The US government ensures political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. However, the only religious holiday recognized as a Federal holiday is Christmas, a Christian holiday. Some school districts, including Ventura Unified School District’s [VUSD], give students and teachers few religious holidays away from school and work, but many are just “teacher in-service days,” and other districts don’t give the days off at all. This is completely unfair, as students from different religions and cultures deserve their holidays off from school as much as any other student.
Around our country, any students are expected to attend school on days when they might otherwise be spending time with their families on religious holidays they observe. According to Pew Research Center, school districts often select holidays that they deem most significant for the majority of their students, which can marginalize minority groups within the community.
VUSD office assembles a calendar committee that decides which days school will be in session for the upcoming school year. These people predict which days students might be absent from school, so the majority of students and teachers do not miss school for a religious activity.
In our community, and in most of the U.S., Christianity is the overwhelming majority. Many religions and cultures that are not Christianity are considered minorities, meaning that any holidays that they would celebrate would not affect a large enough number of students and staff to be given a day off from school. The High Holy Days, for example, are two days that Jewish students and teachers don’t have a guaranteed day off from school.
“The deal that Ventura Unified has with [Temple Beth Torah, Ventura’s local synagogue] is essentially that they will give one of the two High Holy Days off each year, whichever is most convenient [for the district],” Levin says. “… and the part that frustrates me is that I have to use a sick day if I want to go to services on one of the days that’s not taken off.”
VUSD is quite gracious about this issue compared to other school districts in the area and all over the country. Jews are guaranteed at least one High Holy Day, while Catholics are given Good Friday for a day of prayer. However, this does not mean that the district is perfect. Many school-aged children still aren’t always able to fully practice their religious customs without having to miss important classroom activities.
Students have to be enrolled in school for 180 days out of the year, so any more days off would have to be compensated for at the beginning or end of the school year. The district could choose to start school on a Tuesday rather than a Wednesday, or end on a Friday instead of a Thursday.
Giving more religious days off would allow a number of students to spend more time participating in their cultural holidays without the worry of making up schoolwork. Even though it might have us starting school early or taking shorter seasonal breaks, Ventura Unified School District has opportunities to give more students their holidays off of school.
