Published: November 1, 1999

Briefs

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued an Ohio district for closing school on the Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The suit, filed in September, claims that the school board of the Sycamore district, which has rebuffed requests from Islamic and Hindu parents to close on their holidays, favors Judaism over other religious faiths, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Superintendent Bruce Armstrong says that the board decided to experiment with school closings on Jewish holy days because of high student absenteeism on those days.

Odyssey of the Mind, one of the nation's most popular academic competitions, has split into two separate and competing organizations. The two companies that once combined to produce the contest, Creative Competitions and the OM Association, agreed to go their separate ways during an ugly court battle about whether the competition should be governed by a for-profit or nonprofit entity. Creative Competitions, which is a for-profit company, will continue to offer academic tournaments under the Odyssey of the Mind moniker; the nonprofit OM Association will administer a new but similar...