In move toward inclusivity, Ardsley to close schools for Hindu, Muslim, Asian holidays

How does a small suburban school district like Ardsley show that it's truly committed to inclusivity?

The increasingly diverse district, where 1 in 5 students are Asian, believes it is taking a key step by deciding to close schools for Hindu, Muslim and Asian holidays for at least the next five years.

For Zaamil and Zara Rabbani, it means this could be the last year they had to choose between going to school and celebrating Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, with their family.

"It's hard to catch up on all the schoolwork that I miss," Zaamil, 12, said of missing school to celebrate the holiday.

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Eid al-Fitr was on Friday this year, and Zaamil and Zara, 9, went to school. The problem, Zara said, is that they miss out on praying at their mosque and celebrating a traditional meal with family and friends.

In addition to Eid al-Fitr, Ardsley also added Diwali and Lunar New Year as future days off. The change puts Ardsley, with about 2,300 students, on a slowly expanding list of New York districts that have decided to close schools for religious and cultural holidays that are neither Jewish nor Christian.

New York City and Scarsdale are among districts that have added Diwali to their calendars for next school year.

New Rochelle added Eid al-Fitr for the 2018-19 school year, the first district in Westchester and Rockland counties to do so. Yonkers added it the year after.

"When we structure the calendar in a way that forces students and families to choose between observing something that's a part of their identity or being successful in school, we're sending a message that we don't see that as valuable," said Nanesha Nuñez, a fourth-grade teacher and equity leader for the Ardsley district.

Nuñez said she and district administrators started talking over the past couple years about closing for the holidays. The Ardsley school board approved next year's calendar with the additions late last month.

Students called for change

Ardsley's calendar change came in large part because students raised the issue. Zara and her friend Anusheh Parvuz spoke at a school board meeting about having schools closed for Eid al-Fitr.

Another fourth-grader in the district, Avnee Inamdar, told the board how difficult it is to juggle her homework while participating in religious ceremonies and rituals with her family for Diwali, a major Hindu holiday, also observed by other Indian religions, that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. She was inspired to speak out after learning about advocacy in Nuñez's class.

"Although love and respect towards all religions is being taught and emphasized in school, every year I struggle to enjoy my heritage," Inamdar said. "Ardsley has a strong and vibrant Hindu community that deserves to get time to appreciate and celebrate their culture."

Ardsley Superintendent Ryan Schoenfeld said the decision to close for these holidays was overdue, as the district has become more diverse. Last school year, 55% of Ardsley students were white, 21% were Asian, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 14% were Hispanic or Latino, and 3% were Black or African American.

Ten years ago, those numbers were 68%, 17%, 10% and 4%, respectively.

"It hurts your heart a little bit," Schoenfeld said of some students and families feeling less of a part of the community.

"It's all about our students, and those voices were heard loud and clear at the board meetings," Schoenfeld said.

The district surveyed the community about holiday observances, with 1,206 people responding in early March. Notably, 27% percent of respondents indicated the holidays they celebrate were not recognized in the school calendar; 24% said that not having schools closed interfered with their ability to properly observe religious holidays and cultural celebrations.

The additions of Eid al-Fitr, Diwali and Lunar New Year, the most popular holiday in China and with the Chinese diaspora, should help alleviate that.

Parvuz's mother, Uzma, said she was happily surprised the district made the change, which made her family feel like they were truly being considered.

"We're a part of the community," she said.

Closing schools called one key step

Schoenfeld and members of the PTA's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee described the addition of the holidays as one step toward making the district more inclusive.

"DEI work isn't like checking a box that you're doing certain types of work," said Sonia Balaram a member of the PTA's executive board and liaison to the DEI Committee. "It's about thinking about the process in which you are engaging different folks in the community to get to an outcome."

Balaram was pleased the district gathered input from students, families and staff members about whether additional holidays should be observed. It would have been easy, she said, to keep things the same.

Still, PTA leaders said that adding new holidays to the school calendar must be supported by other efforts, such as making sure other students know what those holidays are about and why they're important to their peers.

"It's not just 'here's a nice list of holidays. Whoopie, we're like so woke and so culturally responsive,' " said June Wai, a co-chair of the DEI Committee. "But how do we enact culturally responsive and sustaining practices that make the calendar feel alive?"

Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ardsley NY schools to close for Diwali, Eid al-Fitr, Lunar New Year