Linda Haase Cohen moved to Skokie in large part because schools were
off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So she was not happy when her
district began scheduling classes on the Jewish holidays just as her
daughter entered elementary school.
By 6th grade, the stress of missing class on those days and having to
make up work was so intense that Cohen's daughter cried as the
holidays approached.
"I would hope that people who are Christian could put themselves in
our shoes and imagine how they would feel as their sons or daughters
cried as Christmas or Easter approached because missing school was
going to be so hard on them," Cohen said.
Officials at District 73.5, which will vote Tuesday on whether to
continue a 9-year-old policy or go back to being off on the High
Holidays and Good Friday, say they have been trying to respect
everyone in a district of incredible diversity.
"We can't be in the business of deciding which religions are
important enough to be acknowledged and which are not," said school
board President James McGowan, who noted that all holidays are
excused absences.
How best to incorporate people of different faiths has become an
issue as America becomes more diverse.
But Skokie is not like other places. It has long been seen as a place
where Jews could be sure they were wanted. Closing schools was a big
part of that, Cohen said. "We thought it was wonderful," she said.
Skokie's other school districts and surrounding communities do not
schedule classes on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, the dates of which vary.
School board member Andrea Rosen, who has pushed for giving the
holidays off in District 73.5, said there are practical reasons as
well as traditional ones for reverting to the old calendar.
Nearly 10 percent of the pupils and about 15 percent of teachers in
the district are Jewish, she said, so if school is open it's not only
a major inconvenience for many, it also costs several thousand
dollars to hire substitute teachers.
"Why not pick the days to be open to maximize the number of students
and the number of staff?" Rosen asked.
Soul-searching over integrating children of different religions goes
far beyond the 1,100 pupils of District 73.5, which teaches
pre-kindergarten through 8th grade.
As America changes, so do the prayers of the faithful, prayers
whispered and chanted in many languages, from English to Arabic, Urdu
to Hebrew, Korean to Swahili.
Up to the schools
And it's up to schools to figure out how to accommodate the religious
needs of children while maintaining what is to many a sacred line
between church and state.
"You just have to make a conscious effort to make sure that everyone
is acknowledged, that everyone learns from each other," said
Principal Miguel Trujillo of Kilmer Elementary School in Rogers Park,
where the 925 children come from at least 30 countries. "It's a
little bit of melting pot, a little bit of tossed salad."
Springfield gives schools wide latitude in determining their
calendars, said a spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
The Chicago Public Schools do not schedule religious holidays off
other than Christmas--usually called "winter break"--but students who
miss class for such days are not penalized and the time off does not
count against perfect attendance, spokeswoman Jeanie Chung said.
Other religious and cultural accommodations are common.
In the last few years, many schools have set up areas for Muslim
children to go during fasting for the holy month of Ramadan, to spare
them the temptations of the cafeteria. Teachers are told to expect a
lower energy level during this time.
At Argo Community High School in southwest suburban Summit, which
educates many Muslim teenagers from Bridgeview, officials went to the
local mosque to talk about how to integrate Islamic culture and
beliefs, said District 217 school board President Eugene Wroblewski.
"We obviously are concerned for what their needs are and make every
allowance possible," Wroblewski said, especially during Ramadan and
Eid al-Fitr, the feast that marks its end.
Debate among Muslims
Muslims have talked among themselves about how schools should treat
their holidays, said Ahmed Rehab, director of communications for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago.
"It's been a debate in the community for sure," Rehab said. "You have
perspectives that range from apathy, or leaving things the way they
are, to, let us have our days off for ourselves, to the extreme
demands that they should be no-school days just like the Christian
and Jewish holidays."
No other religious minority has stepped forward to ask that its
holidays be declared no-school days, educators said.
Satheesan Nair, president of Malayalee Hindu Organization for Des
Plaines, Niles and Morton Grove, said he is not bothered by others
getting holidays off.
"All the functions we celebrate back in India, we celebrate here," he
said. "Even if we are not getting holidays [off], we are celebrating."
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