While other local districts have school on some major religious holidays, such as Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, and Eid-al-Fitr, FCCPS does not beginning in the 2021-22 academic year.

Dr. Susan Zernik, an English teacher at Meridian, was a part of the calendar committee that decided on the new holidays.

“I think it really was that they wanted to make it fair to everyone,” Zernik said. “They felt that our push here at Falls Church is all about equity and being fair to everyone.” 

According to Zernik, the committee looked at statistics and saw that there was a “large Jewish population” within the staff and students. 

Many students may have been left with questions about this change to the calendar. Now that these holidays give students more days off, many are left wondering how other students – those who celebrate the holidays and those who don’t – feel about this change. 

According to junior Brandon Werbel, many non-Jewish students are happy that they got to stay home, even if they don’t celebrate the holidays.

Freshman Bella Brooks said she doesn’t mind having religious holidays off while senior Audrey Dubios says that having those major holidays off gives her more time to complete college applications.

Werbel added that when FCCPS had school on religious holidays, it was “stressful” for those who participate because school continued while he had to stay home to participate in the holiday. 

“By [FCCPS] taking those days off, we were kinda relieved of the pressure of doing schoolwork on days we weren’t supposed to,” junior Hope Kleinberg said. “I had to do homework instead of celebrating the holiday, and I got behind on work since I wasn’t there and missed work assigned that day.”

Zernik says the calendar decision supported this sentiment. 

“They wanted to make it fair [so] that we wouldn’t have to take days off and have that conflict of, ‘do I stay in school or do I take time off for the Jewish holidays?’” she said.

Like Brandon and Hope, Zernik has a personal connection with this change. 

“As someone who is Jewish, I thoroughly appreciate it. It made me feel acknowledged. Having those holidays off meant everything to me. It did this old woman’s heart good to have those days off and to really feel like my religion mattered — like I mattered.”