by: Sarah Meiselman
Futon County has a decent number of Jewish students, yet the handling of the Jewish religious holidays, as well as holidays of other religions, is not always as smooth as it may seem. Especially in the months early in the school year, the Jewish holidays fall during the school week because these holidays follow the lunar calendar. The lunar cycle is also true for the Muslim religious holidays; many Asian cultural holidays follow a harvest and prayer cycle that doesn’t always conform to the Gregorian calendar. Due to this, many students must miss multiple days of school, the number depending on how religious the student is, to celebrate these holidays. On these holidays, doing work is often unadvised or in some faiths even not allowed, so any assignments missed over a holiday would have to be completed on a non-religious day afterward.
As a student, I have difficulty learning without the ability to ask questions of my teachers. I choose to go to school during these major holidays because missing lessons could potentially impact my grades. I would rather not have to make a choice to miss class just to spend time with my family. Some students are not given a choice. They have to attend services, and for the most part want to, because of their families’ religious practices. Many of my more religious friends took off for the holidays and felt stressed and behind on work afterward, because these holidays mostly fall back-to-back. This is especially true for first-year students, because of attendance and the new “Missing” grading policy. Had I missed what I had learned on those days, I too would have felt the draining pressure to catch up almost immediately after the holidays were over.
When students have to take off for religious holidays, attendance is treated the same as any other day. Students may complete a Pre-Approved Absence sheet they can pick up at the Attendance office. They can turn it in after they have it signed by their teachers and one parent. It must be turned in 3 days before the absence takes place, and the absence will be excused. This is important to complete because students cannot exempt exams, go to prom, or go to other activities if they have too many unexcused absences. If a student does not fill out the form but does bring a note with a parental signature or has their parent email the front desk explaining that they missed the day for religious reasons, the absence will usually be changed within a few days to a week, depending on how busy the attendance office is. This can add stress to students, and I suggest that absences on religious holidays should automatically be excused for observant students on those days.
Maybe teachers are trying to get class information to the students and get through the curriculum, but this is not an excuse to ignore students’ needs. Mr. Hanson asked that teachers not give assessments on religious holidays, and unfortunately some still did. Non-academic events should also not be scheduled on religious holidays. This school year, Yom Kippur, which is often considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, fell on the day that pictures had been scheduled. Almost all the Jewish students had to miss taking their pictures and had to do make-up pictures [Ed note: which had been prearranged; there is always a make-up day scheduled], which caused them to miss class time and added even more stress to some. There was no ill intent on the part of anyone, but students felt the effect and it was addressed. My intention with this article is not to bring insult to anyone, but to make suggestions to help solve a problem that is greater than the school: I hope to raise awareness of the stress that comes from religious holidays falling during school hours. Even when principals at certain schools are aware of the holidays and remind the staff about these days, not everyone follows suit, and it falls back on the principals to handle the fallout. The burden would not fall on individual school leaders, and students would not feel stressed, if giving off major religious holidays became a practice county-wide, and if for those who have holidays that are not major ones can be excused without penalty.
The growing Jewish and other non-secular religions’ populations have caused changes in the demographics of the counties in the United States. Since the Holocaust, the Jewish population in the United States has more than doubled. In New York City, school is closed for major Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and for some Muslim holidays. Other public-school systems have started to observe Muslim holidays including some in Waterbury, Connecticut, and Frederick County, Maryland. As Georgia, and Atlanta in particular, continue to see such growth, including an expansion in the Jewish communities, it’s time for the county to catch up with trends and acknowledge this reality.
Changes in technology have provided the option of remote learning, recording classes, and easy communication between students and teachers using Microsoft Teams and email. It makes sense that both tests and quizzes should not be given during religious holidays. Teachers could post on Microsoft Teams exactly what they do in class, the assignments that were given to the class, and the date that teachers expect the absent students to complete the work by. Teachers could set these due dates on days that give a substantial amount of time to work, because these students have just missed approximately an hour and a half of work time for 4 classes, or all 8, or even more, depending on the specific holiday. If they teach something new, they could record it to take away the stress of missing that day. With these changes in technology and demographics, I believe Fulton County should create a strict “no teaching” policy for major religious holidays that must be followed by all the schools in the district. This would ensure that all problems for Jewish, Muslim, and other students in the county can be solved simultaneously.
For school systems that do not know the dates for the major Jewish holidays, organizations such as the Jewish Federation and Chabad.org make easy-to- navigate lists of all the major dates in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Jewish students and any other students who observe a religion with holidays during the school week deserve to enjoy these times without worrying about school. It would be impossible to have no school on the many Jewish holidays that fall throughout school, but it is possible to take measures that respect the time of religious students, and I believe religion and school should never be forced to compete.
Diversity Calendar 2022: The Most Complete List of Inclusive Holidays to Celebrate Cultural Diversity:
https://excellentpresence.com/5555/diversity-calendar-2022-multicultural-holidays/
Jewish Holiday Calendar:
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/default_cdo/year/2022/jewish/holidays-2022.htm
