The choice behind school during religious holidays

By Jordan Devlin ‘25

Courtesy of Wikimedia 

When religious holidays occur during the school day, there is always a choice for students of whether to come to school or not; but is there really any choice? This choice could be influenced by the policies surrounding these days. 

At Catlin Gabel School (CGS), there is a short policy about religious holidays and class time included in the faculty handbook. The policy describes how teachers should “avoid homework/assessments and major events” during the Jewish celebrations of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the first night of Passover. Outside of Jewish holidays, the policy doesn’t mention other religious holidays. 

According to Junior Eliana Yoken ‘26, a student leader of the Jewish Student Union (JSU), this policy has been useful for Jewish students who attend services. She said that, although she knows the policy isn’t perfect, it has been helpful not to have homework on the actual days of the holidays, as it can make it a bit less stressful.

While the policy has its perks, there are some places where it falls short. When asked whether she would attend services if there were no worries about school work, Senior and leader of JSU, Zzy Heitner, said: “I would probably skip…half of the day for those types of holidays.” Heitner explained she has skipped school for services on Yom Kippur before, however, there have been times when she has had to come to school while fasting due to the amount of work. 

Additionally, the policy only specifically outlines what should happen with homework and classwork during Jewish holidays. Senior Sofia Rada, a student leader of the interfaith club, mentioned there are times when Christian holidays fall near Jewish holidays, meaning there are already no homework days, but are not perfectly aligned with those built-in extensions, meaning it can be harder to get a different one. Therefore, it can be more difficult to get help than it would be, as students need “to go out of our way to ask for help.”

Aside from just CGS, other schools seem to face the same issue as students at CGS. Nisma Qureshi, a student at Oregon Episcopal School (OES), an independent school in Oregon, wrote an article about religious holidays at their school and reported that students often fell behind from missing school for their celebrations. She quotes students who give examples such as missing a lot of school for the Lunar New Year right before finals week, causing stress due to a lack of accommodations. 

Qureshi suggested that, although it would be impossible to take the day off for every holiday, the best way to mitigate this problem may be to simply educate the staff and students, hoping everyone would become more understanding of the issues.

While it is clear there is an issue with the policy, it is important to look at possible solutions. Heitner said using those days as review days or work periods would be incredibly helpful. Although homework is not supposed to be assigned, missing the classwork can also be problematic for students.  

Therefore, one solution could be to ensure these days are review days for students and outline that no new concepts will be taught on these days. This would mean that students wouldn’t have to make up classwork over the next few days, hopefully relieving stress. While this could mean that the students in class aren’t being as productive in terms of new material, this solution could help students feel more comfortable missing school for their celebrations, which would be a major positive.

Additionally, when asked about possible solutions, Yoken suggested it would be helpful if the policy was better communicated to school faculty. She mentioned that the holidays and policy are sometimes forgotten, as Judaism is not a prominent culture, and she has had assignments accidentally scheduled on those days before.

Rada also mentioned that if she would propose a solution, it would be to “find important holidays in different religions, and add those in for the days with none or little homework.” Specifically, she brought up Easter weekend, as weekends are often a time when more homework is assigned, however, it is a major holiday in the Catholic church. 

While there are many different solutions to the issues with the policy about religious holidays, there are a few main ones that could solve it, such as better communication or adding more holidays to the calendar. Another solution is to have extensions built into the schedule or specific times for students who missed a day to have a review session with the teachers. 

Religious holidays are important to multiple factions of the student body, and, according to student leaders, it is important that the school honors this. There are ways to change and update the policy that could be useful to the overall student body, make the lives of students who miss school for religious reasons easier, and increase the support for these students.