Picture from womantalklive.com
It’s tough to be a Jewish kid in a public school sometimes, and we made the decision to send our children to our neighborhood school over our local Jewish day in school in part because it is more like the real world where Jews are, in fact, the minority. So here’s why I am bringing up the subject today.
The last two nights, my family has taken part in holiday Passover Seders. It is traditional to attend a 1st night Seder and often times a second night Seder, as well. I am feeling a little irritated this morning as I am trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes knowing that my daughter has AIMS testing today. Passover Seder nights are later nights than usual for a child (for an adult, too!), and I know that she will be going into her AIMS testing this morning without 100% full rest. That just doesn’t feel right to me.
The school district did consider Passover when scheduling AIMS this year. There was no testing on Tuesday this week due to Passover, but what they overlooked was 2nd night Seders. Today is the last day of AIMS, and I am realizing how wrong that decision was on the district’s part.
I feel partly at fault that I did not bring up the subject earlier when the school calendar was released. It is something I overlooked, however, until Passover really came around. I have so much trust in the school system to know the right thing to do, but honestly…AIMS should never be anywhere near a holiday.
Today, I will be emailing our school Principal to let her know that I feel it was a poor decision, because I want to make certain this does not happen again in the future. I will ask her to refer me to whomever I need to speak to in the district office. It’s annoying to me that I should have to spend part of my day doing this, but really….it actually is important. If I don’t say something, will anyone else think of it?
I also want to set an example for my kids. Sometimes we just have to speak up. Our voices our a powerful tool, and we can’t forget to use them. That is why my song of the day is “That Power” by Will.i. am featuring Justin Bieber. It’s one of my kids’ favorite songs, and I wan’t them to know what “That Power” really is all about. So here is a song for them that they can relate to. Use “That Power”, kiddos!
