Every time Eid falls on a weekend, parents and children breathe a collective sigh of relief across Texas. For decades, Muslim children have had to decide between attending school or attending Eid prayers and celebrations, an unfair and difficult choice to make.

The question has always arisen: should school districts include Eid in their calendar as they do with Christmas?

The answer has usually been: yes, but what if the community doesn’t agree with the date?

We believe we have a compromise.

Instead of designing one off-day for Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha, we would ask the school district to recognize official ‘optional school holidays.’ The cities of Fairfax, Stamford, and Philadelphia have already implemented this policy, and we believe it can work in the greater Houston area.

What does this mean?

• Teachers would not assign graded assessments on the days of Eid or the following days.
• The district would not schedule field trips, school pictures, tryouts, or professional development activities on these days.
• Children would no longer need a note to justify absence but would notify the school ahead of time.
• However, we believe this should be an option for ALL, including the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, the Sikh holiday of Vaisakhi, the Hindu holiday of Holi, and the Christian holidays of Immaculate Conception and All Saints’ Day. We have a plan for how this could happen. But first, we need to hear from you.

What is our plan? We’ve already sent our proposals to numerous school districts around the city and to state legislators, and have scheduled meetings. But, we need to show them STRONG SUPPORT.

This is where we need YOUR help! We need to collect 1,000 signatures to present Multi-Faith Optional Holidays to policymakers! Register yours NOW to make this difference in the lives of school children TODAY.

Read more about our policy here –> Multi-Faith Optional School Holidays