Muslims Upset Over Maryland School Calendar
Charles Johnson
Wed May 11, 2005 at 10:08 am PDT • Views: 271
New School Calendar Omits Muslim Holidays, and Muslim activists are seething and demanding special treatment. (Hat tip: unclebubba.)
TOWSON, Md. (AP) - A school calendar that omits two Muslim holidays has been presented to the Baltimore County board of education.
Muslim activists say they will continue to press school officials to amend the calendar. But school officials say adding the Muslim holidays would set a precedent for other religions and ethnic groups.
Baltimore County superintendent Joe Hairston said tonight that school officials have to look at a much broader view than just one community, and be sensitive to three-quarters of a million people.
But Muslim leader Bash Pharoan says the calendar “feels discriminatory.” County schools are closed for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and for Christmas, but the system’s proposed calendar doesn’t recognize two of Islam’s holiest days.
Frank says: