BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick School Board revisited the topic of creating a multi-faith calendar and reviewed a format by Superintendent Paul Perzanoski on Wednesday night. Although public and school board comments were largely welcoming, once more, the plan found opposition.

At a Jan. 13 meeting, the school board first tackled the idea of putting major Jewish holidays on the school calendar to avoid scheduling conflicts. The request put forward by the local Jewish community came after events were scheduled on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The idea was met with opposition by board member Brenda Clough, who said adding the holidays may open the door to others wanting their information placed on the calendar.

“I don’t know how jazzed I am about having outside groups put their information on our school calendar,” Clough said at the time, followed by Janet Connors, who was worried about the separation of church and state.

On Wednesday, Clough said that since their last meeting she had researched school calendars from both a regional and national perspective, referring to them as “silent” on the issue of religion.

“I did a lot of research in the last month and I was looking for how other schools do their calendars, and as I looked at both public and private schools in Maine and also across the United States, I didn’t find much,” Clough said.

Clough said she found religious holidays mentioned in the Boston schools, but found nothing in New York, Chicago, Miami, Texas, New Jersey and California.

“This is all just online research, so I do want to make that preface,” Clough said.

While she spoke, board members Sarah Singer and Teresa Gillis picked up their phones.

“I hate to contradict you, but on the New York City Department of Education public school calendar website, they’re actually closed on Rosh Hashanah, closed on Yom Kippur, closed on Eid al-Adha, Baltimore public schools are, the D.C. public schools are, Los Angles …,” Singer said.

Singer said that apparently the two board members found different things when they searched and offered to send Clough links to the many urban school districts she found that are closed, and that she found the Jewish community’s request all the more modest after further research.

Clough said that she was not just looking at the issue as a board member and suggested the school board look into calendar changes as a policy issue.

Gillis concurred with Singer’s findings, having done a quick search on her phone. She also agreed the Jewish community’s request is modest, considering the number of days other school districts are closed.

Rich Ellis said he didn’t think the board need to “keep digging at this sore,” saying that were it not for Perzanoski’s request to review the new calendar for accuracy, he would rather vote on it right away to put the matter to rest.

Corinne Perreault said she was “floored” and that the school department should be seeking further inclusion and greater tolerance within the community. She said she believed the intent of the calendar change was to further inclusion and that she didn’t see how that could be a negative thing.

Following the meeting, Natasha Goldman, who had led the original request to include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on the calendar, remained positive. Goldman, along with other members of the community stood and spoke during public comments, commending the plans for including their holidays on the calendar.

“It’s been an incredible experience. I feel that people came out of the woodwork on this issue,” Goldman said.

Goldman said she had heard from people of all faiths come out in support of adding Jewish holidays to the calendar. If there was any negativity, Goldman said, it might have been a single comment online.

“I feel more like I belong here than I have in the last five years,” Goldman said. “I feel more rooted and I think that the other folks in the Jewish community and other faiths might feel the same way between the letters in the newspaper, the comments on Facebook, the public comments during the school board meeting have been empowering.”

The school board is set to look at the calendar issue again on March 9 and vote for a final recommendation.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com

The beginning

• AT A JAN. 13 MEETING, the Brunswick School Board first tackled the idea of putting major Jewish holidays on the school calendar to avoid scheduling conflicts. The request put forward by the local Jewish community came after events were scheduled on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

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