Dear Friends,

  As we approach the High Holy Days, it is important that I share with you an update regarding an issue that proved challenging last year at just this time.   I refer to the manner in which our children’s absences from school or school-related activities on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were addressed, in certain instances, in our local public schools.  I write this column to inform parents and all others in our community of the groundwork that has been laid in advance of the upcoming High Holy Days to ensure that our children’s right to excused absences on these or other sacred Jewish occasions is upheld in our local public schools.

  Dr. Ira Tobin, our school district’s immediate past-Superintendent and Mr. Walker Williams, our new Superintendent, have been helpful and supportive in efforts to ensure that the situations that arose last year do not recur again this year.  Dr. Tobin invited me to a dialogue with the school-board regarding the concerns that were raised by parents and children in our community.  I sent follow-up correspondence to the school-board in which I offered some suggestions about how best to understand the problems that occurred and conceptualize a meaningful response to them on a policy-level.  I also restated some of Mr. Tobin’s own ideas that might help to resolve the situation for the longer term.  While the ultimate direction for which I advocated in my correspondence and otherwise would have our school-system consider seriously the possibility of closing its schools on major religious holidays during which a large number of students would be (or would want to be) absent, the approaches that Dr. Tobin, Mr. Williams, and I have utilized to date, and that we all have available to us this year, work within the context of existing school policy.

  It is reasonable to believe that with a better understanding on the part of teachers and/or principals serving in our local school system of either our children’s needs at this time of year or of our district’s policies and preferences regarding how absences for religious observances ought to be addressed, the issues that arose last year will not repeat.  Mr. Williams has assured me that he will be speaking over the next several weeks with all of our local principals to remind them of the district’s mandated and desired approach to addressing these circumstances.  He is confident, as am I, that our local principals will communicate these policies and preferences to teachers throughout our district in a most effective manner, so as to ensure that last year’s issues will remain problems of the past.

  I want to share with you, in very practical terms, the policies, procedures, and/or preferences that our local Principals will be reminded of in the coming weeks (prior to the High Holy Days).  Given their commitment to the welfare of all of the children in their schools and their relationships with Mr. Williams, I have every confidence that they will work hard to implement and uphold these important policies, procedures, and preferences as they were understood during my most recent conversations with district-officials:

• Students marked absent due to a religious observance will not be declined any award or any other honor for good or perfect attendance at school (whether for a marking period, for the school-year, or any other duration), given that such absences are excused absences.  This obviously applies to Jewish students as regards absences for ANY Jewish holiday upon which a Jewish child should not attend school.  The High Holy Days most definitely fall into this category.
• Students who participate in athletics will not be penalized for missing practices due to a religious observance, as these are excused absences.  In other words, starters who miss practice due to religious observances will start at their next meet or game and backups will play their normal role.  There will be no penalties suffered for missing games scheduled when religious observances occur that mandate our children’s absence (see immediately below regarding our schools’ efforts to avoid such scheduling to begin with and to correct it when it occurs).  All of this, too, obviously applies to Jewish students as regards absences for ANY Jewish holiday upon which a Jewish child should not attend school.  The High Holy Days most definitely fall into this category.
• The schools will aim not to schedule athletic meets or games, Homecoming, Graduation, prom-night or other major celebrations or events to coincide with major religious observances (the eve and first day of Rosh Hashanah and the eve and day of Yom Kippur would most definitely fall into this category, as would the eve of Passover and the eve of Shavuot).  Existing efforts in this regard, including consultation with me, will continue.
• All teachers will be asked not to give quizzes or tests on the first day of Rosh Hashanah or on Yom Kippur.  If a quiz or test is given on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Jewish students will not be penalized due to their absences, should their parents choose for them to be absent.
• Students absent due to any religious observance will be given a grace period to make up their school-work or homework that is the same as that which is mandated currently by district policy for those absent due to illness (or longer, if the existing policy or procedure calls for a longer grace period for absences due to religious observance).  As well, teachers will be asked to avoid excessive homework assignments when major religious observances occur (the High Holy Days would fall into this category, as would the eve of Passover).

  Mistakes will occur – even with teachers’ best intentions.  So, how should you proceed if your child’s experience deviates from that which is noted above?  In such situations, please follow the following procedures.  This will ensure that the situation is properly dealt with in the most expedient manner and with best results:

1. Please talk to the teacher or coach most immediately involved in the situation that has come up.  Share your concerns as a parent.  If the situation is not resolved in accordance with the approaches noted above, please continue as follows.
2. Please call me immediately.  Please do not delay in contacting me.  Depending upon the specific occurrence, we may approach the situation differently.  However, I am confident that the situation will be resolved in accordance with the policies, procedures, and preferences noted above and that, in most instances, resolution will occur reasonably and without delay.

    One last but very important note on this matter:  Many of our children may feel uncomfortable about being singled out in these situations.  They may worry that teachers or fellow students may see them differently, having noted that their Jewish identity indicates a practical difference in their availability for class-work, homework, or athletics.  It is normal not to want to feel different and it can be uncomfortable reminding an authority figure (a teacher or coach or principal) or our peers of our difference (this is as much true for parents as it is for children!).  Therefore, please consider the following:

1. Please remember that when an issue does arise, in most instances, the matter will be resolved with your initial conversation with the teacher or coach involved, as most of these situations are honest mistakes by well-meaning people.  In fact, your successfully raising the issue with an authority figure together with your child (when appropriate for your child to be involved directly) can serve as an important opportunity for your child to learn to advocate for herself.
2. In these instances, our children have nothing to fear whatsoever.  If the issue that arose was a mistake, it will be corrected without incident.  If it is anything other than a mistake, your child’s best protection is an approach to resolution that is handled within the system (which is what we would do together, in the event that the teacher or coach is not responsive).  Please take fullest advantage of my assistance in this regard.  Remember, if we are quiet about the problem, it will only repeat.  However, the response needs to be constructive and, depending upon the situation, different responses are appropriate.  Please allow me to help you.
3. Lastly, as a Jew or as any other minority, we are blessed to live in a land that protects our rights to worship freely and to learn in our schools without prejudice related to our religious beliefs and practices.  No one in any public setting has any right to treat our religious choices any differently than any other religious choice made by any other member of a minority or majority group.  Sometimes, in life, there are principles to stand up for that might be difficult in the moment but might make one feel stronger and prouder in the long-run for having done so.  As a community, let us resolve and work together to teach our children this invaluable lesson of Jewish pride if and when necessary over the course of these High Holy Days.

    My unyielding hope is that at some point in the future we will rejoice at the decision taken by our district to close school for the first day of Rosh Hashanah and for Yom Kippur.  However, until such time, we must remain cognizant of our of our children’s rights to practice their religion without being penalized for their absence from school or school-related activities for doing so.  We must also act to ensure that these rights are enacted and pursued.

Wishing all of you and all of yours a Shanah Tovah U’Metukah – A sweet, happy, healthy New Year ,

Rabbi Isaac Jeret
Spiritual Leader