Results tagged “schoolcalendar”

Yesterday, the City Council voted to add the Muslim holy days of Eid ul-Fitrand Eid ul-Adh to the NYC public school calendar. However Mayor Bloomberg does not approve, saying, "One of the problems you have with a diverse city is that if you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school.” There's a 10-12% Muslim population among students. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, head of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem and a proponent of the measure, suggested to the NY Times that there could be "catastrophic" results from the city's 600,000 Muslims come election time, if Bloomberg is still down on adding the holidays, “We really have confidence in the mayor’s intelligence. It’s an election year.” And City Councilman Robert Jackson told PolitickerNY, "Having to choose whether to send your children to school on your highest, holiest holidays where there may be an exam or stuff like that, it’s a clash situation and it should not have to happen."

The City Council's Education Panel voted 10-1 to add the Muslim holidays of "Eid ul-Fitr, a day of giving thanks, and Eid ul-Adha, a day of remembrance," to the school calendar. Councilmember Robert Jackson, who introduced the legislation last year, said, "This is about being inclusive. This is about the city of New York being flexible to understand that the diversity of our city is complimented when we can include all holidays into the school calendar." About 10% of the NYC public school population is Muslim. The lone "no" vote was from Councilmember Oliver Koppell, who told the Riverdale Press, "I just feel that we can’t, we shouldn’t deprive kids of school. And we should make accommodation for everybody’s religious observance." The Press adds he's concerned about asking the state for two extra school days, "Reducing school days... until everyone's holidays were recognized would be onerous, he said." On that note, Councilmember Simcha Felder is against closing schools on every holiday, but, PolitickerNY reports, "since the practice is in place, now, it should be applied uniformly."