Fairfax declines to add four Jewish, Muslim and Hindu holidays to calendar washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Rabbi Jessica Wainer joined a task force on religious observance created by the Fairfax County School Board last year. The committee was convened to address food, curriculum, clothing, and other religious accommodations. But as its first goal, the group of Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and other minority religion representatives chose what they thought would be the simplest adding a handful of non-Christian holidays to the days schools would be closed.
She and other members of the group had seen students face academic consequences and social pressures for observing their family’s customs. Whether it’s exams on Rosh Hashanah, field trips on Diwali, homecoming games and parties on Eid, or mandatory test-prep sessions on Yom Kippur, the calendar was filled with conflicts forcing students to either sacrifice core parts of their school experience or compromise on their religious obligations.
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A little while ago, I got a package in the mail – filled with great “swag,” as well as a bunch of spiffy new Blue Virginia business cards – from Pete Gibson of Gibson Print. So this post is, of course, to thank him profusely for sending me that, as well as for his ongoing support of Blue Virginia! The point of this post is also to tout Richmond-based Gibson Print, which describes itself as “Union printers and experts in marketing, design and media” whose goal is to “help Democrats and progressives get elected.”
As you can see from the following photos, Gibson Print does superb work – and it’s all union made AND with the recycling logo on almost all of it. So it’s not surprising that Pete et al have helped a lot of Democrats and progressives get elected – their “Wall of Fame” lists, among others: Kenny Boddye (now a Prince William County Supervisor); Joshua Cole (now a Virginia Delegate); Laura Jane Cohen (now a member of the Fairfax Cou