Excerpt:
In response to objections from Paterson's Muslim community, city education officials have dropped their plan to hold classes on a major Islamic holiday in October.
Under the district's original calendar for the 2012-13 academic year, city schools would have remained open during all religious holidays that are not state or federal holidays. That represented a break from the recent practice of closing Paterson schools on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Mohamed El Filali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaci County, attended the Board of Education meeting on May 2 and asked school officials to reconsider holding classes on Eid al-Adha. State-appointed schools superintendent Donnie Evans subsequently changed the calendar after meeting with El Filali.