A proposal to close New York City’s schools on both days of Roah Hashanah and on Yom Kippur will be recommended to the city’s Board of Education by Dr. John J. Theobald, superintendent of schools, it was revealed today. The Board will consider the proposal at a meeting in the spring, when it must act on the 1960-61 school calendar.
Until now, none of the Jewish High Holy Days has been an official school holiday in this city although pupils and teachers who wished to absent themselves on those days were permitted to do so. Officially, Good Friday and Christmas have been the only religious holidays recognized by the Board of Education.
Dr. Theobald, confirming his recommendation, stated he was proposing the new holidays to the Board for “administrative” reasons. An estimated 18, 000 of the city’s 40,000 teachers and supervisors, including principals, are Jewish, while the number of Jewish pupils is estimated at about one-third of the 950, 000 pupils in the city’s school system.
As a result of “extensive absences” on the Jewish High Holy Days, Dr. Theobald said, “we have in some school buildings full attendance by non-Jewish children, and almost complete absence of staff, creating a safety hazard which I think we should not risk. In other schools, we have a full staff of teachers and virtually no children. “
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