AUSTIN, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — A school district in Texas is under fire for not observing Good Friday this coming spring, opting to cancel classes in honor of labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta earlier during Holy Week on Tuesday, March 31.
Austin Intermediate School District (AISD) oversees more than 73,000 students. Non-profit group Texas Values wrote a letter to AISD Superintendent Matias Segura and board members expressing their great dissatisfaction with their decision.
“Austin ISD choosing to observe Cesar Chavez/Dolores Huerta Day and not observing Good Friday, which is commonly a day that schools close in Texas, appears as if the school district is placing politics above a religious holiday,” the group said.
AISD has reportedly observed Cesar Chavez/Dolores Huerta Day since 2019. The two civil rights-era activists co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. Instead of taking off Good Friday, which occurs on April 3 of next year, AISD announced that students and faculty won’t be having classes on Monday, April 6, the day after Easter Sunday.
AISD came to its decision after consulting with a group of 30 to 40 community members last fall. Persons involved with the advisory body came from “multiple perspectives — not the preference of a single group,” AISD said. “The membership deliberately included representatives of different faiths and cultures so varied perspectives — including Christian viewpoints — were part of the discussion.”
AISD justified its decision by stating that it needed to ensure “instructional continuity” so there would not be two days of classes canceled in the same week. The AISD said it is hamstrung because it has to meet a minimum of 75,600 instruction minutes each academic year, so it could not allow two days of classes to be suspended in five days.
The AISD did announce that staff can request Good Friday off if they wish to observe the holiday per the employee handbook policy, though it is unclear if students can do the same.
During the 2024-25 school year, AISD gave students Good Friday off while also making it a staff development day.
Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of Government Relations for Texas Values, denounced the AISD in a statement:
It appears that Austin ISD is trying to slight the religious holiday of Good Friday by denying the opportunity for staff and students to have the day off, which has been a very common practice in Austin ISD and other school districts in Texas. Many churches hold religious services on Good Friday and students and staff should be able to have the day off to attend or prepare for those events. Instead, students will be off in the middle of the week to celebrate political heroes Austin ISD has deemed important. They could celebrate both but their placement of Dolores Huerta over a commonly celebrated Christian holiday sends the message that they place political viewpoints over religious freedom.
Good Friday is considered the most solemn day of the liturgical year for Christians, as it marks the day that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind. Christians have long observed Good Friday by spending time in church from 12 until 3pm to honor the three hours Christ hung on the cross. Fasting, or abstaining from food for most of the day, has also been a practice the Church has called on its members to observe on Good Friday.
