Five Towns Letter to the Editor

Wants conference rescheduled

To the Editor:
It has come to my attention that the Lawrence School Board will hold one of its Parent Teacher conferences on St. Patrick’s Day, Thursday March 17. I am sure I speak for the many Irish-American teachers, staff and families in the Lawrence School district when I urge the district to reschedule this conference. I have sent a letter to Superintendent Gary Schall to that effect.

St. Patrick’s Day is a religious and cultural holiday celebrated around the world by millions of people of Irish descent. It is a special holiday that celebrates St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick was a Romano-British missionary who brought the Catholic faith to Ireland in the 5th century.

There are many celebrations that occur on this holiday, including Catholic religious services and the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade, world’s oldest civilian parade of any kind and St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world. I and many Irish-American families from the Five Towns area march and participate in this parade year after year, generation after generation.

I believe that having this conference on St. Patrick’s Day would prevent Irish-Americans from properly celebrating this most important religious holiday and ethnic-cultural tradition.

I hope the superintendent and the district board can find a way to reschedule this conference on another date. A significant part of the district community would greatly appreciate it.

Sean O’Rourke
President, Ancient Order of Hibernians
Div. 3 in the Five Towns