Baltimore Public Schools May Hold Classes On High Holidays

By JTA October 11, 2017

(JTA) — Baltimore County Public Schools are considering removing two Jewish holidays from the school calendar.

The school district, trying to find a way to get enough class hours into the yearly schedule to meet new state regulations, is considering holding classes on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Schools in the district have been closed on those days for the last two decades.

Parents and community leaders attended a hearing on the issue with the school board on Tuesday night. A vote is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Two calendars are being presented – one with the holidays off and one with classes scheduled on the holidays. The calendar committee, made up of staff, parents and community members, has recommended the calendar that keeps schools open, according to the Baltimore Sun.

It is not known exactly how many Jewish students are in the schools.

The Baltimore Jewish Council told the school board, however, that at least 1,500 teachers in the school district are Jewish and that many would chose to stay home for the holidays, leading to the need to hire a large amount of substitute teachers at a cost of hundreds of thousands to a million dollars, and potentially creating a dangerous student-to-teacher ratio on those days. The council told the school board that it would like to see the schools remained closed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO