NJ Schools Add Muslim Holiday to Day-Off List

1010 Wins ^ | Nov 14, 2003 2:38 pm US/Eastern | 1010 Wins

[Calpernia]

Add Eid to the list of religious holidays that can get students a day off from school in some communities.

This Essex County district will become one of only a handful of districts in the nation to close schools on a major Islamic holiday, the Eid-al-Fitr on Nov. 26. Paterson and Trenton schools also close that day.

Public schools across the nation have traditionally closed for major Christian holidays including Christmas and several days before or after Easter, and many also close for Jewish holidays as well.

Now, with Islam emerging as one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States, some school districts with significant Muslim populations are recognizing the Eid holidays.

"Up to now, the major holidays have either been Christian or Jewish," said Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. "But now we're diversifying, and I'm sure this is something we'll see other districts doing in the future."

Irvington, 2.9-square-mile community adjacent to Newark, is the latest to give students off for the Eid, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims.

Superintendent of Schools Ernest Smith said community leaders convinced the school board that sufficient numbers of students and teachers observe the holiday and planned to be absent from school on the Eid holiday.

Paterson, with its large Arab-American population, started giving students off for Eid about three years ago.

"Members of the Muslim community came forward and requested we consider doing it," said Patricia Chalmers, a school district spokeswoman. "It really came from the community itself, and we were one of the first in the nation to do it."

Trenton has closed its schools for Eid for nearly a decade, a school official said.

In Michigan, Dearborn schools started closing for Eid in 2001, and the Crestwood school district agreed this year to close on Eid as well.

Other New Jersey municipalities with significant Muslim populations still do not close for Eid, including Newark, Jersey City and Camden.

The Eid holiday is slowly gaining in American public consciousness as well. The U.S. Postal Service recently introduced an Eid stamp.

[Calpernia]

Ok, so do the Islamic Schools give anyone off for Jewish or Christian holidays?

[tkathy]

This gives me the creeps.

[tkathy]

This gives me the creeps. It's like finding out you have cancer.

[contessa machiaveli]

"fastest growing religion in america"....those very words send chills up my spine.
not surprisingly paterson is at the forefront of this nonsense. it is now officially a cesspool.

[Semper Paratus]

When is the holiday, Sept. 11?

[Calpernia]

Ping

[Rummyfan]

Do they close for Rosh Hoshanna? Yom Kippur? Good Friday? What a load of bs!

[nothingnew]

When is the holiday, Sept. 11?

Excellent...As the Christmas Break has been changed to "Winter Holidays" will this be called "The Fall Terrorist Day"?

FMCDH

[Calpernia]

Eid is end of the month of Ramadhan

[Calpernia]

Actually, the schools (public) in the Jewish communities here by me do.

BUT, the private jewish schools don't close for the Christian Holidays.

[Maceman]

Ok, so do the Islamic Schools give anyone off for Jewish or Christian holidays?

Forget about Islamic schhols. Do the NJ schools even acknowledge Christmas, or is it just called "Winter Break" now.

This is disgusting.

[browardchad]

When is the holiday, Sept. 11?

I was just wondering how long it will take to add September 11 to the calendar as a holiday -- not to honor the dead, but as the first major victory for Islam in America.

[Salvation]

** Essex County district**

Does anyone have contact information?

They need to be FReeped about the public money they receive. And how they should respond to the LARGER public voice! Ours!

[Calpernia]

You are right, good catch.

Anyone want to wagger how long until a group or lawyer tries to challenge the Calendar?

[fml]

It's winter break and spring break, and it gets worse. In my kids school district they never mentioned the two on the calander, even though every other holiday imaginable is there and they got rid of spring break.

[Calpernia]

I personally would love to see the money trail for the developing of all the Islamic Centers, schools and mosques.

BRING BACK ABSCAM!

[kevao]

Ok, so do the Islamic Schools give anyone off for Jewish or Christian holidays?

Yes, Jews and Christians are offed in Muslim schools. Allah Akbar.

[Calpernia]

I had to read that one twice before I got it! ROFL!

[Salman]

Back in the 1960s when I was attending NYC public schools, Yom Kippur was a day off due to so many teachers being Jewish and taking the day off anyway.

I wonder if that's a factor here, rather than just general multiculturalism?

[NoGrayZone]

Now, with Islam emerging as one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States.....

more fiction from the left