S.F. school board backtracks on Muslim holiday adoption

The San Francisco school board voted just over a month ago to add two Muslim holidays to the instructional calendar but put that decision on hold Tuesday, following significant backlash and the threat of a lawsuit over the lack of similar recognition for Jewish or other religious or cultural observances.

The board voted to delay the addition of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha holidays to the school calendar, while the superintendent comes up with a recommendation on how and when to determine holidays “based on the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, student-centered outcomes, and compliance with the law.”

The analysis will also include how to ensure students aren't penalized for missing classes because of “culturally significant holidays.”

The superintendent is now expected to present his recommendations, with a board decision on them, by Jan. 31.

The board will not adopt the instructional calendar for the 2023-24 calendar until after that occurs.

The vote was 6-1, with board member Ann Hsu the lone opposition. She supported rescinding the decision to add the Muslim holidays, rather than putting it on hold.

Arab and Muslim representatives said they were outraged by the effort to backtrack on the Eid holidays.

“Once again, the Arab and Muslim community is the target of Islamophobic and racist attacks by those committed to rolling back any progress in the city of San Francisco,” Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, said in a statement. “We followed the democratic process laid out by the school board and sat through a year of delays and deliberation.”

District student Sara Ouchene, who authored the original petition urging the board to add the Muslim holidays to the school calendar, was devastated by the decision.

“I was so excited when the resolution passed, and for the days that followed our community felt seen, celebrated and welcomed in San Francisco,” she said in the statement. “After years of having to feel invisible in the classroom, this resolution brought a sense of relief and hope. Learning that there are threats to walk back on this effort, is really disappointing. Why is it that when our community makes progress in the city, we are automatically met with attacks and threats to turn back time?”

The backpedaling is the latest bumble by the city's school board, which has been forced to rescind controversial votes in recent years over the renaming of 40 schools, the destruction of a historic mural at Washington High School and the meritbased admission to Lowell High School.

In all three cases, the district and board were sued over the policy or procedures.

They also face a threatened legal challenge to the decision to include the Muslim holidays over concerns the board failed to follow open meetings laws and whether the holidays violated the Constitution by favoring one religion over another.

Attorney Paul Scott, who threatened to sue over the decision, said the analysis is a good first step.

“Discrimination against kids based on their religion is totally unacceptable. Our point is simply that the Board has to act lawfully,” he said. “It violates the state and federal constitutions to pass a resolution giving preference to any one particular religion. Hopefully the board can implement a resolution, after a more thorough process, that addresses the serious concerns about discrimination but also does so lawfully.”

Yet many school districts have adopted holidays based on religious observances, including the Eids, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah because of high absentee rate on those days due to a district's student demographics.

In California, schools receive state funding based on attendance, so a large number of student absences on certain days could have a significant financial impact on district budgets.

The San Francisco school board did not cite the attendance rates as a reason for adopting the Muslim holidays.

Hsu was the only one opposed in the initial vote making the Eids holidays, saying the district should adopt a more formal process for designating days off, based on whether they are already state or federal holidays and the percentage of students practicing the holiday.

“If we don't establish any criteria and approve this request every other community can ask for their own holiday and we would have to say yes to everyone,” she said. “I don't believe that is a practical way to manage a school calendar or run a school district.”