Keep Fair Day Friday

GladeValley.net strongly supports starting the school year after Labor Day, and keeping Fair Day on Friday of The Great Frederick Fair.

Fair Day has been part of the entire community for 136 years. We imagine that only Christmas, which became a legal holiday in 1870, has been a school holiday longer.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of days off that do little to nothing for the community or the students as a whole.

How many kids are missing school for Rosh Hashana? How many for any Jewish holidays?

According to The Berman Jewish Databank, a project of The Jewish Federations of America, the Jewish population of Frederick County in 2011 was about 1,200. According to the Census Bureau, that is 0.514% of the population in Frederick County.

According to the American Jewish Population Project of The Cohen Center For Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, Frederick County’s Jewish population is 0.56%

Using the percentage of youth, we can calculate that there were 212 school-aged Jewish children in Frederick County.

This year, Frederick County Public Schools enrollment stood at 41,378 children. If every Jewish child actually celebrates this High Holy Day, 0.514% of the students in Frederick County would miss school. That number is surely high, because only 62% of American Jews consider themselves religiously observant. That would put the rate of absence for religious observance at 0.318% or 131 students.

What impact does this have? Can these children not make up their missed assignments? We truly believe that their absences should be excused and they should be given the opportunity to make up missed work. That being said, the numerous days off for religious holidays celebrated by a very small population does more harm than good to the education of our youth.

More children actively participate, 150 youth exhibitors, by showing animals in The Great Frederick Fair. Even more enter projects in the buildings with crafts, baked goods, and more. They all demonstrate the many skills learned outside of the classroom.  4-H and FFA members see the culmination of their project work graded and show what they’ve learned to the community as a whole. They all make up their missed assignments, and many miss the entire week of school.

Almost 12,000 children aged 18 and under attended the fair on Kids Day this year. They see and learn about agriculture and more; the STEM showcase happens that day.

Kids Day started in 1880. The Great Frederick Fair stands as a constant cultural bond for Frederick County residents. In the 18th Century, families of German decent held events that served as early versions of what would become the fair. By the mid 19th Century, the community formalized and organized the events into one large event.

Today, we have the largest industry in our county educating the community, those youth interested in pursuing careers in that industry, and promoting that industry. The Great Frederick Fair is a large hands-on classroom that teaches things kids cannot learn in a school setting.

Other days off include birthdays of historically important people. Why are schools closed for these days? Children should be learning about why these people matter to their own lives and the nation as a whole. While the state may mandate these days off, the Board of Education should be strongly voicing opposition to these mandates rather than opposing a calendar that starts after Labor Day.

The ridiculous conference schedules that skirt the definition of a full day cause more harm than good, also. Four hours late openings, three and a half hour early dismissals, and different schedules for different schools wreak havoc in the lives of families and employers arranging job schedules and child care. Children are completely discombobulated by the chaos wrought by these schedules.

Why do children annually get Repudiation Day off? This is a lost tradition in Frederick County and has lot of meaning locally and for our nation. Children should be in school learning about the important role their community played in the Revolutionary War. It is something to be proud of as residents of this county.

Families and the community, as a whole, celebrate and learn together at the fair. The fair connects agriculture to the rest of the community. People who have moved from Frederick County return annually for this event that binds us. It is part of being from Frederick County. Just as pride in our role in the repudiation of the Stamp Act once bound us, Fair Day is another special part of Frederick County.

The impact of celebrating Fair Day does far more good for our community, and the education of our students than dismissing more then 41,000 children from schools for 132 children to celebrate their religious heritage, or letting children go shopping and hang-out on the birthdays of our founding fathers and greatest civil rights leader.

As such, we urge the Board of Education to maintain Fair Day. There are plenty of other days to cut from the calendar. Just last month, there was one full week of school. This month, there will be one full week of school. Of the first twelve weeks of school, there have been only five full weeks.

Keep fair day on Friday, and stop the insanity that is your calendar.