Jewish Holidays' Status In Southington Schools Unknown

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Local school officials are finalizing a new school calendar for 2023-24, but whether that calendar will include Jewish holidays as school holidays is yet to be known.

The Southington Board of Education Dec. 8 had a first reading of the new calendar, but the draft hasn't been released to the public.

According to Southington Superintendent of Schools Steve Madancy, the draft "will be shared with the school community for feedback with adoption at the next board meeting," meeting minutes read.

The Southington superintendent's office re-affirmed the status of the calendar Thursday morning, saying the draft is not being made public until the Southington Public School community sees it.

The school board is expected to gather input and have a second-reading of the calendar at its next meeting, which is slated for Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, at 7 p.m. in the municipal center's public assembly room, 200 N. Main St., Southington.

Regular school board meetings have public comment portions on the agenda, so those looking to comment on the school calendar can do so Jan. 12.

Southington's process to finalize the new calendar comes after one parent gave impassioned testimony asking school officials to do what many area school districts have done — namely make the two most holy Jewish holidays, Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur, school days off.

Bridle Path Drive resident Elyse Krantz, a mother of two in the local school system, has been urging school officials to recognize the holidays, saying other Jewish families in town feel the same way.

Krantz wrote a letter to the board in October and, then, spoke before the Southington Board of Education Nov. 10.

At the subsequent meeting Dec. 8, school board members did not discuss any aspects of the calendar situation, something they didn't do Nov. 10 either.

Currently, the school system excuses absences on the Jewish holidays for pupils and staff members missing time due to them, but they are not official school days off.

Other school districts — such as Hamden, Cheshire, Waterbury, Newington, Farmington, Middletown, Glastonbury and West Hartford — have designated these Jewish holidays as school holidays.

Farmington, however, voted Nov. 14 to discontinue the Jewish holidays as days off, prompting an uproar in the community earlier this month and prompting a reversal of that decision Dec. 5.

From Dec. 2: 'Push Made For Southington Schools To Recognize Jewish Holidays'

From Dec. 6: 'Farmington School Board Reverses Controversial Calendar Vote'

For the minutes of the Dec. 8 Southington Board of Education meeting, click on this link.