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Council OKs Muslim School Holidays, Bloomberg Doesn't
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 1, 2009
Modified Jul 1, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 1, 2009
Modified Jul 1, 2009
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Yesterday, the City Council voted to add the Muslim holy days of Eid ul-Fitrand Eid ul-Adh to the NYC public school calendar. However Mayor Bloomberg does not approve, saying, "One of the problems you have with a diverse city is that if you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school.” There's a 10-12% Muslim population among students. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, head of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem and a proponent of the measure, suggested to the NY Times that there could be "catastrophic" results from the city's 600,000 Muslims come election time, if Bloomberg is still down on adding the holidays, “We really have confidence in the mayor’s intelligence. It’s an election year.” And City Councilman Robert Jackson told PolitickerNY, "Having to choose whether to send your children to school on your highest, holiest holidays where there may be an exam or stuff like that, it’s a clash situation and it should not have to happen."
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City Council
mayor bloomberg
muslim holidays
school calendar
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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