Schools scrap Memorial Day tribute

[Bill Hodges]

Schools scrap Memorial Day tribute
By Patrick Badgley
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


* * Alexandria public schools administrators have scrapped the Memorial Day holiday this year to make up for class days missed in the winter.
* * The decision upset many teachers, several of whom are veterans or spouses of veterans, especially with service members fighting in Iraq.
* * "It's about people who give their lives for our country. This is about people in wheelchairs," said Hilari Hinnant, a first-grade teacher at John Adams Elementary School whose husband served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. "It's a serious holiday, especially given what our country has been through."
* * Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who died in military service. Its roots are disputed, but it was first officially observed May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at the Arlington National Cemetery.

For rest of article:
My Webpage (http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030429-11845743.htm)


I wonder what other holidays the school passed up utilizing for this purpose?



http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag17.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag19.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag17.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag19.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag17.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag19.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag17.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag19.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag17.gif *http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/flag19.gif

[USNfromME]

Quote[/b] ]Alexandria public schools administrators have scrapped the Memorial Day holiday this year to make up for class days missed in the winter.

What, they've run out of Saturdays, Teacher days and all summer?

There are not that many holidays I'd defend. This is ONE. Did they take off Martin Luther King day?

[Charie]

Quote[/b] ]Some teachers said they would rather tack on a school day at the end of the year than come to school on Memorial Day to meet the number of student-teacher contact days required. But Ms. Hunter said that wasn't done because students in grades seven through 12 are using those days to <span style='color:red'>prepare for the Standards of Learning tests</span> being held at the end of the school year

Do I detect a little nugget of something here? *Are we possibly using this no-holiday to let the government know that we are not extremely pleased over having to do the Standards of Learning tests? *There's just a slight reek of being put-upon and &quot;holier than thou&quot; about this statement. http://gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrinangelA.gif