New York, NY – De Blasio: NYC Public Schools To Close On 2 Muslim Holidays

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    Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announce that New York City will become the largest school district in the nation to recognize Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as holidays on the official school calendar. PS/IS 30 Mary White Ovington, Brooklyn. Wednesday, March 04, 2015. (Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office.)New York, NY – The nation’s largest public school system will observe the two most important Muslim holidays starting next fall, a policy change hailed Wednesday by Islamic leaders in New York City.

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    Under the new policy, the city’s 1.1 million-pupil public school system will close on Sept. 24 for Eid al-Adha, which is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice. The holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, will be observed during summer school in 2016.

    “Hundreds of thousands of Muslim families will no longer have to choose between honoring the most sacred days on their calendar or attending school,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in his announcement.

    Muslim leaders welcomed the announcement.

    “After years of advocating by New York City’s Muslim community, Muslim public school students will finally and thankfully no longer be penalized for observing their religious holidays,” said Zead Ramadan, a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

    Linda Sarsour, a Muslim community advocate and public school parent who joined de Blasio for the announcement at a school in Brooklyn, said, “This is what New York City is all about — recognition, inclusion and respect.”

    Estimates of the number of Muslims living in New York City vary from 600,000 to 1 million.

    Community leaders have long urged adding the two Muslim holidays to the school calendar, and the City Council passed a resolution supporting the change in 2009.

    Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg opposed making the change but de Blasio and the other major candidates who campaigned to succeed Bloomberg in 2013 all said they would implement it.

    The new calendar will keep the total number of school days unchanged at 182: the state-mandated 180 plus two more in case there are snow days.

    New York City public schools have long closed for major Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur as well as the Christian holidays of Christmas and Good Friday.

    Other public school systems that have moved recently to observe Muslim holidays include those in Waterbury, Connecticut and Frederick County, Maryland.


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    17 Comments
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    9 years ago

    Because they really have no option not to send it’s a very hard decision to make. This is the first step we have more to come.

    lavrenty
    Member
    lavrenty
    9 years ago

    makes sense they are taking over NYC.

    bennyt
    bennyt
    9 years ago

    You can’t get dumber than a public school kid so what’s another couple of days off from school gonna do?

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    9 years ago

    Is Sharia law next?

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    9 years ago

    Hows about closing the school system for a week of chinese new year celebration?

    ChareidiMan
    ChareidiMan
    9 years ago

    Yes of course sharia law is next. why not? when ultra orthodox Jews can go out with signs “You don’t have to be Muslim to support Iran” you’re basically helping the Arab cause, so why not?

    As a Talmud of Satmar I am embarrassed with their actions and their lack of education on how to behave. When WW-III comes, you will look back at these American people that still have the mentality, “If we like them, they will like us back” it has not worked in the 30’s in the 80’s and it will never work.

    They are taking advantage of your lack of brains, and when the time comes that they are ready to slaughter us, they will put you all on the same line where they will put a non-religious Jew. What’s so hard to understands that they hate Jews?

    Educate yourselves and try to understand that finally Jews have a state where they can go and get protected! they didn’t have that in the 1930’s and that’s why 6 million of us were gassed!

    krauszefraim
    krauszefraim
    9 years ago

    I like the quote, ” The nations largest school system, where they educate 1.1 million kids. What a joke. NYC has the best education? The schools have holidays galore. The kids celebrate all relegions by playing ball, using drugs, hanging out with gangs, doing all sorts of mischief. All of this is happening whole the learning level is going down. What type of morons are running the school system. If some kids have a holiday give them those personal days. Giving it to all kids is moronic. It’s a never ending cycle.

    Rafuel
    Rafuel
    9 years ago

    Look at the beginning of the article. At the first mentioning of the word Eid they suggest we pronounce it as eed, at the second – as ayd. Do you believe that? Those dumb arabs don’t even know how to pronounce short words of their repulsive language!

    9 years ago

    Ugh, deblasio is in competitition with Obama for who can coddle the Muslims more,

    curious
    curious
    9 years ago

    Eid al-Adha celebrates A vroom ‘ s willingness to shecht Yishmael. What a sham of a religion. 1500 years after we get the Torah he makes up a book and says we got it all wrong. What a joke!

    9 years ago

    They get an awful number of days off of school. I don’t care for what religion it is for- no more days off of school unless they add more days to the school year.

    uberchochom
    uberchochom
    9 years ago

    Christians initially got school days off without having to make any requests. Jews were the first to cry “me too”. Followed by all the others who cry “me too”.

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    9 years ago

    The major problem is,.what is an honest religion Except for Judaism . All of the others that come after it are concoctions cobbled together to resemble judaism,but have minor changes to differentiate them from the mother religion that they resent.Tomorrow another so called prophet may arise and proclaim yet another version, and gain more true believers and have different holidays. Is there no end to this nonsense?