter or Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah," he said.

In response to requests to add days off, school officials have said that the system cannot by law close simply to recognize a religious holiday.

Charles Haynes, who has written guidelines on how to deal with religion in schools and is director of the Religious Freedom Center at the Newseum Institute in the District, said the board's decision to do away with holiday names was unnecessary if school closings are done for legitimate reasons, such as high absenteeism.

"The issue isn't what you call the holidays," he said. "It's whether you have a secular purpose in giving the holidays." He said it should not be complicated. "The question is whether the schools can function properly on that day."

Montgomery County officials note that state law requires school closings for days surrounding Christmas and Easter.

The decision to close schools for Jewish holidays goes back to the 1970s, officials say, although there has been some dispute about how high absenteeism would be on those days.

Saqib Ali, a former state delegate and co-chairman of the Equality for Eid Coalition, said he hoped the board would reconsider its decision. "People are very, very upset," he said. "The board has framed it as a measure of inclusiveness, and I think everyone has been seeing it as a very exclusive move."

Ron Halber, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said he was surprised by the board's action but added: "As long as all faith groups are treated fairly and equally, that's the most important thing."

Several board members, including Smondrowski, said Wednesday that they would press for the school system to set clear guidelines to decide when schools should close on holidays, as some Muslim leaders have requested.

"For whatever reason, the administration has been less than willing to come up with a hard and fast criteria," said board member Christopher S. Barclay. "Well, now I think it is time for the board to make a decision."

[CountDeMoney]

[Ed Anger]

Lolz. WAR ON CHRISTMAS

[The Brain]

What's Eid al-Adha? 9/11?

[Valmy]

Wait they closed school for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah?  WTF?

Anyway probably the right move and trying to put every religious holiday out there on the Calendar.  I mean who really gives a freaking crap about school calendars?  I mean besides identity politics nutcases.

Board member Michael A. Durso, who cast the lone vote against stripping away all religious holidays, said the board may have underestimated how strongly people feel about recognizing those days.

LOL losers.  This kind of nonsense is why our schools suck.

[CountDeMoney]

Wait they closed school for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah?  WTF?

Maryland has been up to its tukhus in Jews for over 50 years.  I know you don't see many down there, but we're awash in an ocean of matzoh in Maryland.

[Valmy]

Wait they closed school for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah?  WTF?

Maryland has been up to its tukhus in Jews for over 50 years.  I know you don't see many down there, but we're awash in an ocean of matzoh in Maryland.

Well personally I see tons of Jews all the time, they are very concentrated in North Austin.  I swim alot at the Jewish Community Center during the summer.  But even so it would have been bizarre to have the AISD schools close for Yom Kippur.  See you just cannot do that because then you have to close school for other minority religions.  Just have Winter Break and other secular tabs.

[CountDeMoney]

But even so it would have been bizarre to have the AISD schools close for Yom Kippur.

Depends on what degree it impacts operations--not just for the Jewish student population, but for school systems with a sizable population of Jewish teachers as well.  They're not all diamond merchants and Hollywood moguls, you know.

See you just cannot do that because then you have to close school for other minority religions.

Sure you can do that.

[Viking]

yet another reason why government should be secular.

[dps]

I mean who really gives a freaking crap about school calendars?  I mean besides identity politics nutcases.

Uhm, students and teachers, I'd say.  I know for a fact that when I was in school, my fellow students and I would have supported any suggestion to add more holidays to the school calendar.  And I doubt very many teachers, then or now, would be opposed to additional paid days off.

If impact on operations due to expected high levels of absenteeism is an major factor in determining on what days there will be no school, school in West Virginia should be closed on the first day of deer hunting season.  Seriously, no joke.  I suspect the same is true in other fairly rural areas with a strong culture of hunting.

[CountDeMoney]

If impact on operations due to expected high levels of absenteeism is an major factor in determining on what days there will be no school, school in West Virginia should be closed on the first day of deer hunting season.  Seriously, no joke.  I suspect the same is true in other fairly rural areas with a strong culture of hunting.

Yeah, it was that way at my high school, especially the wrestling team.  Even the coach took off for the first day of bow season.

[PDH]

Since the normal American only gets about 5 days of vacation a year, we should give all religious holidays off

- I look forward to the Feast of St. Occupancy .

[Caliga]

I got all the Jewish holidays off from school too.  My school was probably 50% Jewish.

[viper37]

School board Vice President Patricia O'Neill said she is confident that the board made a good decision. "It seems we've made multiple religious groups mad, but I believe we did the right thing,

Yes, this is usually the sign you are doing great