Yom Kippur School Holiday (Wilmington, New Castle: schools, live, gardens)

[7 Wishes]

What I have found in my experience is that almost all of the NY metro area schools close for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but beyond that (for example in CT north and east of a line from Danbury to New Haven) it was usually only in districts that have either relatively large Jewish populations and/or a large number of Jewish teaching staff. For example, I know near Hartford that West Hartford, Farmington, Avon and Simsbury close, but the other districts don't. Or near my sister in Buffalo, Williamsville (a "heavily Jewish" suburb) closes, but the other towns in the area do not.

One thing I've noticed here in the NY area (but only in the NY and NJ portion) that I don't see elsewhere is the schools tend to have "Spring Break" be the same week as Passover (which is usually the same week as Easter and Good Friday).

[laulob]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

It may have something to do with the percentage of teachers in the district that are Jewish. Jews are sometimes disproportionately represented among educators. And, as another poster pointed out, Yom Kippur is not a "Jewish Festival" but the holiest day of the Jewish year. Many Jews who observe no other Jewish holiday will still observe Yom Kippur.

Many districts find that an inordinate number of teachers are all taking the same religious holiday off, and a suitable number of substitutes cannot be hired. So, for practicality reasons, they close the schools. It has nothing to do with being equitable. Nor should it. There are dozens of holidays in dozens of religions and it is not realistic to close down schools for each and every one.

However, closing schools for a practical purpose makes sense.



For practical purposes! So many Americans, both secular and religious, set this day aside for family gatherings and/or religious observance. I'm not one of them, but I still maintain that the schools should absolutely be closed. It would be a joke and a waste of money if they weren't, because almost no one would be there anyways!



It is not the school's responsibility to provide child care while you work. It's the school's responsibility to educate your child. They cannot do that if 10 or 20% of their teachers are all taking the same day off. So closing the schools is reasonable.

If suddenly tomorrow a Groundhog Cult springs into existence and gains 200 million American converts who all abstain from work on Groundhog Day to worship the Holy Rodent, then it may become only practical to close down schools and government offices on February 2nd. So be it. The fact that I do not personally worship Groundhogs or that the government is not a Groundhog-Worshiping government would not be relevant. You have to look at the big picture.

Exactly!! And in addition if a certain number of students aren't in class in most school systems the school day doesn't officially "count." Schools need to meet certain requirements as to how many days they open each school year. They aren't going to waste time and money on a school day they will just have to make up later on.

[ReluctantGardenStater]

Originally Posted by Chava61

NYC Public Schools also have off for Yom Kippur and they also have off for Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) when it falls on weekdays. (This year it was on a weekend.)
The Jewish community in the USA is much older in the USA than the Muslim or the Hindu communities.
Why should Christmas be a public holiday as Christianity is not national religion of the USA (as this country has a separate of state & religion)?

Yes, I'm aware about the days off. It's expected, but still inane.

The length of the Jewish community's stay in the U.S. is not really relevant. It is a minority group, no matter how long it has been here, and does not deserve special status over other major world religions.

Christmas should be a public holiday because the U.S. is a majority Christian country, made obvious by the percentage of Christians and those who celebrate Christmas in the U.S. I know the PC crowd often wants to play the "This is just as much as a Jewish/Hindu/Muslim/Zoroastrian/Buddhist/atheist/Wiccan country as it is Christian" card, but there comes a time when you may want to knock upon reality's door.

[Gone-2-Beach]

Originally Posted by ReluctantGardenStater

... but there comes a time when you may want to knock upon reality's door.

Thank you to our founder fathers who recognized the need to write the separation of church and state into our Constitution.

[phlydude]

but is there really a seperation?

When a president tries to outlaw a medical procedure or research of genetics based on religious beliefs, the seperation becomes non-existant

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by ishing

Why do schools in DE close for Yom Kippur? It isn't a public holiday and most other religious festivals aren't school holidays?

Let's stay with this topic please...

[7 Wishes]

Again, I think it is simply a practical matter of how many teachers and/or students in a given district will be out that determines if schools are closed for the Jewish High Holy Days, from what I have seen, it is mostly a phenomenon in most of the NYC metro area and outside of that in select districts (even in metro areas like Philly or L.A. with significant non-retiree age Jewish populations), I don't think it's some sort of "favoritism" or anything.

Even in New York City, they did not start doing this until the 1950's, and then it was exactly because in many parts of the city, the schools were becoming de facto closed anyway if they didn't due to too many teachers and (in those days in the city itself) students being out. It happens because unlike the sabbath or any of the more "minor" holidays often all but the most unreligious and atheistic of Jews celebrate the holiday in some significant fashion. In fact, in recent years, NYC has toyed with the idea of closing on one or two major Muslim holidays, so indeed if that population grows enough to affect teacher and/or student populations, you may indeed see schools close in some places for it (I wouldn't be surprised if Dearborn, MI, which has the highest percentage of Muslims of any city in the US, already does do such a thing....there are a couple of other Detroit suburbs with high Muslim populations too so it may happen there first before NYC).

Actually Passover is also almost as universally celebrated, but because for all but the very religious the main aspect of participating in it occurs at night, it usually does not involve missing work/school (or at best, taking part of the afternoon off), so it does not cause such a disruption. Though in some districts (especially in the NY metro area, but less common elsewhere), "Spring Break" is made to occur during this time to deal with that (especially since most years it coincides with Good Friday and Easter making it more of "everyone's holiday".....in fact by definition they are supposed to roughly coincide (the Last Supper was a Passover Seder), but if the Jewish calendar is a "Leap Year" then Passover will occur one month after Good Friday/Easter instead of during the same week....what I've seen some districts do then is have two "half week" spring breaks, one around the Good Friday/Easter weekend and one around the two Seder nights). But more and more districts are picking a random week not tied to any holidays.

[jln69]

Ishing. There are school districts in this country that close for Jewish holidays when there is a significant population. Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are high holy days and most people that are Jewish will not attend school and work. Some won't even drive a car.

All I am going to say is the comment about the "public holiday" or "religious festival" was very ignorant and I'll leave it at that. Also, "Colombus" is spelled COLUMBUS.

If you want to live in a diverse and educated (ex. columbus) area, you have a lot to learn.

[doctorjef]

This is certainly a storm in a teacup! The few religious holidays that are observed as general public holidays or for which public schools close do not constitute a constitutionally prohibited intrusion of religion into the sphere of the state. OTOH I find that there are too many school holidays. For example on days like MLK's BD or Columbus Day, students ought to be in school learning about these figures, the societal effects associated with them, etc. BTW, Columbus seems to have been quite a cruel figure who mistreated the native peoples on the Carribean islands he visited, as well as mistreating his own crews. Not really much of a figure for admiration and certainly not the originator of the round earth theory either. Also motivated by fortune-seeking rather than any more noble purposes. If he hadn't "found" the "New World", some other European would have done.

[fatbrooklyn]

Originally Posted by ReluctantGardenStater

Most of the schools are off in New Jersey (at least this area). I remember we always got off, throughout the high school years.

It's so silly. Just another example of this country foolishly attempting to bend over backwards to please a certain group just because they are a minority. It's like the department stores in the area; They come under pressure to include Hannukah merchandise during the Christmas season, and the obvious lack of Jewish customers leads to one paltry aisle being set up somewhere in the back.

If the U.S. gives the Jews a holiday, why not the Muslims or the Hindus? Enough is enough. I know some of the PC crowd will try to ignore the fact that Christianity is the dominant religion in the U.S. and will always come first, but it's the truth.

really, jews are a tiny minority in new jersey? is this the same new jersey that is right next to new york or is that a new jersey in kansas or something?

maybe the department stores are owned by jews and that's why they have a hanukkah isle?