Why San Angelo Public Schools Choose to Honor Good Friday

Today, some city and private offices in San Angelo have closed in celebration of Good Friday. School campuses within the San Angelo Independent School District chose to do the same. For some people, this is simply a nice day off, but, for others, Good Friday has sacred meaning.

Across the nation, many debates have ensued over the separation of church and state, especially in public schools. Many people argue there is no room for religion in public schools. There's no room for prayer, and there's no room for the statement, "One Nation Under God." There's definitely no reason to close for Good Friday, being that it is a Christian observance, and Christianity is not the only religion in the U.S.

However, for other people, including San Angeloans, they believe the U.S. was built on Christianity tenets. Public prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and Good Friday are sacred beliefs, and, as Americans, they too have the right to these beliefs. That is why they choose to honor Good Friday as a holiday despite the debates taking place.

Dwain Morrison, Mayor of San Angelo, said he supports schools closing to celebrate Good Friday.

He said, “I will do everything in my power to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made for humanity, and this sacrifice is exemplified in the Easter celebration.”

Jamie Highsmith, public information officer of SAISD said, “We always try to observe Good Friday. However, we typically select Good Friday as one of our bad weather make-up days if we have to miss school earlier in the school year for bad weather.”

So far this year though, schools campuses within SAISD have not closed due to bad weather.

For SAISD to determine what days the schools will take off as a school holiday, officials create a calendar that follows a process and determines what those days will be. Highsmith said, “About a year ahead of each school year, the district administrators start planning the calendar for the upcoming school year.”

Once the calendar is prepared by the district administrators, the District Site Base Committee discuss and vote on it. After they vote, the calendar is then taken to the SAISD School Board for approval. This process is in place for any holidays within the starting and ending day of the school year, Highsmith said.

President Brian May of Angelo State University also allows his students and staff to celebrate Good Friday as a school holiday.

“Good Friday is an observed holiday in a lot of areas, but it also is one that our school district has,” he said.

May also said he's aware and vigilant of school holidays celebrated by SAISD, and he's in tune with his staff and aware that most professors at Angelo State have children in SAISD. Therefore, he tries to have the same school holidays as they do.

May said, “We try to follow the San Angelo School District as closely as we can because we have a lot of employees who have children in those schools that would need daycare services if we did not follow the same holidays.”

Thus, for many San Angeloans, Good Friday is a great start to a three-day weekend, but for others, it's a day that signifies the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.