Parents in Farmington, Connecticut, are fuming over the local school board’s decision to drop Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, two of Judaism’s “high holy days,” from the list of school closings, as well as its refusal to add Diwali, a Hindu observance.
School has been closed in Farmington, a town 10 miles west of Hartford, for the two Jewish holy days since 1999. They were dropped from the list of annual closings at a Nov. 14 board meeting, when the proposed Diwali addition was also discussed, board chair Liz Fitzsimmons said in a letter to parents.
The school board voted to retain Indigenous Peoples/Italian-American Heritage Day — a holiday widely known as Columbus Day — and Good Friday, which Christians honor as the day of Jesus’ crucifixion and death.