Following other districts, Rochester schools to discuss adding Eid to calendar

ROCHESTER — For years, Shukri Ali has called her son Yusuf's school every time she had to organize her family's Eid al-Fitr celebrations to make sure he's excused from classes.

It's another mental stressor each spring on a busy day for Muslim families who mark the end of Ramadan with prayers, acts of charity and lots of food.

Some years, Ali said, "it's too much to remember."

That's why she and other families are excited to hear Rochester Public Schools may consider adding Eid to its school calendar, following several school districts that have already incorporated the holiday into their schedules.

The school board has already set the 2022-23 school year schedule, but board members will discuss potentially adding Eid in the fall and winter when they finalize the next calendar.

"This will be an issue that we'll be grappling with, for sure," Superintendent Kent Pekel said.

At least 10% of the district's approximately 17,600 students celebrate Eid, district officials said.

Board Chair Jean Marvin said district officials have met with members of Rochester's Muslim community to craft a proposal to pre-excuse students on Eid so attendance offices won't have to call families that day. Because Eid follows a lunar calendar rather than have a set date each year, pre-excusing students could get around possible scheduling issues for the district.

"It's a little bit difficult to predict exactly which day it's going to be," Marvin said.

Four Minnesota school districts — Mankato, Minneapolis, Moorhead and Hopkins — have added Eid to school calendars over the past two years.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-MN, said the proposal is a step in the right direction for students who often have to miss a day or two of learning each year while districts make time for Christian students to celebrate Christmas and Easter.

"Right now, not having a holiday means it impacts their education," Hussein said.

He said some Muslim students choose to attend school during Eid to ensure they don't fall behind on schoolwork.

Mohamed Muhudiin, an incoming sophomore at John Marshall High School, said he would be glad to see the district include Eid on its calendar so that Muslim students would have the same number of school days as their Christian counterparts.

"You don't have to miss anything that everybody else is getting, and [you] get your own time off to celebrate with your family," Muhudiin said.

A spokesman for the Minnesota School Board Association said he wasn't aware of other school districts considering Eid for its their calendars. But Hussein said he anticipates other districts with larger Muslim populations, such as Faribault or Owatonna, could take up the issue in the near future.

"Nothing is more welcoming to a community than something like this, where you acknowledge the holiday in a meaningful way where you have a day off," he said.