Bakersfield School District Alters Absence Policy for Religious HolidaysFeb 2, 2007 The Bakersfield School District has altered its absence policy and will now excuse absences for students who wish to attend religious services on holy days. The formerly unlawful policy was brought to the district's attention after Nona Darling, parent of two daughters in Bakersfield schools, attempted to take her daughters out of class for Ash Wednesday services, a holy day of obligation for the Darling family. The school refused to excuse the absences, as they would have if Danielle and Alexandra Darling were going to, say, the chiropractor. Nona Darling then contacted the Becket Fund, and after two letters, the threat of litigation, and an investigation by the United States Department of Justice, the school finally relented and changed the policy. After they changed the policy, they attempted to say that it was school policy all along to allow for religious absences, and that the controversy was due to a "misunderstanding" of the poorly worded policy. The Darling family experience and the district's initial reaction would seem to contradict this claim. “For the first time the district now claims it had a policy that would have excused religious absences all along. This is revisionist history pure and simple," said Derek Gaubatz, Director of Litigation for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm representing the Darling family. " It took an investigation by the United States Civil Rights Department and the threat of a lawsuit before the school district altered its unlawful policy and lifted its sanction on the Darling children. Next time, district officials would do well to practice what they teach their own students: admit when you make a mistake and face the consequences.” The Becket Fund is also representing the Hugo family, whose children attend the nearby Buttonwillow Union School District. Last year, that school district refused to excuse absences for the Hugo children to observe the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh ha-Shanah. Relevant Cases
| 
