Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
Posted on 05/28/2004 10:26:52 AM PDT by NYer
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) _ Atlantic City has become the fourth school district in New Jersey to recognize Muslim holidays.
The city's board of education approved districtwide days off for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, two sacred Islamic holidays, for the upcoming school year. Previously, under state law Muslim students and teachers were allowed to take off Islamic holidays without being penalized.
According to Superintendent Fredrick P. Nickles, about 560 of the city's 7,800 children are Muslim. Board member Cornell Davis, who is Muslim, called the decision ``courageous'' in light of current tensions between Americans and Islamic extremists. ``It shows a lot of character about us as Americans,'' Davis told The Press of Atlantic City.
Eid al-Fitr, a festival celebrating the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, will be observed on Nov. 15. Eid al-Adha, a festival of sacrifice and pilgrimage, will be observed on Jan. 21.
To fit the two holidays into the school calendar, officials reduced the number of days schools can take off for emergencies from six to four. That means if schools close for snow or other emergencies more than four days, the days would have to be made up during spring recess or on Saturdays in June, Nickles said.
School districts in Trenton, Paterson and Irvington already recognize Islamic holidays.
AP-ES-05-28-04 1312EDT
Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
courageous isnt the right word, how about foolish or blind?
OKAY, Lte's recognize ALL religions holidays. That way no one will ever show up at school, and the teachers union will get paid for nothing.........no wait, they already do..........
The 5X/day moose-calls are next.
I think if I had kids in that school system that I would find all sorts of Christian holidays to observe and keep my kids out of school to observe them.
Atlantic City always had a significant Jewish population, are they granting Jewish holidays as well?
Yeah, but do they get All Saints' Day off?
Allahu Fubar! seriously, when does all this stop? I think it must be stopped.
The holy city of Atlantic City.
called the decision ``courageous''
I call it discriminatory and a slap in the face to Christians. Where is the ACLU? Isn't this the establishment of religion according to them and liberal judges?
But we must still call the break for Christmas the "Winter Holiday."
Unbelievable. They were already able to take the days off, but now they made them mandatory? Make no mistake folks: this is not about cultural sensitivity; this is about pushing Islam on the population. I don't even know if Euroweenieland has gone this far.
Just wait till they want Sept 11th off..
If there are too many snow days the Jewish children will apparently be told to go to school on Saturdays in June in order to accomodate Islam. That should be interesting.
Disgusting.
And schools all across the nation are now not recognizing Christmas, instead calling it "winter break".
But we're going to recognize Muslim holidays?
I despair for this country.
I don't get it. They were already allowed to take the days off by the state.
Now their school districts are allowing them to take the days off?
I tried to access their school calendars but their websites have only one month - Nov. 2003.
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