Constitutional Law

Mass. town to close schools for Muslim holiday

By By The Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? Cambridge will close its schools for one Muslim holiday each year beginning next year.

The school will close for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, or Eid al-Adha, which celebrates the end of the hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muslims follow a lunar calendar, so the dates of holidays change each year. School administrators say they will close school on whichever holiday falls within the academic year.

If both days fall within the school calendar, the district will close for one of the days.

Cambridge School Committee member Marc McGovern, who advocated for the policy, argued that Cambridge schools close for some Christian and Jewish holidays and Muslims should be treated the same.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on October 14, 2010 (boomark / email).