The Detroit Federation of Teachers has withdrawn a request to have Detroit’s public schools closed on the Jewish High Holy Days this year, it was announced by Mary Ellen Riordan, president of the Federation. She said that the request was withdrawn on the understanding that the number of substitutes would be sufficient on those days to take the place of absent, observant Jewish teachers.
Robert S. Melamed, chairman of the Detroit Teacher Committee for More Vigorous Union Leadership, an opposition group within the Federation, said that his organization would continue to demand the closing of the public schools on the High Holy Days. He said that substitutes have never been in adequate supply for the holidays, and that non-Jewish teachers have had to suffer unbearable teaching loads on those occasions. The Jewish teachers, he added, had to use their sick leave on those holidays.
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