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Schools

Board reverses field on calendar

Facing community pressure, the Hillsborough School Board decides a secular calendar was a mistake and restores religious holidays.

By MELANIE AVE
Published November 9, 2005

	[Times photo: Brian Cassella]
	Tampa resident Cynthia Forde told Hillsborough School Board members, "You forgot our creator who created you. You've got to change your mind."

TAMPA - After listening to passionate speeches about God, country, children and tradition, the Hillsborough School Board restored several religious holidays to next year's school calendar, reversing a 2-week-old decision that garnered national attention.

By a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, the board adopted a school calendar similar to the existing one that gives children days off on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Christian Good Friday and the Monday after Easter.

After 24 people spoke, most of them in favor of religious holidays, board members embraced superintendent MaryEllen Elia's recommendation to restore them to the calendar and study the issue further.

A desire to focus on education rather than the controversy over the calendar was the stated reason for the board's about-face. Four of the seven board members changed their opinion on the holidays, saying many people misunderstood what they were trying to do.

"There is so much emotion around this," said board member Carolyn Bricklemyer, who reversed her vote but said she still felt conflicted. "I never wanted to be a part of anything this divisive."

Even though the district spent a year studying the issue, board chairwoman Candy Olson said it did not conduct the discussion as openly as it could have.

"It was never made clear what we were doing," said Olson, who also reversed her vote. "As a result of that we got some bizarre misinterpretations. I think we have some responsibility for that."

Two weeks ago, a majority of board members approved a 2006-2007 calendar that no longer tied vacation days to religious holidays. The religious days were replaced with time off for Washington's birthday in February and two days near the end of the school year.

The only religious holiday left on the calendar was Christmas, which falls during the district's winter break.

Board members and administrators said the secular calendar, which resembled the one in place for years in Pinellas County and dozens of school systems around the nation, treated all faiths the same and more clearly separated church and state.

They said children could take days off for religious observances without being penalized.

Board member Doretha Edgecomb stood by the secular calendar Tuesday.

She compared the arguments she heard by people in favor of religious holidays to those made against women fighting for the right to vote and African-Americans battling segregation. She said she felt the secular calendar was more fair.

"In our war of words, in our sometimes self-serving stances and too often our very myopic views, we have lost sight of the most important thing, our children, all of our children and their right to . . . an equitable education," said Edgecomb, who voted against the religious calendar.

Carol Kurdell, who was absent during the vote two weeks ago, was the other board member who supported the secular calendar. She did not explain her position during the meeting.

Tuesday's vote came a year after the Council on American-Islamic Relations requested all Hillsborough students be given a day off for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the 30-day fasting period of Ramadan. The district's calendar committee studied the issue this summer but forwarded the secular calendar to the board for approval.

The only dissent came from the committee's lone Muslim member.

When the board approved the secular calendar, local Muslims said they feared a backlash from people who would view the action as Muslims causing the end of religious holidays for Jews and Christians.

Many of the 3,500 e-mails received by school officials did in fact blame Muslims, labeling them as foreigners not deserving of holidays in the "Judeo-Christian" United States.

The man who made the Muslim holiday request, Ahmed Bedier, Florida director of CAIR, called Tuesday's vote a "temporary fix."

"I'm disappointed but I'm satisfied. We're back at square one," he said. "If others are getting their holidays it gives us hope we'll get ours as well someday."

Most people who spoke at the meeting asked for the holidays to be restored. At least one man brought a Bible.

"You forgot our creator who created you," Cynthia Forde told board members before the vote. "You keep saying he don't exist. You ain't the boss. We are. We voted you in.

"You've got to change your mind."

Retired educator Carl Crosson called the board's initial decision in favor of the secular calendar intelligent, rational and fair.

"Remain steadfast in your decision," he said.

But Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, who helped give the issue national attention by criticizing the board's decision on the Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, told board members to restore the Christian and Jewish holidays because of tradition, symbolism and the values they represent to Americans.

"Our calendar wasn't broke," he said. "It didn't need to be fixed."

At Blair's urging, the County Commission voted last week to ask the School Board to restore the more religious calendar.

Like the other speakers, Blair was given two minutes to speak Tuesday night. But later in the meeting he refused to stop talking after being asked a question by board member Susan Valdes.

Bricklemyer chastised him for his "lack of respect" and said the calendar issue was a local one that never should have played out nationally.

Blair called the board's reversal on the calendar a wise one.

"I'm merely a messenger," he told board members. "I'm a messenger with the same constituents that you serve."

JANUARY 2001: Hillsborough School Board votes to give all students a day off on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Hillsborough is the first Tampa Bay area district to recognize a Jewish holiday.

DECEMBER 2004: About 30 Muslims ask the School Board to give all county students a day off for Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. The board asks administrators to study the issue.

JANUARY 2005: The School Board adopts a 2005-2006 calendar with days off for Yom Kippur, Good Friday and the Monday after Easter. Board members ask the district's calendar committee to examine religious holidays for other faiths.

JUNE: The committee adopts a calendar with no religious holidays other than Christmas. The only dissenting vote comes from the lone Muslim member. The calendar is forwarded to the School Board.

OCT. 25: The board, by a 5-1 vote, okays the secular calendar.

OCT. 28: Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair blasts the School Board on Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor. Florida Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, urges the board to continue the practice of timing days off with religious holidays.

NOV. 2: The County Commission, at Blair's urging, adopts a resolution asking the School Board to restore religious holidays. The Tampa City Council refuses to approve a similar measure a day later.

NOV. 4: Superintendent MaryEllen Elia says she will ask School Board members to restore religious holidays next year while further studying the issue.

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 00:40:17]