Lunar New Year and Eid al Fitr might become the newest school holidays in Hopkinton, as the school committee weighs a proposal to update the school calendar.
The district surveyed families about holidays back in 2018 amid population growth and changing demographics, and it found less than 65% of its families were white — down from around 90% a decade ago. Based on the survey results, the school board is weighing three proposals: keep the calendar as it is, add Lunar New Year and Eid al Fitr or eliminate all days off for religious holidays.
Schools currently take off for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali and Good Friday, as well as all federal holidays, which include Christmas.
The board debated the proposal at its meeting last week, and plans to vote at its next meeting on Feb. 3.
Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh supports the proposal to add two more holidays to the school calendar. She thinks disruption to the school year will be minimal because some holidays will fall on weekends year to year, and that occasional additional days off will promote student mental health.
Cavanaugh also worries about students who might want to take off for holidays but feel pressured to come to school so they do not fall behind.
“Our kids sometimes will say, ‘I would love to have been at home ... but I didn’t take the time because of academic stress and pressure,’” Cavanaugh said. “Sometimes they do take it and even while they’re trying to observe a religious or cultural event, it’s stressful for them.”
Still, some members of the school board worry about learning disruptions, and would prefer to see schools give no days off for religious holidays, rather than add days off.
“I’m thinking about all those kids whose rhythms are continually disrupted by, say, the many holidays we have this fall, especially kids with disabilities or who have so-called special needs. And so where are they in this equation?” said School Committee member Meg Tyler at the board meeting last Thursday. “I do understand people have great faiths and spiritual lives, which are profound and meaningful, but we are a public educational institution.”
Proponents of the plan argued at the board meeting that eliminating all religious holidays would also be disruptive to education because schools could end up having large swaths of teachers and students out for major holidays.
Student representative Jessica Ianelli added that many students support the calendar proposal. “Inclusivity is a value that is very strongly held among the student population,” she said at the meeting last week.
Hopkinton Teachers Association President Becky Abate views potential calendar changes as just a first step when it comes to inclusivity in a district that has rapidly diversified and in a nation reckoning with race.
“We can talk about being inclusive, but if it doesn’t feel inclusive in the schools, then that’s something that has to be addressed,” she said. “I think perhaps there's some bigger issues that need to be addressed, that really aren’t going to necessarily be addressed by changing the calendar, but it’s certainly, I guess, a step in the right direction.”
