To the Editor:

The significant number of absences in local schools on April 3 justifies returning Good Friday to being a holiday in the ORR school district.

Last year, a 9.4 percent average absentee rate across the district for the previous five years was used to justify making the day before Thanksgiving a full day off for students and staff. (See “Sippican Week” letter by Shaun P. Walsh, May 26, 2014.)

Meanwhile, as just reported by Sippican Week, this past Good Friday saw absentee figures ranging from a low of 10 percent at Rochester Memorial to highs of 20 percent at ORR Junior High and 21 percent at ORR High School.

Considering that the most absences were at the district’s two largest schools, a conservative estimate would place the district-wide absentee rate for Good Friday at about 15 percent, which is not a small number and is 60 percent higher than the absentee rate used to justify taking the entire day before Thanksgiving off.

The data certainly supports Good Friday being a holiday in the ORR school district, and the ORR school committee should act accordingly when it meets to establish the calendar for the next school year.

David Pierre, Jr.,

Mattapoisett