Local school officials are facing criticism over the decision to hold school on Wednesday, which is Yom Kippur.
Members of the local religious community sent a letter last week to Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools superintendent Dr. Pam Baldwin and the school board urging the district to alter “practices relating to the Jewish High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”
The district is using Wednesday as an inclement weather make-up day after losing three instruction days over the last week due to the impact of Hurricane Florence.
“Closing schools for any reason means lost instruction time and associated impacts to students and families,” CHCCS board chair Rani Dasi said in a statement issued Tuesday evening. “Losing additional days so early in the year, significantly impacts education and other issues we see (e.g. food insecurity) when students are not in school.”
The religious leaders wrote in the letter to the district that using Wednesday as a make-up day was “unnecessary.”
“The District calendar has 4 waiver days already scheduled, and other options available for inclement weather days,” the letter read. “While the legislature has decided that school cannot start before August 25 or continue beyond June 10, there is no mandate to use Yom Kippur as a makeup day.”
Dasi wrote that the district was concerned about future inclement weather.
“We are anticipating increasing frequency and intensity of weather events,” she wrote, “and because of constraints on school calendars, this could create further scheduling challenges.”
The letter from religious leaders said that it was “hard to imagine” that make-up days would be ever be held on “the holiest days of the Christian tradition.”
While holding school on Sundays is illegal in North Carolina, CHCCS board member James Barrett wrote on Twitter that the district had held classes on Good Friday as a make-up day in the past.
“My kids didn’t go when we had school last time on Good Friday,” Barrett wrote.
“As a community and as a school district, we have the power to decide that we will respect our diverse student population,” the religious leaders wrote. “We can commit to standards of equity that honor not only those in the religious majority, but also those who are too often overlooked. As part of that commitment, we ask for more thoughtful and sensitive practices related to school scheduling on the Jewish High Holy Days, and request that you move the inclement weather day currently scheduled for the 19th.”
Dasi said the district “is proud of the diversity in our community, and values cultural and religious holidays important to our community members.”
“We regret the impact that use of these makeup days will have on our students, families, and staff,” the board chair wrote. “In previous years the district has planned calendars based on community input and we will continue to do so going forward.”
Board policy states that students who miss school on Wednesday due to religious reasons will be credited with an excused absence and given an opportunity to make up missed assignments or tests, according to Dasi.
Observance of Yom Kippur began Tuesday evening and runs through Wednesday evening.
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen moved its regular Tuesday meeting to Monday in observance of the Jewish holy day, but that Monday meeting was canceled due to inclement weather from the remnants of Hurricane Florence. At least one resident also emailed the Chapel Hill Town Council asking that it move its meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools Board of Education is scheduled to meet Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Center.
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