The Burlington School Board has voted to add two holidays to future school calendars to give students time off on Jewish and Muslim holy days, but board members say the changes won’t lengthen the school year.
The board approved the chances Tuesday by an 8-1 vote.
The additions will give students the day off on Eid al-Fitr and Yom Kippur. Muslims mark Eid al-Fitr as a feast to end the holy month of Ramadan. Yom Kippur is a Jewish day of atonement and considered among the holiest days of the year; it typically occurs in early fall.
Burlington schools are not giving students and teachers the holidays off to mark the religious observances, said School Board Chairman Fred Lane. Instead, the board is trying to maximize attendance.
Lane said the Burlington school system has long had a sizable Jewish population and now has an increasing number of Muslims. Jewish and Muslim students often take days off on their respective holidays. If the schools close the on those holidays, some of the attendance problems go away, Lane said.
School Superintendent Jeanne Collins said Burlington High School Principal Amy Mellencamp told her and School Board members that about 75 of the high school’s roughly 1,100 students were absent on Eid last year. About 50 students are absent on a typical day, she said.
To give students Eid and Yom Kippur off, the school year won’t lengthen because existing days off will be moved to the date of the holidays. “We’re just shifting things around in terms of where they fall,” Lane said.
The changes go into effect this fall. In that school year, Yom Kippur falls on a Saturday, so it won’t be a factor in the schedule, Lane said.
Lane said the school district did some research and found a small number of school districts nationwide are closing schools on holidays such as Eid al-Fitr and Yom Kippur. “They have done this most notably in Philadelphia,” he said.
Collins acknowledged she has heard from some parents who worry the schedule changes will disrupt child-care and transportation arrangements. “I’m also a parent. I know exactly what it’s like juggling around a vacation day,” she said.
But because the school year will remain the same length, she hopes disruptions to family schedules will be kept to a minimum.