Inspired by a community petition, the Jersey City Board of Education is likely to add the Islamic school holiday of Eid Al-Adha to its school closure list.
Superintendent Marcia Lyles, who heads one of the most diverse districts in the country, has voiced her support for the shift. The board will vote Sept. 17 on a resolution to incorporate the holiday into the school calendar, which would extend the school year by one day, to June 23.
The change seems very likely to pass, Board President Vidya Gangadin said on Thursday.
This discussion follows a June petition written by Jersey City neighbors Jessica Abdenabbi and Amir Mohamed in favor of public Muslim holidays, in light of the city’s large Muslim population.
The petition, which has 462 signatures so far, says that it is discriminatory to not offer the Muslim holidays of Eid Al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan), which this year took place July 18, and Eid Al-Adha, a holiday commemorating Abraham’s willingness to follow God.
While debate continues in the school district, the city council, however, voted on Thursday to pass a resolution establishing new city holidays: both Eid Al-Adha, which can be celebrated by giving meat to the needy, and the Hindu holiday of Diwali, which happens to fall on Veteran’s Day this year.
“Having my child in the Jersey City public schools is one of the best things I can imagine,” wrote Abdenabbi, the petition author. “But it seems to me there has always been something missing... Islamic Holiday (sic) are as important as Christmas and Easter are for all the different denominations of the Christian faith.”
Abdenabbi, a self-described Latina Muslim of Colombian and Peruvian descent, said she was “standing up” for the city’s diverse Muslim community.
“We’re home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the country. If any city should close school to recognize Eid al Adha, it’s us,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said in a press release.
According to Lyles’ Chief of Staff Maryann Dickar, Eid Al-Fitr is not up for discussion because it fell in July and did not conflict with the school calendar. Diwali is also being discussed, she said, despite falling on Veteran’s Day this year.
The district’s precise number of Muslim students is unknown, but it’s known to be significant. After Spanish, Arabic and Urdu (the national language of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan) are most commonly spoken by the school’s English language learners.
“Not all of our Muslim students are Arab nor are all of our Arab students Muslim,” Dickar said, pointing out that the Pakistani community has been very active in seeking the holiday. “Islam is practiced by students of all races...but we know that we have a large Muslim population.”