Introduction: As my portion of the project is almost 90% based upon legal policies regarding holidays (especially in the public school system), I think that it is appropriate to start at this website (http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/Federal_Holidays.pdf), a PDF of the CRS (Congressional Research Service) Report for Congress in 1999 regarding federal holidays.
Religious holidays in public schools: http://www.freedomforum.org/publications/first/findingcommonground/B08.Holidays.pdfwas a great source that I found that was sponsored by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic societies. I will use this source to raise questions about what is the generally accepted standard in approaching religious holidays, as well as religion itself, in our public schools. I will also use this additional source written by Austin Cline, a former Regional Director for the Council for Secular Humanism, in outlining general reasoning for so-called “school” holidays: http://atheism.about.com/od/religioussymbolsholidays/a/schoolholidays_2.htm
Jewish holidays and their entrance into various public school systems as a day off: I will discuss reasons for why this was possible – such as population, political strength of the community in the specific geographic region.
- Portland students’ request to their school board asking permission for days off: http://www.jewishreview.org/node/11966
- Redondo Beach, CA – Addition of Jewish holidays to the district’s list of non-school day holidays by the Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education: http://www.easyreadernews.com/1166/jewish-holidays-added-to-school-calendar/
- Chagrin Falls, Ohio – Interesting approach by the school board, as they keep one of the two High Holy days as a school day, and the other a non-school day: http://www.chagrinvalleytimes.com/NC/0/220.html
- Most importantly, NYC – NY Times Blog on the scheduling controversy of the Jewish holiday closings in the academic year of 2010: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/back-to-school-and-right-back-on-vacation/. There is a huge lack of sources available online as to the exact reasons why Jewish holidays became official no-school days in NYC, so I’m going to try and obtain information from the NYC DOE. I sent an email inquiry, so I am waiting for more information there.
Muslim holidays and the controversy of Bloomberg: As I did for the Jewish holidays, I will discuss reasons for why this was possible in certain areas – and see if the same reasons pertain to NYC. If they do (and some of the reasons do), I would raise questions about why Mayor Bloomberg denied the request for the closings in 2009 – whether it was valid/acceptable for him to do so.
- Cambridge, MA – Recently implemented policies, starting with the 2011-2012 school year: http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/10/10/school_system_to_get_muslim_holiday/?page=2
- Article on Cambridge that details the closings in Michigan and Vermont as well: http://american3p.org/establishment-news/cambridge-ma-school-latest-to-introduce-muslim-holidays-2/
- Daily News on Bloomberg: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-07-01/local/17928149_1_muslim-holidays-mayor-bloomberg-eid-al-adha
- Renee’s article from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/nyregion/01muslim.html
- Op-Ed CNN piece on why schools should be closed on Muslim holidays: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/01/my-take-new-yorks-schools-should-observe-muslim-holidays/
Closing – Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I want to incorporate this into some part; I have a general idea, but I’m not completely sure yet. I think it is an important thing to consider, especially if I am going to present my ideas from an unbiased, legal perspective: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm
