School Start Date Fuels Religious Controversy in San Diego County

As the population at large prepares to celebrate the New Year, Jews here are angry about what they see as the school district’s insensitivity toward their religious new year.

The school district staff in September recommended a calendar for the 1991-92 school year that puts the first day of school on Monday, Sept. 9, 1991.

The date coincides with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year and one of the religion’s two holiest days. Jewish leaders are upset that the school administration failed to take that into consideration when scheduling the first day of classes.

“The community is outraged with the decision that the administration has made,” said Leslye Winkelman Lyons, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation.

Lyons said Rosh Hashana--for which the date fluctuates, as it is based on the Jewish lunar calendar--normally falls later in the month and rarely conflicts with the first day of school.

Jewish leaders advised schools in August of the potential conflict, Lyons said. When Poway tentatively scheduled its opening, Jewish leaders asked the district to change the date. On Nov. 29, they were told that the date would not be changed.

“We let them know early enough that no mechanisms were in place for this yet, and they should have been more sensitive to this,” Lyons said.

Lyons estimates that there are more than 3,000 Jewish households in the Poway Unified District, which serves 24,000 students.

Lyons said Jewish leaders will protest the proposed calendar when it goes before the school board at their next meeting Jan. 14.