As we’ve been reporting, local elected officials are urging Mayor de Blasio to designate a Lunar New Year school holiday next year. Recently, he decided against the move, while suggesting it’s something that could happen in the future. Politicos rallied at City Hall last week in support of the proposed holiday. Today, an alternative point of view from Daily News columnist Errol Louis:
Enough already. The city Education Department should strip the school calendar of every religiously inspired holiday — including the Jewish and Christian oldies like Rosh Hashanah and Good Friday — and revert to a bare-bones schedule that coincides with secular federal holidays like New Year’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving. (Yes, Christmas counts on this list, too.)… State law requires that our schools teach students 180 days a year. Right now, the city’s 182-day calendar barely clears that minimum — with an allowance of only two snow days — thanks to the checkerboard of religious feasts and festivals that each trigger systemwide school closings. Given the fact that most city high school students are graduating unprepared to do college work, interrupting the school year should be done sparingly, if at all.
You can read the full column here.
