NJ: More school districts recognize Muslim holidays, but not Columbus Day

NJ: More school districts recognize Muslim holidays « Creeping Sharia

October 23, 2010 by creeping

via More NJ school districts recognize Muslim holidays – NorthJersey.com.

…New Jersey school districts are reconsidering their holiday calendars in light of a booming Muslim population. Clifton isn’t one of them, even though officials report a 20 percent absenteeism rate on Muslim holidays.

“We have 67 different languages spoken in Clifton homes and we have many different ethnic groups,” said James Daly, president of Clifton’s Board of Education. The idea of giving off for Muslim holidays has never been raised, he said. “Once you start making accommodations for one group, where do you draw the line?“

Yet, many New Jersey districts have for years closed schools for Muslim holidays, including Paterson, Atlantic City, Trenton, Cliffside Park, Piscataway, Prospect Park, Plainfield and Irvington. South Brunswick schools, with a Muslim student population of 20 percent, added the religion’s holidays to its calendar this year for the first time.

Hala Fahmy is a teacher’s aide at School 1 in Prospect Park, one of many districts in New Jersey that close for Muslim holidays.

“We looked at the diversity of the community and felt it was the right thing to do,” said Matthew Speesler, South Brunswick school board president.

Teaneck will consider many requests from the community to give the days off because of its considerable Muslim population, the district said.

And a newly elected Muslim mayor.

Federal and state law protects students who miss school for religious observances, such as Good Friday, Yom Kippur, and the Hindu holiday Ganesha Chaturthi by considering them excused absences. The list of excused religious holidays published by the state Department of Education has swelled to 134, encompassing about a dozen religions — including the Wicca observance of Lammas. The list also includes Eid al-Fitr, which this year fell on Sept. 10, and Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice, observed this year on Nov. 16.

Amid changing demographics, experts say more schools are giving all students the day off for those holidays, although there are no statistics that track the number.

Unprompted by parents, Prospect Park schools began closing for the two major Muslim holidays five years ago, a gesture for which “the Muslim students were very appreciative,” said Superintendent James Barriale. It eased frustration for the students and teachers who ordinarily would miss instruction to take days off for the holiday, he said.

Unprompted? Someone prompted it, a little due diligence would likely debunk this conveniently left out detail. And just a few paragraphs below we are told of “advocates” (terror-linked advocates like CAIR?) are urging parents to shake down school districts for Muslim holidays.

In Clifton, some residents still are steaming that Columbus Day is not observed in the school calendar.

“We have to start concentrating more on our American holidays,” said David D’Arco, president of the Passaic/Clifton chapter of UNICO, an Italian-American organization. “If religious holidays have to take a hit, then so be it. We’re losing our national identity.”

D’Arco strongly advocates for Columbus Day as a school holiday, arguing that all Americans, including immigrants, should celebrate the explorer popularly credited with discovering America.

But the impetus to persuade more districts to close schools on Muslim holidays seems just as strong. Advocates urge parents throughout North Jersey to pressure school districts to recognize their holidays so that students don’t have to take time from school in order to observe their religions.

Saima Waheed of Teaneck, whose 4-year-old son, Esahm, attends pre-K at Teaneck’s Bryant School, said she wishes Teaneck schools would recognize the Muslim holidays. “There are a lot of Muslims all over America and our holidays should be universally accepted the way Christmas is,” she said. “This is like our Christmas.”

Universally accepted. That is, afterall, the goal of Islam – to be universally accepted the world over – ruled by Islamic sharia law, and spread by jihad if necessary.