Poway Schools Reschedule for Holy Day

After a public outcry from Jewish officials, the Poway Unified School District announced Wednesday that it will change its school starting date in deference to a major Jewish holiday.

“There was initially some reluctance to make any change, then as the depth of concern surfaced here in the last several weeks, we reconsidered,” said Poway Supt. Robert Reeves, who admitted that a mistake had been made.

The brouhaha began in September, when Jewish leaders discovered that the district had planned the first day of the 1991-92 school year for Sept. 9, which is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year and one of the religion’s two holiest days.

After the concerns were brought to the district, the committee that drew up the calendar considered changing the starting date but decided not to because it would require renegotiating contracts among the district and its three unions, often a lengthy and arduous process.

But, after several stories appeared in the press and the Jewish community threatened a protest, Reeves announced Wednesday that union negotiations were reopened and the district will propose a new opening date to the board.

“We just didn’t really measure in that deep concern that some of the folks had about this date,” Reeves said.

The new opening date will be Sept. 3 or 5, Reeves said.

“I think that’s great,” said Leslye Winkelman Lyons, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation. “I applaud and appreciate their sensitivity. We’re just really glad that they heard the concerns of the community and decided to respond.”

Reeves said scheduling of the first day of school on Rosh Hashanah was completely unintentional and was the result of two unusual events: It was the first time Poway had ever tried to schedule the opening date more than a year in advance, and it is rare that Rosh Hashanah occurs so early in the year.

Lyons said that her group had sent notices to every school district asking them to be sensitive to the holidays on the Jewish calendar.

The school board will vote on the new opening date at its Feb. 12 meeting.