We don't envy the School Committee. It seems that, no matter what decision they make regarding the school calendar, there will be people left fuming.

On one side of the argument are those lobbying for the calendar to stay as it is, including Jewish and Christian holidays. They argue that to eliminate the Jewish holidays while keeping the federally recognized Christmas holiday would be an act of intolerance that would marginalize those of the Jewish faith.

On the other side are those who say that, to be completely fair and in keeping with the separation of church and state, all religious holidays should be eliminated.

Nuances that color the debate include the suggestion that to be completely fair, all religious holidays should be included in the calendar, and the corresponding argument that adding holidays to the calendar would be inconvenient for families who would need to find child care for students on those additional days off from school.

Some wonder why the question of religious holidays is being revisited, after having been supposedly settled several years ago. Our recollection is that the December 2008 ice storm started people thinking about where days could be found to compensate for lost days should anything similar happen in the future. But we don't know why the first place to look for getting school days back is religious holidays. What about the December, February, and April vacation weeks?

In arguments presented in the Press recently people have referred to this debate as a sort of contest between "majority" religious holidays and "minority" religious holidays. We think that including the descriptors "majority" or "minority" in reference to these holy days is subjective and sets up discriminatory divisions in the community. Who decides which religions are "minority" and which are "majority"? That may be in the eye of the beholder.

If fairness and tolerance are the driving forces behind settling the question of religious holidays on the school calendar, it seems to us there are only two choices: include them all or eliminate them all—don't pick and choose.

To include all religious holidays would certainly extend the school year, but there are those three vacation weeks from which to take compensating school days.

We don't believe that eliminating all of the holidays teaches intolerance; it upholds the principle of separation of church and state. What we say to children about the elimination of the holidays is where lessons of tolerance or intolerance come into play.

We're glad this isn't our decision to make.