California and the Bay area, in particular, consist of diverse ethnicities.  According to greatschools.org [Ref 1, Ref 2], more than 60% of the student body in the Bay Area are minorities.  Considering the student body, we propose that multi-cultural holidays be considered while setting up the school calendar.

Why Observe Multicultural Holidays?

Cultural understanding and appreciation are a large part of the school curriculum. We believe children develop better if they are part of a larger community and have stronger family ties. Including ethnic holidays in the school calendar will allow them to connect to their roots and understand family culture and traditions. 

This raises an interesting question - Should religious holidays be part of a public school calendar, or do we need a secular approach? In our view, the school calendar should reflect the community it resides in. A school has many focus areas, one of which is to promote and support student belonging, belonging with their family and community at large. This belonging is important for communities to uphold their culture and traditions.

New York School District, one of the largest School Districts with diverse populations, has integrated religious holidays into the school calendar. The San Francisco School District has been observing Lunar New Year as a School Holiday since 1994. Stanford is revising its academic calendar to support its multi-faith community.   

How to implement:

We acknowledge the challenging task that would be required of school administrators to consider these ethnic holidays in a school calendar. Balancing the needs of student study hours and teachers' teaching hours with additional constraints to accommodate ethnic holidays is challenging. 

We recognize that observing ethnic holidays for every minority and every ethnic holiday is not feasible.  This petition is to accommodate the majority-minority population. 

It may not be possible to declare ethnic holidays as school holidays. Some options for consideration that will allow students time to spend with their families and observe their cultural heritage and traditions:

These holidays could be accommodated by scheduling ‘Teachers learning days’ on ethnic holidays.
Early school dismissal days could be scheduled on ethnic holidays.
 

Impact On the 2023-24 Year School Year:

We propose that [in alphabetical order] Diwali, Eid, Juneteeth, Lunar New Year, and Yom Kippur be accounted for in School Calendar. Two significant religious days - Easter and Christmas -  are accounted for in the current school calendar and should continue as they were. Many religious days follow the lunar calendar, that means dates change every year.

Diwali 2023 is on Sunday, November 12, 2023. For 2024, it is over the Veterans Day holiday weekend in 2024 (Friday, Nov 1). 

Eid is April 21-22, 2023 (Fri-Sat), during Spring Break this year.  (2024 is April 9-10.) 

Juneteenth:  School usually is not in session in June. This holiday has no impact on school calendar. 

Lunar New Year is on Sunday, January 22, 2023, and In 2024, it is on Saturday, Feb 10, 2024.

Yom Kippur is on Monday, Sept 25, 2023. 

Proposed School Holidays and Community Significance [in alphabetic order]

Diwali: Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights that celebrates the triumph of light over dark and good over evil. This is a major holiday celebrated by Hindus in India. Diwali is celebrated over five days, but the main celebration occurs on Laxmi Pooja (the 4th day).

One of the major school demographics consists of immigrant families from India. Recently, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced Diwali is a public school holiday for the New York School District for the 2023 school year.  This is an acknowledgment of the growing south Asian population. Diwali takes place every year between October and November. 

Eid al-Fitr: Eid al-Fitr is a day celebrated by Muslims around the globe. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast to understand three things- grateful for having meals, resisting temptation, and feeling the pain of hunger. Eid-ul-Fitr is a religious day of the ‘breaking of the fast.’ It marks the end of Ramadan. 

Many of our students are of the Islamic faith.

We are accommodating students with families originally from the Middle East, the African continent, South Asia, Malaysia, and many more. 

Juneteenth: Juneteenth commemorates an effective end of slavery in the United States. This is declared a federal holiday.

Lunar New Year: The lunar new year is an ancient traditional festival celebrating the Lunar New Year.  

A large percentage of our student population is of East Asian descent. By including this cultural and religious day, we are accommodating students with families originally from China, Singapore, Korea, and more. Lunar New Year typically falls in January.  

Yom Kippur:  Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, is the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar. Our school has a large Jewish population.

References:

School District Demographics

Ref 1: https://www.greatschools.org/california/sunnyvale/cupertino-union-school-district/#Students

Ref 2: https://www.greatschools.org/california/sunnyvale/fremont-union-high-school-district/#Students

New York School District Calendar: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/news/2022-2023-school-year-calendar

San Francisco School District Calendar:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j84jm4g5VkSnCurQlpavu2Yd0xCsjnFE/preview

Author: Meera Datey (Bavadekar) meera.datey@gmail.com