School District Cancels Classes For Islamic Holiday

[The Straight Story]

School District Cancels Classes For Islamic Holiday
Cambridge Students Observe Muslim Religious Holy Day

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Public school students in Cambridge will have the day off Tuesday as the schools are closed in observance of a Muslim religious holiday. Cambridge is the first district in the state to observe an Islamic holy day.

The Cambridge School Committee voted last year to close on one Muslim holiday every school year. Students are getting Tuesday off for Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice.

The decision came after a group of Muslim students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School reached out to school staff, administrators and their fellow students to raise awareness of their religion.

School committee members said those meetings and the significant number of Muslim students in Cambridge schools were factors in their decision.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/29699788/detail.html?source=bos

Can they call it Eid al-Adha or will it be called 'fall break'? ;)

[HopeHoops]

1. Cool!

[frazzled]

2. Sounds good

Cambridge Rindge and Latin also is closed for Rosh Hashanah and Good Friday, so Eid Al Adha should be added as well.

[Fearless]

3. I always love the names religions come up with for this sort of thing...

Festival of Sacrifice. It'd be nice if we could throw off the collective religious self hate / guilt trip and... who am I kidding... :banghead:

[FarCenter]

4. Eid al-Adha is not always in the fall; It moves around the year depending on the Islamic calendar

Looks like they get Rosh Hashanah, Eid al-Adha, and Good Friday as religious holidays. Others occur during weekends or during breaks.

http://www3.cpsd.us/media/theme/Pro-Cambridge/network/10516/media/CPS%20Redesign/documents/CPS_Academic_Calendar_11-12.pdf?rev=1

[Arugula Latte]

5. I don't think public schools should be in the business of observing ANY religious holidays.

That includes Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc. ...

Get religion out of government.

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. +1000 Closing school on Christmas Day is an abomination and the American people are fed up with it

[AngryAmish]

12. Shouldn't schools be closed for Thursday and Friday of the Masters?

[Arugula Latte]

15. They don't close schools for Xmas

but they schedule a winter break for the last two weeks of the year. Yes, holidays fall in there, including Hanukkah sometimes, and also New Years, but the public schools aren't specifically closed specifically for "Christmas" anymore. Nor are they closed for Easter.

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. what a strange coincidence. Christmas Day is not even a legal holiday anymore?

I didn't know that. We need to make sure that all government offices and places of work are open on Christmas day unless by coincidence it falls on a Saturday or Sunday. The make New Years Eve a legal holiday. The American working class are fed up with people taking off Christmas Day even when it is in the middle of the week.

[pstokely]

19. They might schedule Spring Break around Easter

They schedule breaks around religious holidays

[Pigheaded]

6. WRONG

Public schools should not be closed for ANY religious holiday!
What are you folks thinking????

PH

[Iggo]

18. No.

Public Schools should be closed for ALL religious holidays!

[Township75]

7. One step back for the separation of church and state, yet some here at DU will support this.

This is one more nail in the coffen of SOCAS. Some will celebrate this as being diverse, but the truth is it should not be practiced, nor should days off for Christmas be practiced...same for Eastor.

Public schools are run by the government and not religion!

[The Straight Story]

9. Well, there are practical reasons

If most kids won't be showing up in a district due to their religious observances it makes sense to close schools that day, different districts, different days.

[KamaAina]

8. Cambridge is exuberantly diverse

so this opens the door for a Jewish holiday, a Hindu holiday, and so on and so on ad infinitum.

[progressoid]

10. What's next? Festivus?

[slackmaster]

14. For the rest of us.

:argh:

[Lionessa]

13. Backwards, totally backwards !

They shouldn't be adding more religious holidays, but less. Religion and school is a bad combination of considerations and can escalate to things like creationism being taught as is the concern in so many schools that give Judeo-Christian holidays too much credence as it is.

Religion doesn't belong in government or education.

[Sgent]

16. Get rid of all religious holidays as such....

However, if a certain percentage of students are unlikely to attend due to religious (or other) reasons, then it might be worth considering canceling the day.

Of course I also don't understand why we still have extended summer breaks....