Taking a page from Sara's notebook, there are a couple interesting items that came out of last night's school board meeting in Carroll.

Two issues drew in quite a crowd, making the Board of Ed the place to be (seriously... standing room only).

1. Redistricting.  Parents from the neighborhood that feeds into Charles Carroll Elementary have persistently protested the school board's October decision to allow the redistricting of some neighborhood children - 37, to be exact - to the new elementary school currently under construction, Ebb Valley Elementary.  Several parents were seen (and heard) during the school board's last meeting, when they marched around the central office building with signs, protesting the vote.
Last evening, their efforts paid off: the board voted to reverse its decision - 3-2 like the first, with board President Gary Bauer tipping the vote this time.

2. Jewish holiday closings.  A number of Jewish parents, teachers and children came asking the board to reconsider its recent vote on the 2008-2009 calendar, which does not account for Jewish holidays.
Several parents - and students - described the frustration and anxiety that surrounds missing days of school - days that aren't supposed to have scheduled tests/quizzes or new taught material, dances or field trips... but regularly have all of those things, they say.  And several said last night that the pressure/stress surrounding missed days often makes truly enjoying the holiday and its spiritual significance almost impossible.
As one ninth-grader told the board: "It ruins the holidays to have to worry about work that you're going to have to make up."
Not giving the "most holy day" of the Jewish calendar off is "wrong," a parent said.  "I ask the board to make it right."
Teachers like South Carroll High's Lisa Katz also chimed in, mentioning the personal days they have to use up in order to observe their holy days.  She noted that Jewish students aren't alone in their scheduling frustrations: In one year, she had to contend with conference days and grade due dates - among other deadlines - set on holy days.

Now for a bit of background:
Board members voted in October to approve the superintendent's proposed calendar for the 2008-2009 school year.  
This version eliminated Oct. 9, which coincided with Yom Kippur, as a school closing date.  The district's calendar committee had originally suggested closing that day to be consistent with several other school systems that close on that day - and because residents have made such recommendations.  
But at that meeting, the district's legal counsel pretty much nixed the idea of doing something just because other school systems do it.  Schools could only close if there were "an adverse impact on attendance.... You cannot close simply because it is a religious holiday," Rochelle S. Eisenberg, the district's legal counsel, said at the time.
A report on staff and student absences on selected religious holidays in 2005 indicates that Carroll schools don't fit the bill on the attendance count, either.... student absences on Yom Kippur were about the same as a randomly selected day in September.

Whew.  Obviously these kinds of issues affect school systems near and far... any thoughts on closing for Jewish (or other religious) holidays?  Or, in a completely unrelated vein, do any of you have tales of boundary-line battles - and victories - you'd like to share?