Posted on 11/06/17
| News Source: Baltimore Sun
he Baltimore County school board is scheduled to decide Tuesday whether to keep schools open on two of the most important holy days in the Jewish calendar. If board members decide to do so, it would be the first time in about two decades that students would be required to attend school on those days.An advisory committee has presented the board with two options for the 2018-19 school year. The committee has recommended the board choose the alternative that keeps schools open on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah, which next year begins at sundown Sept. 9, and Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown Sept. 18.
School board members say they don’t know how the vote will go. Board President Edward J. Gilliss said he has not polled fellow members.
School board member David Uhlfelder supports keeping schools closed on the Jewish holidays, as has been the practice since the mid-1990s.
“The truth of the matter is it is not a religious issue,” he said. “It is a a question of economics.”
He estimates it will cost the school system between $300,000 and $500,000 to pay for the substitute teachers that would be needed to fill in for Jewish teachers who took the days off.
“How much is it worth to you to keep them open?” he asked. “Are you willing to spend the money?
“If you don’t care about the $400,000, then...read more at Baltimore Sun