Winter (not Christmas) vacation, institute days, teacher training days, etc. I'd assume that's what they're doing here. I don't know about NJ, but in Illinois many schools schedule institute days on Jewish holidays since some state aid to school districts is based on attendance days. Scheduling a school day when you know you'll have a extra 10% absence rate can be costly.
Ha, this school district has abolished teacher inservice days. I was informed that they no longer get money from the state if a child misses school from illness. That used to be the case. Some parents would send their kids to school with contagious illnesses anyway, and now it's being encouraged.
There isn't any meaningful mention of any religion in this district. The last "Christmas" pageant they had featured cowboy songs. My daughter hitched a ride with the neighbors down the street, because I boycotted it. Now if they had rolled everyone's winter religious holidays into one program, that would have been cool.
Spring break starts the day after Easter Sunday. The community college keeps the traditional schedule. When I attended that school, there were provisions for students to take certain afternoons off, for offsite religious study. My how times have changed.
This school district in the article has come out and publicly stated that these new vacation days are for Muslims. It's good for kids to learn about other cultures, but not at the expense of their own.