14 | MARCH 21 • 2024 
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West Michigan cou-
ple, both attorneys, 
and their children 
have reached a landmark set-
tlement with Portage Public 
Schools that enables Jewish 
students to observe religious 
holidays without missing out on 
important school events.
Saraphoena Austin Koffron 
and Mike Koffron, owners of 
Austin+Koffron in Kalamazoo, 
which specializes in family law, 
have three children, Blue, 25, 
Minaleah, 19, and a younger 
child now in fourth grade 
whom they prefer not to name. 
 The school system over 
a year ago announced that 
Minaleah’s graduation from 
Portage Northern High School 
was scheduled for a Friday 
night; it was also the festival 
of Shavuot. Though the date 
was still four months out, the 
district refused to consider 
changing it, and Minaleah, now 
a freshman at Michigan State, 
missed it. 
Over the years, Minaleah 
and her siblings missed many 
school events, including annual 
dances, fifth-grade field trips to 
the middle school and orchestra 
competitions because they were 
scheduled on Friday nights or 
Jewish holidays, despite their 
parents’ efforts to get the dates 
changed. Minaleah’s graduation 
was the final straw.
The lawsuit, listing as plain-
tiffs Mike Koffron, Minaleah 

Koffron and her younger broth-
er, alleged that the school sys-
tem and the named defendants 
(school administrators) main-
tained practices that denied 
Jewish students their right to 
an equal educational opportu-
nity under the Elliott-Larsen 
Civil Rights Act of 1976 and 
their right, under the Michigan 
Constitution, to freely exercise 
their religion without coercive 
pressure. The lawsuit alleged 
a systemic failure within the 
school system to adhere to its 
own nondiscrimination policy.
The Koffrons were not 
requesting special treatment, 
said Saraphoena. Neither were 
they seeking punitive damages, 
although the settlement does 
provide payment for their 
expenses and fees as attorneys. 
“We were simply insisting 
that the school district comply 
with Michigan law,
” she said.
Under the terms of the con-
sent judgment, approved by the 
Hon. Curtis J. Bell of the Ninth 
Circuit Court for Kalamazoo 
County on March 8, the school 
system agreed to maintain an 
annual district-wide holiday 
calendar that provides notice 
of and recognizes religious 
minority holidays. The district 
will not schedule major events, 
including school dances, grad-
uations, tryouts, open houses 
and examinations, on Jewish 
holidays or Shabbat. The agree-
ment also provides a means 

to include holidays of other 
minority religions.
The Koffrons both grew up 
in Southeast Michigan and 
graduated from Michigan State 
University and Wayne State 
University Law School. They 
were married at Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek, where 
Saraphoena was active with the 
Sisterhood, and lived in Berkley 
and Oak Park for many years. 
Their older children attended 
Hillel Day School until the 
family moved to the Kalamazoo 
area. Saraphoena describes 
the family as “observant 
Conservative.
”
While the Jewish population 
of Kalamazoo is relatively small, 
the community supports a 
Reform temple, a Conservative 
synagogue and a Chabad center. 
Members of the community 
remember similar problems 
with school calendars going 
back to the 1950s and 1960s, 
Saraphoena said. 
The Koffrons started their 
effort to bring about a policy 
change more than a decade ago. 
“There was lots of back and 

forth,
” Saraphoena said. “We 
tried to give them the benefit 
of the doubt; maybe they didn’t 
understand, maybe we were 
reaching out to the wrong 
people.
 “It was a monumental task. 
Their budget was over $100 
million, and they had litigation 
insurance,
” she said. “We filed 
18 depositions.
”

SETTLEMENT REACHED
On March 6, Portage Public 
Schools announced the 
settlement. The district agreed 
to:
• Maintain an annual district-
wide religious holiday 
calendar that provides notice 
of, and recognizes, religious 
minority holidays
• Provide religious sensitivity 
training to staff
• Avoid Jewish holidays and 
Shabbat when scheduling 
major events 
• Provide an avenue to include 
specific religious holidays 
of other minority religions, 
such as Islamic holidays and 
Hindu holidays

Landmark 
Settlement

Lawsuit ends exclusion of 
Jewish students from school 
events in Portage school district.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Minaleah Koffron 
 
at the March 
for Israel in 
Washington, D.C.

