A Maryland school district has removed all religious holiday observances from its calendar.
While students will still get the days off, the reason for the absences will no longer appear on the school's literature.
The Montgomery County school board voted on Tuesday to make the change, effective with the 2015-2016 school year.
The district voted on the issue after receiving a request from Muslim community leaders that students receive Eid al-Adha off school. Some Muslim parents gathered at Tuesday's school board meeting carrying signs reading, "Because our children matter too," in support of their proposal.
The issue of closing school on Eid al-Adha was not addressed yesterday, although the Washington Post reported that the number of students missing school on the Muslim holiday was only slightly higher than on a typical school day.
Instead, the board decided that references to all religious holidays will be removed from school calendars. Christmas vacation will be listed as "Winter Break," and Easter vacation will be called "Spring Break."
The Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will not receive ambiguous listings. Instead, the calendars will read simply: "No school for students and teachers."
The Equality for Eid Coalition, which advocates for the Eid holidays to be recognised in the Montgomery County Public School system, called the board's decision drastic.
"By stripping the names Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they have alienated other communities now, and we are no closer to equality," Coalition Co-Chairman Saqib Ali said. "It's a pretty drastic step, and they did it without any public notification."
The school board said that the change is similar to steps that districts in neighbouring counties have taken.
