Parents can request religious exemption for Good Friday
HISD is scheduled to be in session Friday, April 18, as one of two weather makeup days for icy conditions that shut down the district twice in the winter – but parents can have their children exempted from school for religious reasons.
Good Friday is that day, and parents who observe it as a Holy Day with their children may submit a written note to their school documenting the religious observance. The excuse must be received by the school within three days.
Students who provide the note will be counted as “absent with a religious exemption.” The designation will not affect perfect attendance.
The other makeup day will be May 26, which is Memorial Day. Both dates were designated on the calendar as makeup days in event of unexpected closings, and next year’s calendar has already been approved with the same days designated.
The Board of Education votes on the calendar annually, with the public having the opportunity to make their opinions known. The Texas Education Agency mandates the process, including the designation of makeup days, and the TEA must approve any request to change those days once they have final board approval.
Find out more here about how the HISD calendar is determined.
TEA and HISD need to consider making up any other day than Good Friday. This day is symbolic in My life and many others. It is all about the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for all of us, whether we acknowledge it or not.
Let’s say, if a student in high school already has a few too many abscences ans has gotten a warning that if they miss one more time, they’ll get a ticket.
Will tomorrow’s abscence count as a day that they were absent and will they be fined?
My family is used to having religious gatherings on Good Friday and I do not want my child to be in trouble.
You need to discuss this with your school’s principal and the person who issued the warning (if that is a different person).
I have a similar problem, however, one of the Assistant Principals in Lamar High School is denying parental excuses for April 18th, Good Friday. They have made me wait for two weeks to finally be told that the Assistant Principal has denied many parental excuses. I’m not sure if Lamar High School is aware that they are sending the wrong picture. It seems that they are willing to deny students religious rights over a make-up date that can be scheduled at a different time. This needs to be resolved before students are fined or lose credits. The students can not be blamed for bad weather or mistakes from the administration.
We checked with Lamar’s principal, James McSwain, and received this response:
“Good Friday absences with the appropriate documentation from parents all have been excused. More likely it is excessive absence and credit issue. We are working on those now.”
Why make the children suffer , because HISD Board let them out for the winter storm. HISD is full of it, but my kids will not be going to school on either day because we celebrate both days. HISD needs to do better than what they are doing.
You may claim a religious exemption for Good Friday, but there is not that type of exemption available for Memorial Day.
What do we put on the note?
We let them know that we observed the holiday, but do we have to provide information about the church?
You do not have to provide information about your church.
I went to school today, and it was really empty. Seriously there was no point in showing up to school when half of the teachers and students were gone/absent.