32 | SEPTEMBER 2 • 2021 

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trict administrators before 
they had a calendar for 
the 2021-2022 school year 
explaining the timing of 
Jewish holidays in conjunc-
tion with the beginning of 
school. The first day of class 
was Aug. 30 and school is 
open on Rosh Hashanah and 
Yom Kippur. Ser said the 
district moved curriculum 
night in the school where her 
children attend so it would 
not conflict with Erev Yom 
Kippur.
“When I notified the 
school district of the timing 
of the holidays, they were 
very appreciative,” Ser said. 
“And that’s the kind of rela-
tionship parents who are in 
a religious minority need to 
have with the schools.”
As a parent, Ser said 
Farmington Public Schools 
is the kind of school dis-
trict where a principal has 
ordered kosher pizza so her 
children could participate in 
class pizza parties or where 
friends keep their Muslim 
friends company in the 
school office during lunch 
hour when they are fasting 
during Ramadan.
From a professional 
standpoint, Ser said she and 
the rest of the staff at Adat 
Shalom have offered the 
message that whatever deci-
sion families make about the 
High Holidays — whether to 
take off for the entire time, 
part of the time or not at 
all — is the right decision 
for their families. But the 
staff is there to offer sup-
port if families feel like their 
observances of the holidays 
conflict with the pressures of 
public-school calendars.
“Parents should not feel 
obligated to send their 
children to school on Rosh 

Hashanah or Yom Kippur 
because they fear they are 
going to miss out or be 
penalized on those first days 
of school,” Ser said. 
“If families say the school 
is making them feel this 
way, let us know and we are 
here to help you. I say the 
same thing of our students 
who go off to college: We 
will give you the language 
to use to navigate the situ-
ation and recommend who 
you should talk to (at the 
university level). And if that 
does not work, we will make 
a phone call. Because Adat 
Shalom college-age students 
will always be our kids, even 
when they are away.”
Cindy Weintraub, a life-
long resident of Birmingham 
who now has school-age 
children in the district, said 
she hopes Jews begin to 
collectively speak up about 
the importance of closing 
schools for Rosh Hashanah 
and Yom Kippur.
“We are at a time where 
all holidays should be rec-
ognized as a major holiday 
that is observed by a lot of 
people,” said Weintraub. “I 
have approached this with 
them for years, first when I 
was a student and now with 
my own children.”

JEWISH TEACHERS
Jewish teachers who teach at 
public schools fear asking for 
time off for Rosh Hashanah 
because it falls immediately 
after Labor Day. Many are 
hesitant to approach this 
subject with already-strained 
administrators who continue 
to deal with the pandemic. 
Contractually, teachers are 
strongly discouraged from 
asking for a day off after a 
paid holiday. No teachers 

wanted to officially comment 
on the record about this to 
the JN, even under the con-
dition of anonymity.
Maria Lograsso-Gaitens is 
a K-8 educator with Detroit 
Public Schools and an orga-
nizer with the teachers’ labor 
union, MI CORE. She said 
unless a school district is 
completely closed, teachers 
have to ask for religious hol-
idays as a personal day and it 
may go as unpaid time.
Lograsso-Gaitens said 
most negotiated 
contracts pro-
hibit personal 
days to be taken 
after an extended 
break or holiday 
weekend. Taking 
a personal day 
for religious rea-
sons cannot be a reason for 
penalizing a teacher during 
their evaluation as per union 
negotiations, she added.
“Many districts are provid-
ing a waiver to this regard-
ing religious holidays when 
that occurs, and I am seeing 
that for this school year, 

thanks to local unions’ push 
to district leadership,” said 
Lograsso-Gaitens. 
Birmingham Public 
Schools Superintendent 
Embekka Roberson said 
although schools in the dis-
trict are open for the High 
Holidays, it is board policy 

to allow students and staff 
to take time off for religious 
observance.
Teachers are 
not allowed to 
assign homework 
or major projects 
due after these 
holidays nor are 
they allowed to 
present signifi-
cant new material 
or hold quizzes or tests.
Roberson said the district 
intends to teach the whole 
child beyond academics. 
In the district’s efforts to 
encourage inclusivity and 
understanding, a weekly 
newsletter that goes out to 
faculty lists upcoming reli-
gious holidays as well as 
their meaning and signifi-
cance.
“We don’t ever want stu-
dents to feel burdened by the 
fact that they are celebrating 
and observing their religion,” 
Roberson said. 
“It should not have to be 
a choice of giving oneself 
fully to the school calendar 
or celebrating one’s religious 

holidays. 
“We should be able to 
make accommodations if we 
are really talking about cel-
ebrating the whole child. To 
some students, their religious 
observances are part of who 
they are.” 

ROSH HASHANAH

Embekka 
Roberson

Maria 
Lograsso-
Gaitens 

“WE DON’T EVER WANT STUDENTS 
TO FEEL BURDENED BY THE FACT 
THAT THEY ARE CELEBRATING AND 

OBSERVING THEIR RELIGION.”

— BIRMINGHAM SUPERINTENDENT EMBEKKA ROBERSON