OH: Religion Skip Days
You've probably heard of Senior Skip Days, the odious tradition of 12th graders taking a day off just for being seniors, just cause they felt like it (yeah, I was never a fan).
Well, Ohio will now go one better. They have just passed HB 214, creating Religious Expression Days. (This is actually not the first time this bill has been brought up.)
Under the new law, each public school must adopt a policy that “reasonably accommodates the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of students; to require each public school to adopt a policy regarding certain expectations related to the performance of staff member professional duties.”
The policy must allow students to skip up to three days of school for "reasons of faith or religious or spiritual belief system or participate in organized activities conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or other religious or spiritual organization."
And if you are imagining that this policy is ripe for abuse, the policy says that the school must approve the absences "without inquiry into the sincerity of a student’s religious or spiritual belief system." Also, students will still be eligible to participate in sports on the days they missed school for their religious thing. Teachers will provide make-up work or an alternative test if needed. The school is allowed to require a parent's signature to okay the students' religious time off.
All right. It's marginally better than having the school rule on which religions are "legit." And I can see the value of such accommodations for all the religious holidays that aren't Christian and therefor already baked into the school calendar. But that doesn't seem to be where this is coming from. As reported at Mahoning Matters:
“Ohio’s recent political climate has raised concerns that Ohio’s K-12 public school teachers, staff and students may face negative consequences for expressing certain political perspectives or failing to conform to specific ideological viewpoints,” bill sponsor Rep. Adam Holmes, R-Nashport, told the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee during testimony. “More directly, concern is growing that employment, funding, promotion, certifications, and classroom evaluations in Ohio’s public schools are increasingly tied to demonstrated support for specific ideologies and political opinions.”
Given that Adam Holmes has previously backed Ohio's parental rights bill and a bill to exempt homeschoolers from oversight and accountability, I don't think he's worrying about how conservative christianists are imposing their world view on others.
But I also fully expect the Satanic Temple to start sponsoring Three Days Of Rational Activity time off for students. And that's even before the students themselves start getting creative. "I need a day off to go worship at my beloved First Church of Because I Feel Like It." I reckon one unexpected consequence of this law will be a huge rise in the number of Ohio students and parents who develop a habit of putting the word "religion:" in air quotes. Maybe this is supposed to increase respect for religion, but I don't think that's how it's going to play out.
The law also includes some section about not allowing schools to inquire into staff beliefs when hiring. It does not, however, extend to staff the privilege of taking three religious holidays per year. Nor does it explain how this dovetails with the rising alarm over school absenteeism.
School districts have 90 days to get that policy whipped up. Presumably they will not be able to demand an extension for religious reasons.
I remember taking a day off from school in 8th grade to prepare for confirmation. I think that many districts already find ways to deal with this. In the small district I retired from, there was one night a week that we were not allowed to schedule any events. No sports, concerts, conferences, etc. It was called Family Night but was the night that all the local churches scheduled their religious instruction or youth nights. The other districts in the area chose the same night in conjunction with their community churches so there were no sport conflicts. When kids needed to be out for a religious activity for some reason, they were excused. My Jewish colleague always took off the High Holy Days in the fall and the district let him put in equal hours on his own. (He usually just filed for the extra days in the summer when he was putting in extra prep time getting ready anyway.) We had a Muslim family and the kids were excused for holidays as requested. You don't need laws to deal with these issues, just some common sense.
My Jewish neighbors had two boys who had perfect attendance all the way through school, yet they never got that award because they took off for the high holy days. The mother refused to dispute it because she didn’t want to make trouble. I suggested I would do it on their behalf, but she still said no. So for families like theirs, I can see the value in allowing this. Otherwise, I agree it’s not quite what it seems.