The school district of Montgomery County, Maryland has opted to not include the names of religious holidays on next year’s annual calendar.

The school district of Montgomery County, Maryland has opted to not include the names of religious holidays on the 2015 to 2016 school calendar.

Students will still be given the days off, but the closures are no longer indicated as being related to non-secular observances.

Holidays that are typically specified include Christian and Jewish ones but not those designated in the Muslim faith as being holy.

It was Muslim community leaders who first raised the issue.

What they wanted was for their significant dates to be written on the school calendar as well. Particularly mentioned was Eid al-Adha, which next year will fall on Yom Kippur, a day classes aren’t held anyway.

That specific request wasn’t granted, but the appeal did prompt the school board to discuss and vote upon the best way to handle the issue.

Montgomery’s superintendent weighed in during the process, writing about the currently listed holidays, “The decision to close on these days has been based on the experience of significant student and staff absenteeism...”

Said one board member of the ultimate decision, “It is about equity…if we are closing for operational reasons, then there should be no need to make reference to religion.”

Going forward, only state and national holidays will be specifically noted on the district’s calendars.