Ah, good. You're here, Blackleaf. This should be good for one of your bigoted rants.
Holidays’ names stricken from next year’s Montgomery schools calendar
By Donna St. George November 11
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.
More at link: Holidays’ names stricken from next year’s Montgomery schools calendar - The Washington Post
Smart of the board. They foresaw every damn godbotherer coming in demanding equal treatment for his fantasy, and said "Screw it."
Holidays’ names stricken from next year’s Montgomery schools calendar
By Donna St. George November 11
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.
More at link: Holidays’ names stricken from next year’s Montgomery schools calendar - The Washington Post
Smart of the board. They foresaw every damn godbotherer coming in demanding equal treatment for his fantasy, and said "Screw it."
