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Muslims seek school recognition of holidays

Hillsborough schools are considering allowing absences for Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published January 18, 2005

TAMPA - Local Muslims are asking the Hillsborough School Board for a little understanding.

Every year, the school district gives all students days off for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and the Christian holiday of Good Friday, said Ahmed Bedier, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Tampa.

Muslims would like the same consideration given to Eid Al-Fitr, a holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Bedier said.

"That request is made in the interest of diversity and inclusiveness," he said.

CAIR members also want the board to consider putting Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, the celebration that ends the yearly Hajj to Mecca, on the district's master calendar so teachers can plan assignments and activities around them.

And they are seeking to hold Muslim students blameless for being absent on those holidays, rather than lose exam exemptions or perfect attendance recognition for observing their faith.

More than 30 people sent letters to board members in support of those ideas after the school board delayed adopting its 2005-06 and tentative 2006-07 calendars when the requests came up. The board will reconsider the calendars today.

The Hillsborough Islamic community includes about 30,000 people, Bedier said, though he did not know how many attend public schools.

School Board member Carol Kurdell said she expects her colleagues to support the Islamic community's concerns, but perhaps not right away. The district works a year ahead on schedules, and it may not be able to work a non-student day into the calendar for 2005-06, she said.

Kurdell said one alternative could be creating floating excused absences that any student could use to observe any religious holiday.

"That way, everybody could be served," she said. "We're such a diversified community right now, and people are maintaining their cultures. ... Because we live in a democracy, I think you have to pay attention to that."

In Pinellas County, schools do not close for religious holidays. Instead, the district designates what it calls "special observance days," said Ron Stone, the district spokesman.

There are 10 such days in the 2004-05 calendar, including Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Good Friday and Eastern Orthodox Holy Friday. No test, exam or major activity accounting for 25 percent or more of a student's grade can be scheduled on those days.

"The students can take the day off if the parents elect to do that, but it's not an official day off from school," Stone said.

None of the special observance days are for Muslim holy days. Stone said the Pinellas district would consider adding them to the list if a request was made.

In Hillsborough, parents now must bring in a letter from their religious leader to get an excused absence for a religious holiday, district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said.

School Board member Jennifer Faliero said she thought the board would ease that rule, perhaps as early as February, through attendance policy revisions.

But actually changing the official attendance calendar could be more problematic, she said, because the district cannot create days off for specific religious holidays. The district could monitor attendance on those days and give a day off if the numbers warrant it.

The district calendar committee has recommended leaving the calendars unchanged until officials get a better idea of how many students would miss school for Muslim holy days. The committee would revisit the issue in the fall, after Eid al-Fitr on Nov. 4.

Bedier said his organization will not give up.

"We'll keep on pressing our issue," he said. "Hopefully, it will get approved. If not now, maybe later."

--Times staff writer Donna Winchester contributed to this report. Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or 813 269-5304.

[Last modified January 18, 2005, 01:49:12]