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The Jeffersonian, Maryland – June 27, 2005
Board approves calendar without Muslim holidays
'You have discriminated,' Muslim says to school officials
By Jennifer Przydzial
With nine of its 12 members voting "yes," the Baltimore County school board approved the 2006-07 school calendar June 14 without two days off for Muslim holy days.
School board members Luis Borunda, Michael Kennedy and student member Nicholas Camp abstained.
The three abstentions were a rare occurrence for the board. Most occur when contracts are voted on and board members have a conflict of interest, usually regarding their occupations.
Vice President Thomas Grzymski said his "yes" vote was "the hardest decision I had to make on this board - and voting on a calendar shouldn't be a hard decision," he said.
Several members who voted "yes" said they hoped the Maryland State Department of Education would adopt a policy of two floating holidays, which would allow students to take off two days for whatever religious holidays they wish.
In abstaining, Borunda said the state should have a two floating holiday policy while Kennedy said it is time to get the task force started that he had asked Superintendent Joe Hairston to form to examine how the school calendar is cast. Camp, a graduating senior whose term expires this year, said his lunch table at Catonsville High School included students who were Jewish, Catholic, Hindu, Presbyterian and Greek Orthodox - as well as an atheist.
He said he wondered how the board could determine what holidays are to be recognized by days off from school. "We haven't been given cues from the state," he said. "We shouldn't have to judge on a case-by-case basis."
School board member John Hayden disagreed, saying the board had received guidance from the state.
When the Muslim community appealed the 2005-06 school calendar, which did not include having schools closed on its two major holy days, to the state school board, the state responded that it is illegal to close schools on one particular religious holiday, he said.
But Kennedy pointed out that Baltimore County started closing schools on the Jewish holy days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in the late 1990s because of high absenteeism rates among students and teachers.
"Being legal is not the issue," said Bash Pharon, president of the Baltimore County Muslim Council and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Baltimore Chapter, at the June 14 school board meeting. "You have discriminated tonight." ….
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