Easter is only a month away and Austin ISD has still refused to change their calendar to add Good Friday to the calendar as a student holiday!
As you may recall, last year in October, Texas Values sent a letter to Austin ISD asking the school district to edit their calendar to reflect Good Friday. The school calendar did not even have the words “Good Friday” on it in addition to it not being a staff and student holiday. Instead, students and staff have a day off earlier in the week to honor Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Austin ISD doubled down and agreed that they made the decision for students to celebrate Cesar Chavez/Dolores Herta instead of Good Friday. They claimed that a small task force of only 30-40 people met to deliberate on this decision before the Austin ISD board approved the calendar. Austin ISD serves over 73,000 students. It does not appear that there was much opportunity for public input on the drafts. However, it is now the Spring Academic semester and Austin ISD still will not change. A parent who has been persistent in her request to have the calendar change, says that Austin ISD still won’t observe Good Friday. But don’t let this stop you from observing Good Friday! Texas Education Code 25.087 allows students to be excused to observe religious holy days. If you are in Austin ISD, you still have the right to celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by observing Good Friday and taking the day off for observance and religious service!In the next coming days, we will provide more details on how your Austin ISD student can observe Good Friday with an excused absence. We won’t allow a school political agenda, trump religious freedom.