Muslims in New York City Unite on Push to Add Holidays to School Calendar

[rug]

Students at a forum held in March at Public School 69 in Jackson Heights, Queens, calling on New York City's public schools to recognize Muslim holidays. (Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times)

By SHARON OTTERMAN
APRIL 17, 2014

The meeting opened with a pledge from the podium to try to end, God willing, by the hour of the evening prayer. Clusters of colorfully veiled women kept watch over jittery young children. Rows of men conversed in a jangle of languages.

They were Muslims from Bosnia and Montenegro, Egypt and Syria, Pakistan and Bangladesh — several hundred in all.

It was a gathering remarkable in its diversity from among New York City’s Muslims, a growing group whose members often find it difficult to work together politically because of differences in national origin, language, sect and class. But a single issue has managed to unify them: the push to close the city’s public schools for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the most sacred Muslim holidays.

The issue might seem of modest importance alongside deeper concerns among many Muslims in the city, including the Police Department’s monitoring of their community since the Sept. 11 attacks. But the rally, held recently in a public school auditorium in Queens and organized in barely a week’s time, was a testament to how the city’s Muslim community is gaining a measure of political confidence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/nyregion/muslims-in-new-york-city-unite-on-push-to-add-holidays-to-school-calendar.html?ref=education&_r=1



Fadilah Barco, 15, a Muslim student from the Bronx whose high school closed last year for a Muslim holiday. “It meant that they understood that our religion was important to us and that they cared about us,” she said. (Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times)

[Igel]

1. Sounds good.

Pick a set of holidays. Close the school for it. But school-by-school.

Yes, it's confusing. This school may be closed for Xmas, this one for Passover, this one for Eid'.

If there are two large blocs, close for both.

But closing a school for <1% of the student body because another school has 90% of that religion is foolish.

Of course, then there's the problem of the teachers. I'm in a school district that is quite Xian. It's impossible to take off for "my" holidays without using up every personal and sick day and then taking unpaid leave. That leaves no sick days for me or my kid because we'd already be in the hole, so to speak.

At the same time, if we opened for Christmas, New Year's, and Good Friday there'd be protests from teachers like there was from Houston ISD residents over yesterday being a make-up day for a day missed because of freezing rain back in January or February.

The problem is that we're firmly in favor of group rights when it helps our cause, and in favor of individual rights when it helps our cause. Eventually every group would want their days off. Not just for themselves--they'd be behind when they returned. But they'd need to feel that others really care about them and are supportive of them as human beings and get a nice warm fuzzy feeling from the school calendar. So everybody would want their days off.

Sounds like it's not a problem--give everybody their days off. Great--we extend the school year (without increasing the number of school days) by 10 for this group, 3 for that one, 6 for that one. Recalling that every day off is a day during which students lose information, so you get to review a bit extra the next day to make up for the gap. Hard to have tests the day after a weekend, much less religious observance. It cuts into summer school time. Time kids can work during the summer. Vacation time. Meh, so we start school on 8/15 and end on 7/1, nobody depends on vacation season starting in early-mid June. And teachers working for their MA or PhD degrees can cram in semesters in 5 weeks during their summer vacation.

Last week we'd have been off Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yup--a one-day school week on Wednesday. This coming week we'd be off Sunday, Monday and manage to get in 4 school days, unless I'm missing something (that's just between Jewish, Xian, and Thai kids).

[Politicalboi]

2. Who cares for those kids who don't believe

Public school is NOT for religion. Why should I as a taxpayer have to find someone to watch my kid while I had to work because of some silly religious holiday my kid had to miss school for. State and church are supposed to be separate. I say, we end ALL holidays that involve religion. Let those parents keep their kids home if they want, while the rest of them learn about science.

[rug]

3. What's the atheist holiday?

Every kid gets 180 days of instruction regardless of the holidays. They may even learn something about each other. They can learn fulminating from you.

[cbayer]

6. It is is really complex issue which is not easily addressed.

I guess we could just grant every child a certain number of days off and they and their families could decide when to use them.

But it seems that would create utter chaos for the teachers who had to figure out who had missed what and find ways to make up for it.

OTOH, I think it is really wrong to base the major holidays around one particular set of religious beliefs.

I think some compromise probably makes the most sense.

[Jim__]

4. Multiculturalism causes some difficulties.

Ultimately, we may just have to allow that people can take off to celebrate important days in their culture's calendar, but, the rest of society may have to keep pushing on. Everyone is entitled to celebrate their culture, but their may not be enough time to allow everyone to fully celebrate every culture.

[LostOne4Ever]

5. I am in favor of adding however many holidays we can

Who knows, if we search every religions ever made we might be able to make a holiday for everyday of the year and never have to work!

Society may collapse but I am lazy enough to overlook that


Seriously, I think they should allow every student and teacher a set amount of excused days that they can use (with advanced notice) throughout the year without penalty.

With regards to teachers, they might have to swap holidays (with holiday pay) to ensure enough teachers during times like Christmas or they could just organize seasonal breaks to co-inside with holiday celebrations when significant portions of the teacher and student body would be absent anyway.

This way no one will be left out. Christians could use theirs on days like good friday, muslims on days like Eid al-Fitr, and atheists for their own birthday or whatever day we want. Darwin's birthday? Yeah...gonna take the day off! シ