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LOGAN MABEThis year, the Sickles High homecoming falls on Rosh Hashana. That puts some Jewish students in a bind.
TAMPA - High school senior Justin Zellinger has some big decisions to make in the coming week. Does he participate in his homecoming festivities? Go to the Friday night football game? Attend the big dance the following night?
Or, because Sickles High School officials scheduled homecoming during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, on Sept. 26 and 27, does Zellinger skip the fun to honor his faith? Does he choose religious observance over a teenage rite of passage?
"As much as he'd love to go to the football game, he just doesn't feel that it's the right thing to do," said Justin's mother, Ellen Zellinger. "I think he made an admirable choice to put his religion first, but I don't think the school should have put him in the position of having to make that choice."
Fall is a season overflowing with traditions both on the gridiron and in the synagogue. High schools everywhere block out Friday and Saturday night combos to recognize alumni, watch their football teams score easy victories and host their students at high fashion dances.
It also is a time when people of the Jewish faith observe their new year, leading off a 10-day period of reflection and repentance.
Things became even more uncomfortable at Sickles after a Jewish newspaper carried a story that made an administrator of the high school in northwest Hillsborough appear dismissive of the holiday's importance to Jewish students.
"It's left us in a very uncomfortable position," Ellen Zellinger said.
Rosh Hashana begins at sundown Sept. 26. It continues through Sept. 27 or Sept. 28 for members of Judaism's different denominations.
Kickoff for Sickles' homecoming game against Newsome High is at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 26. The dance, at the University of South Florida Marshall Center, will take place the night of Sept. 27.
Sickles assistant principal and athletics director Nelson Duarte said the school district scheduled the game, and indeed, high schools throughout Hillsborough County have games that night. A committee at the school designated that weekend as homecoming, largely because that was when the Marshall Center was available.
Duarte said he worked with a staff member who is Jewish in selecting the dates. Sickles had three home football games that could have served as homecoming games, but only the game on Sept. 26 coincided with an available date for the dance hall, Duarte said.
In gauging the impact the conflict would have on Sickles students, Duarte said he consulted several Jewish teachers and determined that about 100 students are Jewish. Duarte said he may have erred in thinking the holiday was a one-day event rather than a weekend-long observance.
"I didn't realize it was a two-day holiday," said Duarte, who tried unsuccessfully to change the date of the game. "I figured we were out of the woods."
Far from it.
Last week the Jewish Press of Tampa newspaper, a free tabloid delivered to Jewish households, carried a story on its front page that paraphrased Duarte's remarks. The article had Duarte dismissing the issue, estimating that of Sickles' 2,100 students, 100 are Jewish and only 10 practice their religion.
Duarte says the article misrepresented his comments. "What I told them is, the information I had gotten from the teachers was that there were about 100 Jewish children and 10 of them were Orthodox. I never said it wasn't a big deal."
Mindy Rubenstein, the Jewish Press reporter, said she stands by her story. "That came from him," she said. "That's how he said it, and that really summed up his attitude when I spoke with him."
Since the article appeared, about a half-dozen parents have called the school, some saying they represented other Jewish families as well. Duarte said most were more concerned with the date of the dance than the game.
"In any given year, this could affect any school in the district, and they've got to make a wise choice," said school district spokesman Mark Hart. "We have a lot of different faiths within our population, and it's always going to be a challenge to be sensitive to key observances in each faith."
Rabbi Brian Zimmerman of Temple Beth Am in Carrollwood, called the conflict an "unfortunate situation," but said Sickles officials took the proper steps before setting the dates by consulting Jewish staff members.
Leslee Gollins' son is another student faced with the tough choice. "He'd love to go to the homecoming but he can't do it," she said. "I just don't think they're being very fair."
Faced with the identical dilemma, Countryside High School in Pinellas County recently rescheduled its homecoming game in response to parents' complaints. The football game will take place on Thursday, Sept. 25. But they could not reschedule the Sept. 27 dance. Of Pasco County's nine high schools, none has homecoming festivities planned for Rosh Hashana weekend.
In addition to Sickles and Countryside, Robinson High School in South Tampa will hold its homecoming game and dance on Rosh Hashana weekend, but athletics director Tommy Morrill said it hasn't been a cause of concern.
"We haven't heard from any of our student body or parents," Morrill said. "We are sensitive to observed holidays, and I think we do a good job in our district planning around those holidays. But we haven't heard anything in our community."