For the calendar year 2020-2021, students in Montgomery County-outside of Washington D.C.- will now have the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr off. The school district will not recognize the day as an official holiday but instead, “designate May 13 as a teacher professional day so that students can be out of classes for the Islamic holy day.”
The College Board helped pave the way for this particular day off by “creating extra testing options: Advanced Placement tests planned for May 13 would be given a second time, on May 18, to support students observing the holiday, College Board officials said in November as the issue flared.”
When debating the issue, the school board took into consideration fairness. Students in Montgomery have two Jewish holidays off and several days for Christmas and Easter .
“This is a big victory for our students,” said Samira Hussein, a longtime advocate on the issue. “They will feel accepted and acknowledged by their teachers, their Board of Education, their superintendent.”
The Washington Post:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised the county school board for lobbying the College Board and making Eid a day off for students — actions it said show “a strong commitment to inclusivity, diversity and equity.”
