Gym meet moved up for Jewish holiday

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 8, 2008 at 3:04 p.m.
Updated October 8, 2008 at 3:04 p.m.

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Overland High School in Aurora has agreed to move today's gymnastics meet up three hours so a Jewish student can compete and still get to a Yom Kippur celebration this evening.

Jennifer Buechler's mother, Lisa, had complained that the meet fell on one of the two most important Jewish holidays of the year.

Overland High School athletic director Chris Denmark had tried to schedule all games and matches to avoid such conflicts, but made a mistake on this one meet, said Tustin Amole, spokeswoman for Cherry Creek Schools.

"He realized the meet fell on a Wednesday, but didn't realize it was Yom Kippur," said Amole.

The Wednesday meets usually start in the evening, but the one today will start at 4:30, she said. Any Jewish participant can go first in order to make the Yom Kippur observances, which typically start after sundown.

Lisa Buechler said she is "thrilled that the Cherry Creek school district responded quickly the way they did.My daughter will participate tonight. Our services are at 8:30."

But she said another Jewish member of the team might not be able to compete because her services start at 6 p.m.

Buechler said the conflicts "happen every year with either music or sports or clubs. Every year my kids have had a big (school) event planned on a high holiday. They've had to make a hard choice."

She hopes the latest conflict, and Cherry Creek's response to it, will signal the beginning of better planning by the schools. "I'm not asking for every Friday night. I'm asking for the two important Jewish holidays of the year, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur."

Amole said athletic events usually are scheduled about a year in advance. Each school year, the district sends a multi-cultural calendar to schools to help them try to avoid conflicts as they plan events, she said.

Bruce H. DeBoskey, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said, "This should be the last time a public school forces a Jewish student to choose between observing a holy day of fasting and prayer or participating in an athletic event."

DeBoskey said the Colorado High School Activities Association makes sure no athletic even happens on a Christian holiday, or on any Sunday, but doesn't extend the same recognition to important Jewish holidays.

He called on the CHSAA to prohibit activities on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

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