Maryland school district removes Christmas, all religious references from calendar

                      
A Maryland school district has turned into the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas" — or at least the Grinch who removed Christmas from the school calendar.

The Montgomery County Board of Education, whose district borders the nation’s capital, voted 7-1 this week to scrub references to Christmas, and all other religious holidays, from its published school calendar.
The move was prompted in part by requests from Muslim leaders who requested the schools observe at least one of the Muslim holy days. The district currently closes for several Jewish and Christian holidays, but next year, the Muslim holiday Eid Al Adha coincides with Yom Kippur on Sept. 23, 2015, and Muslim leaders asked it also be recognized on the school calendar.

With Tuesday's school board vote, students still get time off for “winter break” in December, or “spring break” around Easter, as well as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which now will be listed as “no school” days.

This decision was made to emphasize that the decision to close school on a particular day is based on operational matters — such as high staff and student absenteeism — and not for religious or cultural reasons, the district said in a statement after the meeting.