In Public Schools, Which Holy Days Are Holidays?

Commentary
Inside the First Amendment

By Charles C. Haynes
First Amendment Center senior scholar

The latest wrangle over religion and schools is in New York City, where the City Council recently voted to add two Muslim holy days to the schools’ holiday calendar.

It may not happen, because Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who gets the last word, opposes the idea. “If you close the schools for every single holiday,” the mayor told The New York Times,