NORTHBOROUGH/SOUTHBOROUGH – Whether Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough students should be in school for a full, half-day or not at all on religious holidays was discussed during a Combined School Committee meeting on Dec. 4.
The School Calendar Advisory Working Group has been meeting since the beginning of 2024.
Superintendent Greg Martineau said the presentation was to share the group’s work with the committees. He said the driving question was what calendar best represented the district’s core values, mission and vision.
The group studied four draft calendar options.
Option one included non-school days on more religious observances, including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr and Good Friday.
“By giving full days off for various religious observances, the calendar shows respect for the diverse religious practices within the community,” Martineau said.
A calendar including more diverse religious observances could be a signal for job applicants, as the district thinks about recruiting more diverse faculty and staff members, he said.
However, he said that no calendar would meet everyone’s faith, noting the extensive interfaith calendar. The group asked who was missing from the calendar, and Martineau said one example was Orthodox Christian holidays.
Option two has religious observances as half days for students and professional development days in the afternoon for educators.
Martineau said this option minimized impact to the overall school schedule. However, he said childcare can be a challenge for families on half-days, and half-days can be insufficient for some religious observances. This option is a total combined loss of learning of two school days.
Calendar three has no school for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, while Diwali, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr and Good Friday would be half days. Martineau said the half days try to minimize the impact on the overall school schedule and take a nuanced approach to looking at the religious observances.
Echoing disadvantages of half days for childcare and scheduling consistency, Martineau said could be hard for the School Committee to determine which holidays get a full or half-day off.
Option four does not have any days off for religious observances.
While Martineau said it would provide more continuity for learning and fewer four-day weeks, even with a secular approach to the calendar, there are observances built into the calendar.
The 2024-2025 calendar has no school on Rosh Hashanah and Good Friday. It also includes three wellness half-days on Nov. 1, Jan. 29 and March 31.
Northborough School Committee member Lauren Bailey-Jones said the group discussed half-days and the different practices as part of the holiday.
“The half-day for many of these religious observances are not going to solve this problem of students who want to both attend school and practice their religion and observe these holidays,” she said. “We have had quite a bit of conversation that half-days aren’t really the best solution.”
Student representative Amelia Sinclair said there’s a push to maintain regular class attendance.
“If we stop recognizing the holidays of many religious groups, that will put the students within those groups at a significant disadvantage because even if you’re taking the day off and the school day is still going on, you’re missing important instructional time,” Sinclair said. “While you’re observing your religion, you shouldn’t have to be worrying about the curriculum that will keep on going without you.”
Members of the Jewish and Muslim communities spoke during the meeting. Parents described scheduling oversights occurring both in the schools and wider community. For instance, the fall festival at Finn Elementary School has been scheduled twice on Yom Kippur, and the sign up for parent teacher conferences at Algonquin Regional High School was released on the evening of Rosh Hashanah, the parents said.
Southborough resident Jessica Levenson said as she and her family observe High Holidays, they are in temple and a half-day “doesn’t do anything for us.” She said the slowness that the subjects were being approached was “galling.”
“It’s already an othering situation when we don’t cover these holidays, we don’t openly talk about people around us,” she said. “Removing them off the calendar removes a positive scenario where you can discuss why people are off that day. I would just ask that you start considering how painful it is to put people who account for 2.4% of the U.S. population in a position where we have to come in here and educate back repeatedly. Inclusivity is supposed to be a commitment. I’d ask you to do more of the work so that we don’t have to.”
The four options can be viewed by clicking here.
