School Board Adopts List of Religious Holidays
Huntington School Board members have adopted a list of religious holidays for the 2008/09 school year, paving the way for the district to exclude the dates for state aid purposes should attendance drop as a result of the holidays.
Such adoption is an annual event and is intended to protect district taxpayers. “We are able to exclude from the annual calculation for state aid purposes certain religious holidays that may impact the daily attendance that may occur in one or more buildings,” explained Assistant Superintendent David H. Grackin.
The list of holidays includes the end of Ramadan (Oct. 2), Sukkot (Oct. 14-15), Semini Atzeret (Oct. 21), Simhat Torah (Oct. 22), Milivian Bridge Day (Oct. 28), Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), Eid Al Adha (Dec. 9), Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12), Epiphany (Jan. 6), Feast of the Nativity (Jan. 7), Tu B’shvat (Feb. 9), Shrove Tuesday (Feb. 24), Ash Wednesday (Feb. 25), Lent-Orthodox Christian (Mar. 2), Purim (Mar. 10), St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), Annunication of Virgin Mary (Mar. 25), Holy Friday – Orthodox Christian (April 17), Yom HaSho’ah (April 21), St. George’s Day (April 23), Ascension of Christ (May 21), Shavout (May 29), Corpus Christi (June 11) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 19).
“These holidays have nothing to do with the student calendar, but will be used for computational purposes when the days that they occur are compared to other days of students’ attendance,” Mr. Grackin said. “If a day which was deemed a religious holiday has a low attendance count, we will then be able to exclude that day from attendance calculation.”
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