Cambridge being home to Harvard, where the libs are fawning all over themselves for being the first school system in the state to close for an Islamic holiday, despite the fact that Muslims make up only a tiny fraction of the student body.
(Boston) — Public school students in Cambridge will get a day off Monday in what officials believe will be the first time in the state that a school district has scheduled a holiday to recognize an Islamic holy day.
The district-wide school holiday will recognize Eid Al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, and was approved by the Cambridge School Committee last year.
“We’re ecstatic about this,” said Atif Harden, the interim executive director of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. “This is the first year that it’s going to occur. This sort of recognition of our existence and the population we have, we feel very good about.”
Cambridge School officials said they approved the day off from school last year in an effort to make it easier for Muslim students to honor their highest holy days. Every year, city schools will close either for Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha, depending on which holiday falls within the school year. If both fall within the school calendar, the district will close for only one of those days.
Cambridge schools already close for some Christian and Jewish holidays, and Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Young said the school district has a significant number of Muslim students.
“I think this shows that we live up to our values and our values are of inclusion and of respect,” Young said.
State and federal laws require schools to make reasonable accommodation for the religious needs of students and in observance of holy days, but the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education leaves decisions about how to do that up to individual school districts.
Glenn Koocher, the executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said that to his knowledge Cambridge is the first school district in Massachusetts to close schools for a Muslim holiday.