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Muslim families who want two days out of the year to be official school holidays are facing stiff resistance from Mayor Bloomberg, who has repeatedly said that students should not have any more days off. Public schools are closed on major Christian and Jewish holidays, and some Muslims say it's unfair that none of their holidays are observed. The Staten Island Advance reports that on Friday a group called The Coalition for Muslim School Holidays pressed the City Council for two days off: the final day of Ramadan and Eid Ul-Adha, which marks the culmination of the Hajj. Bloomberg insists that if Muslim holidays are made official, the door would be opened for other religious groups to demand their days off; it's a safe bet that Festivus adherents are following the situation closely.
Bloomberg Has No Faith in Muslim School Holidays
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Wait, this ban on roll-down gates? http://gothamist.com/2009/12/01/city_council_bans_solid_metal_rol
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I think everyone should get everything off.
Move back to Arabia if you don't like it here. What's next, banning McDonalds during Ramadan? Freaks.
three versions of the same religion.. two getting public holidays.. 1 being refused.
bloomberg.. why not just admit the real reason? muslims are terrorists.
festivus should be a national holiday
The fair way to do it would be for NO religious holidays (except Christmas, which is a federal holiday) to be public school holidays.
Giving the Muslim religion at least one legal school holiday would go a long way toward healing the unreasonable prejudice toward Muslim kids.
Well said slappy, well said.
I would also be pretty curious if there is even a higher percentage of Jews than Muslims in the NYC public school system to justify continuing to give Jewish holidays off but no Muslim holidays.
According to a study by City University, Christianity and Judaism are the two largest religious affiliations in this city. Muslims comprise less than 4% of the overall city population. There's no reason the entire school system should shut down for 4%, whatever religion it is.
The best solution would be to get rid of all the religious holidays, give generic "winter recess" and "spring recess," extend the Thanksgiving holiday to a week, the way other school districts do. All city schools allow students to miss days for religious worship, without being penalized, so if a kid needed to stay home on Yo Kippur or Good Friday or whatever, they'd have leave to do so.
we should give them those days off just so they won't start bombing things.
This is largely a problem b/c of the Jews and their Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.
If you're gonna take your kid out of school and force him to stay in synagogue all day, then it's on you. Don't expect the school to have to coddle your fundamentalist asses. No Muslim holidays either. You get Winter Break and Spring Break and secular federal holidays. That's it. You want different, move to Israel or Iran or the Vatican.
The school year has to contain 180 school days regardless. The "extra" days off would just be paid back with a slightly earlier start or later end to the school year. In the meantime, the non-Muslim kids get a nice secular day off every now and then just as the Muslim kids get on the Judeo-Christian holidays they don't celebrate. Everyone wins.
NYC students already end their year later than almost everyone else: the last day of school is somewhere around June 28. If they went back to class any earlier in September they'd run into the Labor Day holiday. I don't think kids and teachers should be expected to be in school in July or August to accommodate the religious beliefs of a small number of students.
If the parents are that adamant about celebrating the holidays, they can either take their kid out of school that day--again, it will be excused--or enroll their child in a school affiliated with their religion.
Why not just give students floating holidays to use as they wish?
Fuck 'em
Meanwhile Bloomberg and other Jewish people are going to take the next two days off for a Jewish holiday and continue taking Tues and Weds off for an entire month.
I agree withe Gothamist Cynic.
Either that, or I'd say NOBODY gets holidays, and they can take time off as they please and deal with the consequences on their studies as they please.
Just like in the real world of freelance workers, which we will all become soon.
Call off all the holidays. Make the kids and teachers work through Christmas and Easter for all I care. Ditto for government workers.
It's amazing how many people insist on a "separation of church and state" unless of course it gets them a day off from work.
In response to those wondering why Jewish holidays are recognized... ever wonder how many teachers are Jewish? A LOT. Good luck finding substitutes. Might as well tell the kids to go home because they'll sure as hell cut class anyway.
I'm for days off for major Muslim holidays. It's a slap in the face and a sign of intolerance that one of the major [Western] three is excluded.
And..
"If they went back to class any earlier in September they'd run into the Labor Day holiday. "
Like every other part of the country, including schools in places like New Mexico and Arizona where it's over 100 well into September? So give them Labor Day off.
This country is still based on the Judea-Christian
culture,sorry in a hundred years things may change
as long as it says "In God we Trust"on our currency
and have Andrew Jackson's face(The big Indian Killer) on the 20 dollar bill,it will remain so.
sorry folks, its not about the kids. most teachers are jewish. in my school, there are about 18 jews to the 7 gentiles on staff. most of the jews I work with aren't observant either. they are traveling or laying low, like me.
in other words, the arabs ain't running shit in this city. shana tova tarik and enjoy the day off.
# 19, it has nothing to do with the temperature, as most schools now have A/C. Those kids in New Mexico do go back to school earlier, but they're also out by the end of May or the very beginning of June. NYC public school kids go until nearly July, and that calendar cannot be changed.
The statewide Regents exams and the other assessment tests that are given in grades K-12 in New York are administered and marked in the middle-end of June. Summer school runs to August, and the makeup Regents are given, IIRC, in the middle of August. So how do we change the calendar? We can't let them out earlier in June because they need to take the Regents. We can't make them go back earlier because it will interfere with summer school and August Regents, and will also mean they get a very short summer break. It's not doable.
Also, it would seem foolish and counterproductive to send kids back earlier to make up missed time, and then have to give them another holiday.
We Pastafarians feel slighted. How about Talk Like a Pirate Day? And to my Druid friends, how about suspended alternate-side regs on the Equinoxes/Solstices? This hangup on a man in the sky is getting really boring.
Most schools in NYC have AIR CONDITIONING for the STUDENTS?
Really?
I'm sure every administrative office does, but if you think most kids are getting AC, then you haven't been to many NYC public schools.
#24, I grew up attending NYC public schools. And no, back in the late 80s and early 90s most schools didn't have A/C, and it was hellish in June.
Every school built in the last 20 years has central A/C, and individual window units have been placed in a vast majority of schools. It could be better, yes, but it's an improvement.
The point of my comment wasn't about air conditioning anyway; it was that the temperature isn't the reason NYC schools open later than others.
arrrgh, ramen!