May 21, 2021

To East Syracuse Minoa school district and board,

We as residents of East Syracuse and Minoa are writing to the ESM school district to acknowledge Muslim holidays in our school system. ESM has a large population of Muslim students which continues to grow. Islam is the second largest religion in the world. As our school district acknowledges our students of Christian and Jewish faith religion and their holidays we request that ESM recognize the two Muslim holidays Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha in the equivalent manner. We request that ESM observe these holidays and close school on these two holidays in a school year the same way Christian and Jewish holidays are observed so that every child has equity, ability and privilege to celebrate their holidays. New York State Education Department is about creating equity for every student.  We as ESM resident believe as one community that we can come together and give this to our students and show that ESM respects all cultures/religions no matter where they come from or what their faith is by closing school on these two Muslim holidays just as our neighborly school Jamesville Dewitt (JD) is doing the same.

Sincerely,

ESM school district residents