| I don't remember having Good Friday off from school when I was in public school growing up, but maybe I did. In any event, the issue is a live one: Winchester has just announced that, in a departure from past practice, it will hold classes on Good Friday. According to the Globe, the decision "is not sitting well with some residents and area Catholics."
Those familiar with my extreme distaste for blue laws and the like might easily predict my view on this: Winchester's decision was a no-brainer. Good Friday is, of course, a specifically Christian holiday. Winchester schools are not closed on Rosh Hashanah, nor on Yom Kippur, nor on the first day of Ramadan -- despite the increasingly significant population of Jews and Muslims in Winchester. Here's the school committee's reasoning:
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.
"Public schools cannot be in the business of deciding on which religious holidays to observe," said School Committee member Samuel Kounaves. "It appeared that people wanted other religious holidays off, and if we were to give too many, it would become unmanageable. We can't play favorites." ...
[T]he board wanted to "separate church and state, but at the same time be fair to people and not penalize students for missing class on religious or cultural holidays."
That balancing act means no homework will be due, no tests will be administered, and no field trips will be planned on religious holidays, allowing families to keep their children home from school without significant consequence.
Observe all (at least with respect to religions with a significant representation in the community), or observe none. I find it very hard to argue with that. |
