For most of the history of the

United States

, the notion that only Christian holidays warranted school closings was accepted without much challenge. No longer so. Although 77% of Americans still identified themselves as Christian in 2001, that proportion was down from 86% in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. The random telephone survey of just over 50,000 households in 48 states showed that 3.7% identified themselves as affiliated with a non-Christian religion. The survey classified open-ended responses into 35 Christian denominations, 20 non-Christian religions, an unclassified religious group, and several non-religious categories. The largest non-Christian groups were Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Unitarian, Buddhist, and Native American in decreasing order. The largest increase was in the proportion who reported no religious affiliation.[1]

Although the proportion of non-Christians remains small, their members are not uniformly distributed throughout the US, making their presence in some areas more notable than these numbers would suggest. Additionally, changing values regarding the importance of cultural sensitivity have made lessons on multi-cultural traditions a part of mainstream classroom curricula. As a result, schools and school districts across the country struggle with how to handle religious holidays in terms of their calendars and attendance policies, while still adhering to a policy of separation of church and state.

To close or not to close, that is the first question. Few would argue that accommodating 21 separate religious groups’ holidays with school closures would be a practical approach, nor would a general disregard for all religious celebrations, including Christmas. Generally, the closure decision is based on an estimate of likely absenteeism due to any given religious observance. If school administrators deem that too many students and/or teachers are likely to miss school on a given day, they may choose to plan for school closure. So far, courts that have been asked to address school closure policies have accepted that philosophy.[2]

The second question is how to handle individual students’ religious preferences on days when school is in session. Taking a school engagement perspective can help to guide decision-making. If one asks what policies are likely to help make every student feel like a valued member of the school community, and help make every student as successful as possible, answers come into focus. The guiding principle should be that students never be made to choose between religious observance and school success.

NCSE recommends the following policy guidelines for religious holidays on which school is in session:

States should take a broad spectrum of religious holidays into consideration when scheduling mandatory testing.
Schools should designate religious holidays as test and student presentation free days. The calendar should be distributed to teachers and students alike, so the policy can be followed and enforced effectively.
Parents should have the ability to excuse absences due to religious beliefs up to a reasonable number. That number should be predetermined and communicated effectively to all families.
Absences excused due to religious beliefs should allow the same homework and class work extensions as illness or other excused absences.
Consider allowing a limited number of floating holidays. These are days that parents may excuse children for one of a number of qualifying reasons such as religious observance, participation in a special educational activity, attendance at a political event, or contribution to a community service project, etc.

Participation in a religious community is recognized by education researchers as a protective factor contributing to school success. As such, logic dictates that such participation should not be made to conflict with school attendance and academic accomplishment. Innovative workplaces seek employment policies that encourage worker satisfaction in order to minimize staff turnover and improve productivity. Comparable approaches by schools will increase student engagement and motivate learning by accommodating students’ and families’ religious values.