Here’s hoping that when the Hillsborough County School Board meets next month, it will vet the recommendation of a committee of parents and educators that the county eliminate religious holidays beginning in 2009-10.
Recall last year’s fiasco when classes were held, so to speak, on Good Friday. A majority of students and 40 per cent of bus drivers were no-shows. This year Good Friday falls during spring break, so the religious-holiday bullet is dodged.
But next school year will be the test. The school board should heed the committee’s advice and then plan accordingly – including acting like responsible, sectarian adults who are staying the non-religious-holiday course and managing all parties’ expectations.
That means, among other things, acknowledging that this is not about religious insensitivity. Or selective intolerance. In truth, it’s about treating all religions equally. None will get their own holiday. And, candidly, who is to say — from animists to atheists — who else would have been queuing in that “give-us-our-religious-holiday-too” line?
And here’s another suggestion: Rethink “Fair Day.”
How do you make the case that you — as a school board — are to be taken seriously on such a sensitive, multi-cultural issue when you annually free up students to opt for dunk tanks, ferris wheels and corn dogs in lieu of school?
But if you must keep the date, then, at least, re-label it. How about “Respecting Everyone’s Religion Day.” Observe it in your own way. In a church. At a mosque. At a synagogue. At home. At the County Fair.
Good Friday? How about Much Better Friday?