Missouri Schools Scrap Saturday Graduations
(JTA) — A school district in a suburb of St. Louis changed the graduation date of two high schools from a Saturday after complaints from Jewish families with students in the schools.
The Parkway School Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to change two high schools’ graduations from Saturday, May 19, 2018, to the Tuesday and Thursday before. The districts other two graduations will remain on Saturday, according to reports. The evening of May 19 also is the start of the holiday of Shavuot.
The board also said it would revisit having a Saturday graduation for all schools in the future.
Parkway School District is a public school district serving eight municipalities in western St. Louis County, Missouri.
The vote came as a result of a petition circulated by students asking for the date to be changed, which garnered more than 2,000 signatures.
At the board meeting, school board President Beth Feldman apologized to the district’s Jewish students.
It was the second meeting on the topic by the school board, which tabled a vote earlier in the month.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
