The board of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools in suburban Washington, D.C. is more than happy to accommodate Islamic holidays but school officials say such a change would violate state law, so the board instead voted to strip all Christian and Jewish holiday names from the schedule, but this didn't satisfy the Muslim activists who demand parity.
UPDATE 9/23/15: Angry Muslims Demand School Holiday in New Jersey
For background, read New York Schools Observe Muslim Holidays, but Christmas? and also read Muslim Holiday Celebrated at Massachusetts Schools as well as Massachusetts Students Forced To Learn Muslim Conversion
However, Citizens Force Islam Indoctrination Out of Ohio Middle School
In addition, read the myriad examples of public schools favoring Islam.
-- From "Religious holidays to no longer be on county's school calendar" posted at WBAL-TV11 (Baltimore, MD) 11/12/14
Yom Kippur, Christmas and other religious holidays will no longer be on the calendar at Montgomery County schools.
Students will still have those religious holidays off, but those holiday names, including Easter and Rosh Hashanah, won't be showing up on their calendars.
The county's Board of Education voted 7 to 1 on Tuesday to remove any mentions of religious holidays on calendars for the next school year.
The change stems from schools being closed for Jewish holidays but not for Muslim observances. Muslim leaders in the community asked that equal recognition be given to the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Holidays’ names stricken from next year’s Montgomery schools calendar" by Donna St. George, Washington Post 11/11/14
Board members said Tuesday that the new calendar will reflect days the state requires the system to be closed and that it will close on other days that have shown a high level of student and staff absenteeism. Though those days happen to coincide with major Christian and Jewish holidays, board members made clear that the days off are not meant to observe those religious holidays, which they say is not legally permitted.
It is unclear how many Muslim students attend Montgomery schools, but in 2013, Muslim community leaders urged Muslim families and their supporters to keep students home for Eid al-Adha, hoping that the number of absentees would be persuasive as they made their case for a school closing. Montgomery school officials reported that absences for that day — 5.6 percent of students and 5 percent of teachers — were only somewhat higher than a comparable day the previous week.
Students who miss classes on religious holidays are given excused absences. But Muslim families have argued that students should not have to choose between their faith and their schoolwork and that missing even a day leaves many students behind. They say the day off is a matter of equity, with Christian and Jewish students getting days off for their holidays.
Several board members pledged to produce a clearer standard for the kind of operational impacts that might lead to further consideration of closing schools on a Muslim holiday in the future. The calendar change Tuesday affects only the next school year.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Montgomery Co. ed board strips religious holiday references from new calendar" posted at WTOP-FM103.5 (Washington, D.C.) 11/12/14
Saqib Ali, a former Maryland state delegate and co-chair of Equality for Eid, was not happy with the board of education's action Tuesday.
"Equality is really what we're looking for," Ali said. "Simply saying we're not going to call this Christmas, and we're not going to call this Yom Kippur, and still closing the schools, that's not equality."
School board members said they were sympathetic to the desire to have Eid recognized and close schools but that legal precedent in Maryland bars them from closing for religious purposes.
That explanation doesn't sit well with Zainab Chaudry, with the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR].
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "'Equality 4 Eid Coalition' Rally" posted at Montgomery Community Media
Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal joined the Equality 4 Eid Coalition and other community leaders on Sept. 23 to urge Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) staff and students—Muslim and non-Muslim—to stay home from school on Tuesday, Oct. 15 to help celebrate the holiday Eid al-Adha in solidarity with their Muslim friends.
There are two major holidays on the Muslim calendar. Eid al-Fitr is a celebration to mark the end of the month of Ramadan. Over the next three years, Eid al-Fitr will fall in summer, when schools are closed. Eid al-Adha, which marks the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, will falls on autumn dates over the next three years.
The coalition said that it has found at least six school districts in the U.S. that close for the Muslim holiday. They are Burlington, Vt., Cambridge, Mass., Dearborn, Mi.; Paterson, N.J.; Skokie, Ill.; and Trenton, N.J.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
And also read about the rebellion against Christmas by secularists, including by President Obama.
