Gov. Larry Hogan’s executive order requiring Maryland school systems to start classes after Labor Day and end by June 15 could have repercussions well beyond what happens inside the classrooms. Some faiths may be forced to decide which is more important: classwork or religious observance.
“It greatly constrained the school board, and it puts our hard-won victory at risk and other religions at risk, too,” Saqib Ali said. “I’m really concerned, and I’d like to help oppose it in any way that I could.”
Ali was co-chairperson of the Equality for Eid Coalition, which fought for Muslim holidays to be days off on the Montgomery County Public Schools calendar. As a result of the effort, the county Board of Education decided last year to strip religious references to all days off.
Eid al-Adha was scheduled this year for Monday. The school board moved a professional development day to coincide with the holiday, meaning teachers had to work but students got a day off. The holiday is a time of prayer and social gatherings among Muslims.
By Maryland law, public school calendars must include days off for Christmas Eve through Jan. 1, Good Friday and Easter Monday. The districts also must take off Thanksgiving Day and the day after, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, and primary and general election days.
For years, Montgomery County schools also have closed schools for the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, said Steven Adleberg, education outreach director for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
Adleberg said he serves on the committee that will develop MCPS 2017-18 school calendar. Its first meeting is Wednesday, and the panel is anticipating Hogan’s order will be overturned.
“I guess we’ll receive our marching orders so to speak,” Adleberg said. “I would guess the committee will be tasked with providing at least two alternative calendars: one with an after-Labor Day opening, and one with a prior to Labor Day opening, to fit either scenario.”
The school board has until the end of the year to pass a calendar for 2017-18, board president Michael A. Durso said. He said it’s “easier said than done” getting the required 180 days between Labor Day and June 15, as dictated by the executive order. The order also allows school districts to seek a waiver to stay open past June 15.
The board could be facing a scenario that puts religious holidays in jeopardy, Durso said.
However, he said the state’s attorney general could weigh in on the legality of the executive order or the legislature could override it.
“I don’t know how much stomach they have in taking on a very popular governor,” Durso said. “And with legislation, it would need to be veto proof.”
But if legal or lawmaker action doesn’t come until the General Assembly session that starts in January, it would be after the school system had already approved its calendar for the next school year.
And snow also could be a factor. In the last two academic years, the school system has lost 10 and seven days to snow, Durso said. In previous years, MCPS has added days in anticipation of canceling school.
