Since the 1990s, Wellesley Public Schools have been closed on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday. For a number of years, requests have been made to add additional religious/cultural holidays observed by members of the community to the calendar. In December 2023 the School Committee voted to add three holidays to the 2024-2025 Academic Calendar: Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr, and Diwali.
This past spring, a task force was appointed to study the recognition of religious/cultural holidays in the Academic Calendar and make recommendations. The Task Force considered a number of options, ranging from recognizing state and federal holidays only to this year’s model with 6 holidays.
As you know, the Academic Calendar Task Force presented a recommended calendar model to the School Committee last month. This model, referred to as the “4-Static Holidays” option, retained Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Lunar New Year as holidays, and added either Eid Al-Fitr or Eid Al-Adha (depending on the year.) It removed Good Friday and Diwali as holidays.
Since that announcement, our Pastor, Fr. Jim, and Kelly Meraw, our Director of Pastoral Care and Liturgy, have both spoken at recent School Committee meetings to explain the centrality of Good Friday in Christian belief and worship. We are grateful to all who have taken the time to share their thoughts with the School Committee, both during public comment and via email. Thank you for recognizing that while we are speaking on behalf of our own Catholic Christian community, we are also in solidarity with the other faith/cultural communities involved in this discussion. In particular, we want to thank our high school students and the students from other faith/cultural traditions who spoke so eloquently about their own personal faith journeys and practices. A number of students shared how meaningful it has been this year to have their holidays recognized not only by their town but also by their friends and neighbors.
At the November 19 meeting, the committee stressed that the Task Force was operating with nothing but positive intent in recommending the “4-Static Holidays” option. At the same time, they acknowledged the tremendous amount of thoughtful feedback they have received from the community since the recommended option was announced.
The committee is now leaning toward two new, “rotating” models, each representing a compromise that attempts to balance inclusivity with academic continuity and length of the school year. These rotating models take into account the fact that almost every year, a number of holidays fall on a weekend, or on another holiday, or during a break, allowing another to be “rotated in.” We are grateful that Good Friday, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur are retained as holidays in both models. At the same time, we recognize that these models represent compromise, not equity. During this process, our Catholic Christian community experienced what it was like to be told that a day central to our Christian belief and worship no longer warranted a school holiday. We must remember that other faith/cultural communities in our town have been receiving the same message about their holidays for years.
Please visit the School Committee website to access more details about these options and to watch a recording of the School Committee discussion: wellesleyps.org/schoolcommittee The next School Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 10.