School Removes Christmas, Yom Kippur From Calendar Rather Than Adding Eid

Posted by | November 12, 2014 09:00 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Politics Religion Top Stories

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Muslims want Montgomery County, MD schools to treat Eid the way the do Christmas and Yom Kippur.  However, rather than give Muslims parity, they just removed all religious holidays from the calendar.

Students in Montgomery County will still have off from school on Christmas and Yom Kippur — but the school calendar will no longer call those holidays “Christmas” or “Yom Kippur.”

The county’s Board of Education voted Tuesday afternoon to remove any mentions of any religious holidays on the calendar next school year…

County executive Ike Leggett said Monday he would have taken a different tactic if the decision were up to him.

“I would simply add Eid to the existing holidays they already have without substituting any other holidays,” Leggett said…

County officials say the size of the county’s Muslim population doesn’t warrant closing schools.

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30 responses to School Removes Christmas, Yom Kippur From Calendar Rather Than Adding Eid

  1. Ron Luce November 12th, 2014 at 09:17

    I’m a devout Christian who would welcome ending Christmas as an official holiday.

    Here is how I would do it:

    Extend the school year to 190 days and require that students attend 180 of those days. Families can use those 10 days for whatever they want — religious observance, camping trips, or whatever. Of course, any missed tests or assignments need to be made up.

    • Anomaly 100 November 12th, 2014 at 10:40

      I’m a Christian and agree with you.

    • Yenta November 12th, 2014 at 10:55

      Sounds good except for one thing…what if teachers and cafeteria workers are all Christian, and all want the same ten days?

      • Larry Schmitt November 12th, 2014 at 11:00

        Hospital workers are able to survive that kind of conflict. My sister has been a nurse for 30 years, and sometimes she gets Christmas off, sometimes she doesn’t.

      • Ron Luce November 12th, 2014 at 19:45

        Teachers and staff would not have as much freedom as the students and some might be forced to work. I suspect it would usually work out fine — if the teachers reflected the community i.e. a few non-Christian teachers would be there for the few non-Christian students.

        I think they might like a Christian-free day!

    • Robert M. Snyder November 12th, 2014 at 13:59

      I once worked for a company that had a similar policy. Every employee got 18 personal days per year. You could use a personal day for any reason, and nobody asked the reason. At the end of the year, the company paid a full day’s wages for any personal days that were unused. That provided a strong incentive to use them only when really needed. Some employees never used them, and really looked forward to getting that extra pay every January. The key point is that the days were not designated for a particular purpose. If you were an environmentalist, you could use a personal day to participate in Earth Day activities. If you were a hunter, you could use a personal day for the first day of buck season.

  2. Ron Luce November 12th, 2014 at 10:17

    I’m a devout Christian who would welcome ending Christmas as an official holiday.

    Here is how I would do it:

    Extend the school year to 190 days and require that students attend 180 of those days. Families can use those 10 days for whatever they want — religious observance, camping trips, or whatever. Of course, any missed tests or assignments need to be made up.

    • Anomaly 100 November 12th, 2014 at 11:40

      I’m a Christian and agree with you.

    • Yenta November 12th, 2014 at 11:55

      Sounds good except for one thing…what if teachers and cafeteria workers are all Christian, and all want the same ten days?

      • Larry Schmitt November 12th, 2014 at 12:00

        Hospital workers are able to survive that kind of conflict. My sister has been a nurse for 30 years, and sometimes she gets Christmas off, sometimes she doesn’t.

      • Ron Luce November 12th, 2014 at 20:45

        Teachers and staff would not have as much freedom as the students and some might be forced to work. I suspect it would usually work out fine — if the teachers reflected the community i.e. a few non-Christian teachers would be there for the few non-Christian students.

        I think they might like a Christian-free day!

    • Robert M. Snyder November 12th, 2014 at 14:59

      I once worked for a company that had a similar policy. Every employee got 18 personal days per year. You could use a personal day for any reason, and nobody asked the reason. At the end of the year, the company paid a full day’s wages for any personal days that were unused. That provided a strong incentive to use them only when really needed. Some employees never used them, and really looked forward to getting that extra pay every January. The key point is that the days were not designated for a particular purpose. If you were an environmentalist, you could use a personal day to participate in Earth Day activities. If you were a hunter, you could use a personal day for the first day of buck season.

  3. Abby Normal November 12th, 2014 at 09:23

    Nothing new here. I live in rural flyover country and our schools long ago changed Christmas and Easter vacations to “winter break” and “spring break.” They just happen to coincide with Christmas and Easter but, so far, I’ve not heard of any complaints.

  4. Abby Normal November 12th, 2014 at 10:23

    Nothing new here. I live in rural flyover country and our schools long ago changed Christmas and Easter vacations to “winter break” and “spring break.” They just happen to coincide with Christmas and Easter but, so far, I’ve not heard of any complaints.

  5. Budda November 12th, 2014 at 09:34

    Religion(s) have no place on a schools calendar.

  6. Budda November 12th, 2014 at 10:34

    Religion(s) have no place on a schools calendar.

  7. Larry Schmitt November 12th, 2014 at 09:38

    Christmas has become a secular holiday almost as much as religious. Even people who have never been to church celebrate it. I was surprised when I first found out Montgomery County had Jewish holidays off. But the Muslim population of the county is only 4%, compared to 18% Jewish. I’m not saying that justifies having the Jewish holidays and not Muslim, but that’s the reason. I wonder what they will call Yom Kippur now.

    • Ron Luce November 12th, 2014 at 19:48

      >> Christmas has become a secular holiday almost as much as religious

  8. Larry Schmitt November 12th, 2014 at 10:38

    Christmas has become a secular holiday almost as much as religious. Even people who have never been to church celebrate it. I was surprised when I first found out Montgomery County had Jewish holidays off. But the Muslim population of the county is only 4%, compared to 18% Jewish. I’m not saying that justifies having the Jewish holidays and not Muslim, but that’s the reason. I wonder what they will call Yom Kippur now.

    • Ron Luce November 12th, 2014 at 20:48

      >> Christmas has become a secular holiday almost as much as religious

      I sometimes wish Fox News’ bogus “war on Christmas” was actually real — and Christmas would lose! I don’t like that Christmas has been turned into an obscene exercise in consumerism. Rioting at Walmarts for $99 flat screen TVs is not the spirit of baby Jesus!

  9. BillTheCat45 November 12th, 2014 at 13:02

    Fascists gotta fascist.

  10. BillTheCat45 November 12th, 2014 at 14:02

    Fascists gotta fascist.

  11. Bunya November 12th, 2014 at 14:40

    I can understand the school district’s motivation for removing all religious holidays from their calender. Currently, it’s the Muslims. Next week it will be the Buddhists, then the Satanists, then the Hindus, etc. etc. It’s just easier, I think, to remove all religious holidays than to try and accommodate everyone.

    • tracey marie November 12th, 2014 at 21:39

      except it is not really removing the christian and jewish holidays, they will be celebrated and the days will be off

  12. Bunya November 12th, 2014 at 15:40

    I can understand the school district’s motivation for removing all religious holidays from their calender. Currently, it’s the Muslims. Next week it will be the Buddhists, then the Satanists, then the Hindus, etc. etc. It’s just easier, I think, to remove all religious holidays than to try and accommodate everyone.

    • tracey marie November 12th, 2014 at 22:39

      except it is not really removing the christian and jewish holidays, they will be celebrated and the days will be off

  13. Robert Merrill Taylor November 12th, 2014 at 16:59

    I’m all for putting Saturn back into Saturnalia. He’s the reason for the season.

  14. Robert Merrill Taylor November 12th, 2014 at 17:59

    I’m all for putting Saturn back into Saturnalia. He’s the reason for the season.

  15. ExPFCWintergreen November 12th, 2014 at 22:10

    Now that’s a policy that makes perfect sense. I’d like to see it adopted everywhere.

  16. ExPFCWintergreen November 12th, 2014 at 23:10

    Now that’s a policy that makes perfect sense. I’d like to see it adopted everywhere.

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