In efforts to appease Muslim children seeking the acknowledgment of Islamic holidays, the Montgomery County Board of Education approved a motion to remove all Christian and Jewish holidays from the school 2015-2016 calendar, according to The Washington Times.
The Jewish holiday Yom Kippur will fall on Sept. 23 — the same day as the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha. Instead of recognizing both holidays, Superintendent Joshua P. Starr insisted the board eliminate the names altogether, the Times reports.
School will still be canceled on the holidays, but the school district will no longer recognize their religious references.
Board member Rebecca Smondrowski made the motion on Tuesday afternoon.
“It is about equity,” Smondrowski told MyMCMedia. “I felt that we needed to look at this issue in a more comprehensive way and in a way that works for all members of our community.
“I made the motion because if we are closing for operational reasons then there should be no need to make reference to religion,” she said. “That is the most equitable solution that I could see while recognizing that we need to be seriously addressing the criteria for how these things are decided in the future.”