NY schools have Lunar New Year off, students asking for Eid too

Growing up in New Jersey, Zayed Kadir never had to worry about missing school because he was celebrating Eid.

But that changed a few years ago when he and his family moved to Orange County, New York and the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District, which doesn't give students a day off to observe Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the two major Islamic holidays. Kadir was then faced with a difficult choice: Missing important religious holidays or skipping critical classes and tests, spending the following days playing catchup.

“I've heard stories of kids who opted to go to school instead because they have the math final and you just can't miss that kind of thing because it's such a hassle to retake it,” Kadir said. “You either skip or you go to school, and it's a lose-lose situation.”

The concern some Muslim students face in the Monroe-Woodbury school district became a talking point between Monroe Village Mayor Neil Dwyer and local parents during an April 2022 celebration of Eid al-Fitr at the MonroeWoodbury Islamic Center, Kadir said. The parents lamented the fact that the district does not give off for Islamic holidays, unlike the nearby Newburgh school district.

That's when Kadir decided to take matters into his own hands. Since then, the 15-year-old high school sophomore has led other students in pushing for the Monroe-Woodbury school district to recognize Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Though not intentional, their request coincides with the recent announcement that Lunar New Year will be a mandatory public school holiday in the state starting in 2024. This has raised questions about representation and other cultural celebrations that aren't statemandated holidays.

But with the addition of Lunar New Year to the calendar, it's unclear if Monroe-Woodbury school district administrators will be able to fit the two Islamic holidays in the 180 days of instruction that New York schools are required to have.

“While absences for religious reasons are excused, even one missed day can cause a student to fall behind academically,” Kadir said at the June 14 school board meeting. “The choice between attending school for a crucial test and celebrating a religious holiday should not be one that students have to make.”

What schools celebrate Eid?

Besides Lunar New Year, the Monroe-Woodbury school district is closed for other religious holidays such as Yom Kippur, Passover and Christmas, which falls during winter break.

Other school districts across the state, including Yonkers, New Rochelle, Clarkstown and Buffalo, observe both Eid holidays. In New York City, schools have given both Eid holidays off since 2015.

Senate bill S1083 introduced in January proposed establishing Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr as school holidays for all public schools, but only in those where the district has a population of 1 million or more.

The Muslim population in the Monroe-Woodbury community has been rapidly growing in the past decade, said Abdul Waheed, the imam at the MonroeWoodbury Islamic Center. Since the pandemic, Waheed estimates an increase of 50 percent due to a pandemic influx of people from New York City, where 9 percent of the residents are Muslim. In Orange County, the estimated Muslim population is around 7,000 people.

Eid al-Fitr is also known as the festival of breaking the fast and commemorates the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month during which Muslims fast from dawn until dusk, focusing on spiritual reflection and charity. Eid al-Adha takes place three months after the first Eid and celebrates the sacrifice story of Ibrahim, also known as Abraham. The holiday represents selflessness, compassion and the importance of sacrificing for the greater good, Kadir said in his speech to the Board of Education in June.

During the holidays, Muslim families and communities gather to pray together and share festive meals at the Monroe mosque, Imam Waheed said. Some families will go to restaurants or go shopping for gifts, which contributes to the local economy, he added.

“We're trying to fight — why can't we, as a major religion, have the same right as other religions to celebrate our holidays and be recognized just like everybody else is recognized?” Waheed said. Gaining recognition Kadir applauded the news of Lunar New Year being designated a mandatory public school holiday and said it has given him increased strength to push for equal rights for Muslim students like him.

His advocacy has led him to sit down with Superintendent Elsie Rodriguez, give speeches at school board meetings and gather 200 signatures in support of the cause with the help of Imam Waheed's Islamic Center.

The board has been open to the possibility of closing schools in observance of the two Islamic holidays, but when Rodriguez first met with Kadir in June, the calendar already had been finalized in January at the annual meeting of the BOCES calendar committee, which is comprised of superintendents across Ulster County.

But school district officials were concerned about Eid dates, which vary each year because the Islamic calendar follows the lunar, not solar, calendar. This makes it difficult to establish a school holiday calendar, Rodriguez said at the Aug. 16 school board meeting.

The district must fit in all 10 federal holidays and snow days. And because the Eid holidays fall on different days every year, the school district could find room for the holidays one year, but then they might have to remove a snow day a different year, Kadir said.

“What they shared with me were some tentative dates but they're tentative so it's hard for me to create a calendar,” Rodriguez said at the Aug. 16 school board meeting.

While Eid dates vary, Imam Waheed said that those who celebrate the holidays know the dates ahead of time.

“We can provide (the

school district) the dates. That's not a problem,” he said.

The tentative dates for the next Eid celebrations are April 10 for Eid al-Fitr and June 17 for Eid al-Adha. The first Eid also coincides with the school district's spring break while Eid alAdha has been designated a Regents rating day by the state Department of Education.

Superintendent Rodriguez did not return several requests for comment.

Kadir plans to meet again with Rodriguez in December to discuss possible Eid dates for the 202425 school year and beyond. He has also signed up to speak at the Dec. 6 school board meeting. When the calendar committee comes together in January to plan the next school year's calendar, Kadir hopes they'll be convinced and include the two Eid celebrations.

While Kadir will continue to push for both Eid celebrations to be recognized, he said he is willing to settle with Eid al-Fitr if the school calendar is too overcrowded with school holidays and other days off.

“It's more than just getting another holiday in school — it's about making sure students don't fall behind,” Kadir said. “The future of the country is always going to be the kids, so you have to make sure they're well prepared. They can't be well prepared if they can't properly be who they are.”