Broward schools being asked to close on 2 Muslim holidays

South Florida Sun Sentinel ^ | October 31, 2012 | Scott Travis

[ConservativeStatement]

Broward County public schools are being asked to close for two Islamic holidays a year under a controversial proposal before the district's Diversity Committee.

The request, from the Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, would make Broward the first in Florida and one of only a few districts in the country to add Muslim holidays into its calendar. Broward and Palm Beach County schools generally close on major Christian and Jewish holidays.

The Islamic holidays requested, which fall on different days depending on the year, are Eid al-Fitr – the end of Ramadan – and Eid-al Adha, which marks the end of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

[ConservativeStatement]

What an utterly insane concept.

[Talisker]

Broward and Palm Beach County schools generally close on major Christian and Jewish holidays.

No they damn well do NOT.

Just ask them: They close for "Winter Break" and "Spring Break."

Those are NOT "major Christian and Jewish holidays."

[Smedley]

Tell the muzzles to eat pork

[Grams A]

What is happening to our One Nation Under God? It’s bad enough that we no longer have Christmas trees or Christmas carols.

[Gene Eric]

Islam is a war plan. It wishes to destroy the West. There can be no such thing as an Islamic “Holiday” in the West for the sane.

[MichaelCorleone]

Very good point.

But I douby the ‘Diversity Committee’ will see that as a valid reason to deny cair’s request. And BTW, it may be a simple ‘request’ today, but it’ll be ‘an offer they can’t refuse’ tomorrow.

[Ray76]

Broward School District Calendar:

http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/schoolboundaries/images/2012_13-CalendrColor.jpg

Florida Legal Holidays:

http://www.dms.myflorida.com/human_resource_support/human_resource_management/for_state_hr_practitioners/2012_and_2013_state_holidays

The School District Holidays align with Florida Legal Holidays:

2012

Sep 3 - Labor Day
Nov 12 - Veterans Day Observed
Nov 22 - Thanksgiving Day
Nov 23 - Friday after Thanksgiving
Dec 25 - Christmas Day

2013

Jan 1 - New Years Day
Jan 21 - MLK day
Feb 18 - Presidents Day
Mar 31 - Easter Sunday
May 27 - Memorial Day

The only possibility for debate would be schools closed Mar 25-29, 2013. The week prior to Easter... Holy Week or Passover.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Expect a big jump in prayer rug sales there. We’re all gonna be muzzies now.

[cardinal4]

“That’s a mighty nice Middle School you got there, it would be a shame if something were to happen to it..”

[ArmyTeach]

The answer is ‘NO.’ Just ‘NO.’ End of discussion.

[ArmyTeach]

The answer is ‘NO.’ Just ‘NO.’ End of discussion.

[Ray76]

The requested days, Eid al-Fitr and Eid-al Adha, are not Legal Holidays in Florida.

[SECURE AMERICA]

Gotta say I am against closing schools for a religions holidays when that religion is waging war against the United States.....

[SECURE AMERICA]

Salam said parent surveys have indicated there about 15,000 to 18,000 Muslim children in Broward County schools

So 3,000 of them are not sure what they are?

[Fai Mao]

How about just abolishing Public Schools?

Problem solved

[yldstrk]

no and hail no

[autumnraine]

Broward schools do not close for Christian holidays.

This is why I am glad I homeschool my Broward kids. It’s hard being a single mom, working full time, but pray it keeps working.

[hattend]

Broward County public schools are being asked to close for two Islamic holidays a year under a controversial proposal before the district's Diversity Committee.

Any school district with a Diversity Committee deserves what it gets.

[Tax-chick]

They mean that only a small fraction of the parents in the district returned the surveys, so they have to extrapolate - i.e., take a guess - as to how many families are Moslem, and then how many students those families represent.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Another reason to separate school and state, avoid politicizing religion.

[Yulee]

In most school districts in Florida, Spring Break is not tied specifically to Easter. It moves around a bit, depending upon when the state schedules testing, and what is negotiated with the teachers’ union. Usually it falls before or after Easter.

In our district, as in most in north Florida, there are two or three choices for employees to choose from, that have been developed by a joint committee of school administrators and teacher union members. the employees vote and the calendar is set for the following year.

Spring arrives in North Florida in mid to late February. Spring Break has been set as early as mid March and mid April. I always rooted for an early Spring Break, so I could take my children to northern areas to snow ski.

My concern is when the Muslims start demanding that school not be conducted on Friday, because it is their day of worship. With the economy as bad as it is, I thought for a while that a demand for longer school days, and four day school weeks would come to the foreground. Once in place, a cry of discrimination would arise, when school returned to a Monday through Friday schedule.

Please remember the word holiday originally meant holy day. We observed the Sabbath and Christian day of worship, because of our Jewish/Christian heritage.

No matter what Barak Hussein Obama says, Islam had no part in the development of our nation, other than enslaving millions of Africans and selling them to European slave traders for transport to America.

How any Black can take a Muslim name, knowing how so many of their ancestors came to be slaves, is beyond me. What they forget is that their ancestors got to keep their manly parts, when they came to America, but their ancestors brothers, who went into Muslim lands were castrated, and became eunuchs. My understanding is that the Arabic word for a black person, and slave are the same word. If this isn't correct, please let me know.

[NormsRevenge]

I’m sorry,, a tardy idea if ever I’d heard one.