Hewlett-Woodmere board to decide on Eid holidays

Since 2017, Muslim families in District 14 have been asking the Hewlett-Woodmere School District Board of Education to consider accommodating their request to add the Eid holidays to the school calendar so their children to take part in the celebrations, and pointed to the inclusive environment that the district promotes as another reason.

In 2018, the board decided against adding Eid to the school calendar after multiple meetings. Despite this, Muslim students, parents and other allies have not stopped campaigning for the addition of Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha.

The request is expected to be entertained once again at the board’s Jan. 12 work meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Woodmere Education Center at Johnson Place in Woodmere. A formal descion will be made at the Jan. 19 board meeting. 

At the most recent board meeting on Dec. 15, Hewlett-Woodmere elementary, middle and high school students addressed the trustees on their feelings about the lack of accommodation of the holidays.

Eid al Fitr, meaning the “festival of the breaking of the fast,” is celebrated at the end of Ramadan, a month when many adult Muslims fast. Eid al Adha, meaning the “feast of the sacrifice,” is celebrated roughly two months later, at the same time when many Muslims perform the Hajj pilgrimage. Typically, Eid al Adha would not be during the school year most years.

Hewlett High School students Ibrahim Rasheed and Anoosha Virani discussed the stress that came with their past experiences having to take or prepare for important tests while their families celebrated Eid without them.

The Hussain sisters, Zahra, a Woodmere Middle School seventh-grader, and Mishal, an Ogden Elementary School fourth-grader, and Erina, an Ogden fifth-grader, addressed the confusion and difficulty that comes with missing school to celebrate.

“I heard this quote the other day while watching ‘Spiderman’ and it reminded me of the board,” Zahra said at the Dec. 15 meeting. “The quote was, ‘with great power comes great responsibility,’ and it made me think: you have the power to make a very impactful change — but are you responsible enough to do it?”

Sahar Hussain, a parent, and students Intisa Ahmed, a middle school eighth-grader, and Virani, questioned the board for not honoring diversity. Both Ahmed and Virani were embarrassed, they said, about the school’s lack of inclusivity and expressed feeling invisible.

“It’s the holiday season, the most wonderful time of the year,” Ahmed said previously. “But when it’s my turn to carry out on our own festivities, why do I get different treatment?”

Although new to the district, Virani was no less honest. “I feel hurt. I feel like the people out here today don’t feel heard,” she said previously. “We have this microphone that projects all around the room, but can you hear us? Can you really hear what we’re saying?”

None of the six of the seven board members at the Dec. 15 meeting commented.