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Schools handle High Holiday scheduling conflict.
DIANA LIEBERMAN
StqffWriter
y
ou don't have to be Jewish
to know Rosh HaShana
5761 begins at sundown on
Friday, Sept. 29.
And you don't have to follow high
school sports to know the majority of
high school football games are played
on Friday nights, games that affect not
only the football players, but band
members, cheerleaders and everyone's
families and friends.
With this year's Friday evening start
to Rosh HaShana, several local schools
found themselves scrambling to
reschedule league football games on a
date that would be agreeable to all.
The stakes were especially high in
the Walled Lake Consolidated School
District, where many Jewish students
attend. Walled Lake Western High
School, the 1999 and 1997 state foot-
ball champion, had been scheduled to
host Plyinouth Canton this year on
erev Rosh HaShana. Walled Lake
Central High School was set to go to
Plymouth Sept. 29 for Plymouth Salem
High School's homecoming game.
Both contests now have been
rescheduled for Thursday, Sept. 28,
but not without some ruffled feathers
among Plymouth parents.
In an article dated July 20, 2000,
Plymouth Observer reporter Tony
Bruscato quoted parent Janet Early,
whose son is a linebacker for
Plymouth Salem. "This isn't really
about religion, it's about principle,"
Early said. "If Walled Lake or any
other district wants to change the
schedule, they need to take it up with
the league or drop out."
Ron Schenck, a Plymouth Canton
High School parent, who is Jewish,
said he had no bad feelings about the
incident. "Rosh HaShana is more like
a party holiday," he was quoted as say-
ing, "not like Yom Kippur. If I had to
make a decision, my son would have
played Friday night."
Plymouth Schools Athletic Director
Brian Wolcott is familiar with the
quandary. "As I explained to our par-
ents, this isn't the first time we have
had to reschedule around Jewish holi-
days. It has affected most other fall
sports in the past. The Farmington
Schools have checked with the Jewish
community for a long time."
.
David Yarbrough, Walled Lakes'
athletic director, said his district has
specifically avoided scheduling Walled
Lake Central events on Jewish holi-
days for four years, and Walled Lake
Western for two years.
The Farmington, Walled Lake and
Plymouth schools all belong to the
Western Lakes Activities Association,
which arranges game schedules about
two years in advance, Yarbrough said.
Recognizing the conflict with Rosh
HaShana last winter, he said he was
able to reschedule with the Plymouth
schools by spring.
"Everyone in the Western Lakes
Activities Association has been very
cooperative," Yarbrough said. "Change
is always hard, especially when it does-
n't affect your community like it does
other communities:"
The Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit distributes a
five-year calendar listing Jewish holi-
days and festivals to all public schools
in the tri-county area as well as to uni-
versities and legislators.
"It worked the way it was supposed
to," said Rabbi Marla Feldman,
JCCouncil's assistant director. "When
Walled Lake saw this date on the cal-
endar, they immediately contacted
Plymouth, and Plymouth, to their
credit, was willing to accommodate
Walled Lake's policy."
Walled Lake was not the only
school system with a sizeable Jewish
population that had a game scheduled
by its league on erev Rosh HaShana.
Since last spring, the Sept. 29 football
game between Birmingham Seaholm
and Ferndale high schools has been
changed to Sept. 28. However,
Bloomfield Hills Andover still plans to
travel to Royal Oak for Dondero High
School's homecoming game, which
will be played at 4:30 p.m.
Among other districts with Jewish
students, the West Bloomfield and
Farmington districts need no changes
in their football schedules — they
originally planned their football games
for Thursday, Sept. 28. That date, too,
was always on the league schedules for
the match-ups of Berkley vs.
Birmingham Groves and Bloomfield
Hills Lahser vs. Hazel Park. ❑
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