School Board Adopts List of
Religious Holidays
Huntington School Board members have adopted a list of religious holidays for the 2012/13 school year, paving the way for the district to exclude the dates for state aid purposes should attendance drop as a result of the holidays.
Such adoption is an annual event and is intended to protect district taxpayers. "We are able to exclude from the annual calculation for state aid purposes certain religious holidays that may impact the daily attendance that may occur in one or more buildings," said Sam Gergis, assistant superintendent for business.
The list of holidays includes Holy Cross Day (Sept. 14), Simchat Torah (Oct. 3), Navaratri (Oct. 16), All Saint's Day (Nov. 1), St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30), St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6), Nativity of Christ (Jan. 7), Nirvana Day (Feb. 4), Shrove Tuesday (Feb. 12), Ash Wednesday (Feb. 13), St. Joseph's Day (March 19), Yom Ha'Atzmaut (April 15), St. George's Day (April 23), Ascension of Christ (May 9), Shavout (May 15-16), Corpus Christi (May 30) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 7).
"These holidays have nothing to do with the student calendar, but will be used for computational purposes when the days that they occur are compared to other days of students' attendance," Mr. Gergis said. "If a day which was deemed a religious holiday has a low attendance count, we will then be able to exclude that day from attendance calculation."