You indicate in your piece (WW-P News, March 19, “Snow Days Equal Make-Up Days”) that the school board made Wednesday, March 31, a make-up day to not interfere with the religious holidays on Monday and Friday (Passover and Good Friday).
I have been trying to understand the rationale behind destroying the Spring Break week by inserting a working day in the middle of the week. I have been communicating with superintendent Victoria Kniewel and school board chair Hemant Marathe. I got bureaucratic answers from the former indicating that Monday and Friday were out as working days because of some agreement with 12-month employees that designated these as holidays.
This, though teachers told the kids in school and you have confirmed that the real reason that Monday and Friday could not be used as working days is because it disrupted religious holidays for certain religious communities. Mr. Marathe has yet to respond.
While I respect the rights of every person to practice their religious customs and holidays privately, the idea that a school district fashions its policies to accommodate the needs of select religious communities is completely arbitrary and unfair, and to my knowledge, a violation of the separation of church and state.
Additionally, none of the School Board officials seem to be up-front about this. Having to explain to my kids that certain religious holidays are special and certain ones are not is a travesty, and not something that should be required in the United States.
To all fair-minded people in West Windsor — please make this a critical issue as we select the politicians and officials elected to run our schools. Because if these people are so narrow-minded and unable to speak clearly, our kids are lost.
Sabbir Rangwala
West Windsor
