The East Greenbush School District has removed Yom Kippur from the school calendar, to the dismay of the district's Jewish families. Erin Vannella has more.

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EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. -- East Greenbush School District will not recognize the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur this year, much to the dismay of the district's Jewish families.

School officials have sighted a tight calendar as the reason, but parents say the change only shows insensitivity and poor planning on the district's part.

The holiday falls on September 26th and some concerned residents at the board of education meeting Wednesday night wanted to know why there was no discussion before the holiday was rescheduled as a regular school day.

"Well it seems that this is a district wide problem. They're saying this is a very tight calendar year because of the state ed mandates, so they've had to look at a number of things and they did reduce one of the snow days, but the fact of the matter is that they've solved this problem by creating issues for the Jewish families. So we've always had this day off and we've been able to educate the district about the importance. This is the most holy day of the year," said Margo Singer.

For their part, East Greenbush Board President Shay Harrison called the decision a “sum even game,” with two Christian holidays off and two Jewish holidays off.

Parents at the board meeting say they hope the school will reconsider their decision next year.