The Kentucky Attorney General’s office has reaffirmed an earlier decision that emergency leave may not be given to Jewish teachers so that they may observe their holidays.
Asst. Atty. Gen. Carl Miller said that allowing them leave would be “a discrimination made in their favor which is not made for members of any other faith.” He said that Kentucky schools do not observe any holidays which are not secular holidays, adding that “Thanksgiving and Christmas have religious connotations but are also thoroughly secular.” The opinion was issued in response to a request from Jefferson County (Louisville) school officials to reconsider the decision handed down earlier this year. Such decisions are law unless overruled in court.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
