Students Press for the Inclusion of Asian Holidays in Scarsdale School Calendar

Three students continued to press for the inclusion of Asian holidays in the official Scarsdale Schools calendar at the Board of Education meeting on Monday December 5, 2022. They outlined the importance of Eid, Diwali and the Lunar New Year and suggested how these days could be marked and honored in the community.

Responding to the students, Interim Superintendent Drew Patrick thanked the students who “spoke so beautifully.” He said, “At our December 19 meeting we will share some draft calendars for next year, and the future, beyond next year, that illustrate a possible school year with those holidays recognized, and without. That will provide the community and the board with some time to think about what it looks like and what the trade-offs are both for next year and the future. At the January meeting, people can share their reflections and at the February 13, 2023 meeting we will make a recommendation of the 2023-24 school calendar.”

Here are the student’s comments:

Samina Malik of 77 Tunstall Road asked for Eid, Diwali and Lunar New Year to be included as days off on the school calendar. She said “People have not asked as they did not know it was an option. After the isolation of COVID we see how important it is to embrace our community. Why has this taken so long to be a main consideration? We found an article from the Scarsdale Inquirer in April 19, 1974 asking for the Jewish holidays to be school holidays to reflect the changing community. Almost 50 years later, over 150 Muslims students in our schools are asking for a similar consideration. We should not be asked to choose between our faith and our education. I recently spoke to Amy Paulin and Michelle Sterling. They said that NYC incorporated these holidays by changing the snow days to remote learning days. Other districts have made other accommodations.” She submitted a petition with the signatures of 200 families supporting the goal. She said, “Most years we would only need to 2 or 3 days to be added.”

Sajiv Mehta of 74 Drake Road said, “I am here to discuss the inclusion of Diwali, Eid and Lunar New Year as school holidays in the coming year. Diwali, the festival of light, is the most important day of the year for Hindus and is also celebrated by many Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists.”

“I joined Edgewood in third grade and each year the celebration of Diwali in my home was relegated to a short prayer session. As I have gotten older and my workload has increased, the duration of this session has gone down from an hour to just 20 minutes. While this year teachers were discouraged from giving much work on Diwali I still had tests and assignments due in the coming days that I could not ignore. The stress of balancing my tests and the holidays was too much which meant that I had to sacrifice the integrity of the holiday or my work. A few weeks ago when I discussed this with my friends, they also hoped that Scarsdale would incorporate Eid, Diwali and the Lunar New Year as holidays just like NYC public schools and many other districts. 23% of Scarsdale students are of Asian descent and according to an informal SHS poll, at least 40% of the SHS student body observes at least one of these holidays. While there are calendar challenges to deal with, solutions are possible. One option is to adjust the half days at the end of June to accommodate days off for Eid, Diwali and the Lunar New Year. Or to start a few days earlier in September so that all of us can celebrate our important festivals without stressing about how to balance our education and cultural events and identities.”

“It is crucial that we celebrate Diwali with every family member. We are not able to give Diwali the respect it deserves as the celebration is always incomplete. By giving us a day off, it is my hope that the board will enable families to be truly together on Diwali, Eid and Lunar New Year as soon as possible while we can still celebrate together.”

Daniel Hu, a sophomore spoke about what the Lunar New Year means “to me, my family and Scarsdale,” and asked the Board to consider adding a school holiday for Lunar New Year. He said, “Lunar New Year is a global celebration….you will see red calendars and red envelopes everywhere. However more and more Chinese students are missing out on this incredible tradition, mostly because of school. I was born in China and lived there for seven years. I can still remember this holiday and my grandparents giving out red envelopes and the joy of opening them. When I came to the U.S. I didn’t expect the same celebration but did expect to spend time with my family. This is missing for students here in Scarsdale. They have homework and tests the next day and too much stress on one of the most important days of the Lunar calendar. They can only see their relatives for a few minutes and only briefly taste the food it took weeks to prepare. If inclusiveness is one of your goals, I would strongly suggest that you broaden your inclusiveness toward the Chinese community which has grown tremendously over the past few years – and designate a specific schoolwide holiday for Lunar New Year.”