14 | SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022 

continued from page 12
OUR COMMUNITY

and represented. This should 
be an item for discussion at the 
state legislative level next year.
” 

INCENTIVIZING 
COUNT DAY
Whether or not a child 
is excused for religious 
reasons, students are highly 
incentivized to show up to 
school that day. Children in 
attendance are often treated 
to prizes, pizza parties or 
other sweet goodies, or even 
tickets to Detroit Pistons 
games. Parents say teachers 
and faculty promote the 
importance of attending that 
day weeks ahead of time. Some 
feel that even though a Jewish 
student will receive an excused 
absence for missing school 
on Yom Kippur, that does not 
soften the sting of 
feeling left out. 
Sharon Krasner 
is an academic 
dean of a public 
charter high 
school in Detroit 
and has been an 
educator for 24 years, mainly 
in Detroit and Pontiac public 
schools. As a veteran educator 
who has taught in schools that 
do not give time off for the 
Jewish holidays, Krasner said 
her administrators have been 
mostly very accommodating 
in her taking off for Jewish 
holidays. 
While Krasner said Jewish 
kids in districts that do not 
close for the Jewish holidays 
may be missing out on Count 
Day perks, she said the day 
is essential in the Detroit 
Public School District where 
consistent attendance is an 
issue. 
“While I understand the 
perspective that some may 
have for standing up for our 
rights of religious observance, 
there are districts such as mine 

where encouraging consistent 
attendance is an important 
issue because we may not 
even see some children even 
in those 10 days following 
Count Day,
” said Krasner, 
who attends Ohr Chadash 
Synagogue in Oak Park. 
“If a family observes Rosh 
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, 
that family may also make 
choices about where they’re 
going to live or send their kids 
to school.
” 
For privacy reasons, a 
mother who gave the identity 
of Pamela Daniel said she 
has two children who attend 
Avondale School in Troy, 
where schools are not closed 
for Rosh Hashanah or Yom 
Kippur. 
Daniel is going to get her 
children an excused absence 
for the holiday. Even so, she 
said she knows teachers and 
administrators will be making 
announcements to be in 
school in advance of Count 
Day. Incentivizing the day with 
special perks may cause Jewish 
children in districts that stay 
open on Yom Kippur to feel 
marginalized, she added. 
“Missing out on that day is 
just another opportunity for 
Jewish kids to feel ‘othered’ and 
left out,
” Daniel said. “It can 
really cause even more conflict 
for families who want their 
kids to attend or participate 
in services. Kids don’t look at 
Yom Kippur as a fun holiday, 
like Purim, so even in a typical 
year, our children are not 
excited to miss school to go 
to synagogue, knowing they’ll 
have to make up work waiting 
for them, and then on top of 
that, they are missing out on 
parties or other fun events 
planned for Count Day. That 
just adds salt to the wound and 
causes more conflicted feelings 
for our younger children.
” 

Sharon 
Krasner

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