The Barrington School Committee will not remove religious holidays from the school district’s calendar. 

In a narrow vote inside a crowded meeting room on Thursday night, May 22, the committee opted to have the district observe the same four religious holidays as they have in the past — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Good Friday and Eid al-fitr. 

Committee members Liz Singh and TJ Peck voted against the motion to keep the religious holidays unchanged. 

Singh said she wanted to add the Hindu holiday Diwali, which falls on Monday, Oct. 20 this year. She said she received a lot of emails from residents who wanted to see this holiday added to the slate of those observed by the school district. 

Committee member Frazier Bell said that if officials wanted to add Diwali (or any other religious holidays) they needed to remove another day off. That sent committee members searching the current calendar for holidays and professional development days that could possibly be eliminated.

Committee member Tim McNamara pointed to February break. He said officials have told him that the vacation week is a good time for some “deep cleaning” at the schools. McNamara also said he heard from other people who feel that the week off is a little unnecessary. He said the district could shrink the five-day break into a four-day or three-day vacation instead, which would allow for the addition of Diwali to the calendar.

That yielded some push-back from Bell. 

He said shrinking February break would make it difficult for families that travel to far-off destinations. (Some residents in the audience grumbled, stating that not all families have the means to travel to Florida, the islands, or other exotic locales.)

Officials eyed a March professional development day. One of the committee members said that the PD was used for Barrington High School Senior Project presentations.

“Let’s get rid of Senior Project,” said committee chairman TJ Peck. He quickly added that he was just kidding. 

Bell said he was not going to support a school calendar that pushed classes beyond the Juneteenth holiday. A short time passed as committee members searched for a possible day off that could be eliminated. 

Bell then made a motion to keep the calendar as it currently is, including the four religious holidays. Committee member Karen Rasnick, who has consistently opposed removing the religious holidays, seconded the motion, which passed 3-2 with Peck and Singh voting nay. 

Public feedback

A month ago, school committee members discussed the idea of removing the religious holidays from the calendar but stopped short of voting on the item because they wanted first to hear from the public. 

That wish was granted on Thursday night. 

Dozens of residents filled the Barrington Middle School presentation room — the crowd stood behind the seated school administrators and spilled out into the hallway through the propped-open double doors. 

When Peck opened Thursday night’s discussion to public comment, people began lining up near the microphone. 

Jerald Katz spoke first. The Seaview Drive resident said his children had attended Barrington Schools, graduating years ago. He said the district previously did not observe the Jewish high holy days and residents had been assured that there would not be tests given on those days. Katz said the policy was not followed. (Another longtime resident shared a similar experience later in the meeting.)

Barrington High School student Philip Stein was the next to speak against the removal of religious holidays from the school calendar. He said students do not want to fall behind in their classes, which is what would happen to those who opted to observe religious holidays while the rest of the class continued learning. 

Stein said the change would put students in a difficult position — having to choose between falling behind in class or observing a religious holiday. 

A number of residents, including parents and students, spoke out against the change. So too did Howard Voss Altman. The rabbi at Temple Habonim challenged a previous assertion that there were 46 holidays that people could observe — he said the Rhode Island Department of Education had already narrowed that list to the four heavily-observed religious days. He said 36 out of the 41 public school districts in the state observe the four religious holidays currently on the Barrington School calendar. Rabbi Voss Altman said the five districts that did not observe those holidays did so because they do not have any Jewish students. 

Rabbi Voss Altman also asked committee members to consider the message being sent to students, that they needed to choose between school and their religions. 

Some residents spoke in favor of the change. 

They said it was move toward greater inclusivity if the committee removed the religious holidays from the calendar. They also shared other various reasons for eliminating holidays, including how difficult it was for parents who did not observe religious holidays to find daycare on the days off from school.

A Barrington High School student was particularly passionate about the proposed change to the school calendar. She told committee members that she was a Jew, adding that it was imperative that they keep the religious holidays. The student referenced a proposed policy that would have required students (or their parents) who planned to observe a religious holidays to notify school officials ahead of time, 

The student asked committee members if they were suggesting that a list of all the Jewish students would be compiled by the district. She said that sounds eerily familiar to Nazi Germany. 

“Let’s be better than that,” she said.