Ramadan

16 minutes ago, kidzcare said:

Just because something is not blatantly stated, does not mean it is not there.

Yes! We notice. Sighs when I take a day off or my daughter misses school for holidays like first night of Passover but no one would think of coming to school on Good Friday.

33 minutes ago, CampyCamp said:

Yes! We notice. Sighs when I take a day off or my daughter misses school for holidays like first night of Passover but no one would think of coming to school on Good Friday.

It's not a coincidence that Christmas happens to fall into a scheduled 2 week winter break every year.

1 hour ago, CampyCamp said:

Yes! We notice. Sighs when I take a day off or my daughter misses school for holidays like first night of Passover but no one would think of coming to school on Good Friday.

We never have Good Friday off.

26 minutes ago, OldDude said:

When do you think winter break should be?

I don't have a different preference. I'm saying that it's not an accident. Winter goes until March, so Winter Break could easily be anytime from 12/21-3/21.

When we talk about making accommodations for people based on religion, we need to recognize that Christian accommodations are built into the schedule.

7 minutes ago, NutmeggeRN said:

We never have Good Friday off.

We always have. Good Friday and Easter Monday. No school and the district office closes.

57 minutes ago, tining said:

I just sent the info to staff and immediately I got this response from a teacher!

"That is the first message I’ve ever seen addressing what Ramadan looks like for our students (or faculty), and I really, really am moved."

So thank you BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN!!!

We have a very diverse student population.

I love this!

I never knew anything about it until I was in beauty school as a teen (I was a hairdresser before I was a nurse ?) and had 2 classmates observing Ramadan. It was rough for them! We all took 45 minutes for lunch together everyday and they during Ramadan they would take that time away from us because it's hard to watch people eat when you can't.

I worked in a Turkish owned school with many Turkish and Saudi Muslims. The children decided for themselves when to start fasting. For most of them, they “really” started around 4th grade. Earlier than that, they might skip snack, or skip lunches when they were home with their families— basically when they wanted to be “grown-up” but their families didn’t think they were ready to have a true fast.

My school (private school, overseas) had so many that fasted that they organized quiet indoor activities for recess during Ramadan (it was mid-summer during the years I was there).

I’m sure families differ, but in my school: if a child came in and they were dizzy and tachy and you thought they were dehydrated— none of them would request that you’d withhold water or even food! That wouldn’t have been considered breaking the fast, since it would be medically needed.

I live near one of the largest Muslim communities in the country so Ramadan is something that we tend to be very familiar with in this area. However, I wasn't sure which age they begin fasting so I just asked one of the Muslim nurses I am working with tonight and she said verbatim "When they have matured enough to fully understand why they are fasting. We would never make a 5yr old fast because 'God wants them to', they would perceive it as something bad, so it is different for every child." She also said that in her child's school (primarily Muslim students) they are having problems with younger children claiming to be fasting so that they can skip lunch and go out for recess and then end up not feeling well. She agreed with what was already said about people who are ill, women who are pregnant, menstruating, or breastfeeding, and those with extremes of age can be exempt from fasting.