District 28 Students in School on Columbus Day; Off for Yom Kippur

NORTHBROOK, IL - Students in Northbrook School District 28 will be in school on Columbus Day this year, but will have an off day two days later in observance of Yom Kippur.

District spokesperson Terry Ryan said the decision came from the board of education and was made after noticing a rarity in the religious calendar.

Normally, students in the district are off for Rosh Hashanah, Columbus Day and Yom Kippur. But this year’s religious calendar had Rosh Hashanah on Monday, Oct. 3, Columbus Day on Monday, Oct. 10 and Yom Kippur (which is always 10 days after Rosh Hashanah) on Wednesday, Oct. 12. The board decided against having all three days off this year because it would give students a four-day week followed by a three-day week.

“So the decision was made for students to remain in school for Columbus Day,” said Ryan, who noted that the conflict usually isn’t an issue since the religious holidays are usually in either late September or late October and do not conflict with Columbus Day.

The students will be off of school an extra day over winter break to make up for the absence of the Columbus Day holiday this year.

No reason was provided as to why Yom Kippur, instead of Columbus Day, would remain as the off day.

“No one ranked the holidays...that didn’t come up,” Ryan said, adding that it had nothing to do with any moral objection to Columbus Day.

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