Eid Al Fitr, Chinese New Year Added As Hillsborough School Holidays

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — The holidays celebrating the end of the month of Ramadan for Muslims and the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar will now be recognized in Hillsborough Schools.

The Hillsborough Board of Education unanimously voted at the Monday night meeting to add Eid Al Fitr and Chinese New Year as a holiday to the 2025-2026 school calendar.

"The fact of the matter is religion and faith of various types matter to 90 percent of the people on the planet," said Board member Joel Davis at the meeting. "Adding these names to the calendar I think matters a lot. It's important to recognize these holidays that are reflective of our community and the people in our schools. Not just in some patronizing sense of tipping the hat but really in the sense of the students who participate in the education process are made more aware and more familiar of the diversity and the communities and the people that make up this community."

Board member Jane Staats agreed with Davis' sentiments.

"It assesses value to all religious observations or as many as possible. To that end, I really appreciate the creative solutions and the open-minded input to resolve some of the difficulties. Yes it does go later in the year but I think it is the best possible outcome," said Staats noting the end of the school year is pushed back a bit.

These additions to the school calendar are the latest since the district added Diwali and Juneteenth to its 2022-23 calendar. Read More: Diwali, Juneteenth Added As Hillsborough School Holidays

The last day of the 2024-25 school year ends is on Thursday, June 19. The newly approved calendar for the 2025-26 school year will end one week later on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

Board Vice President Cynthia Nurse said that while she is "glad everybody is happy with the calendar," she still expressed safety concerns about the primary schools being open on Primary Election Day in June.

"I just want to make sure we are on top of that and there is a plan if there is staff and students in the building that day," said Nurse.

Superintendent Michael Volpe assured the Board that, "Safety and security is always top on my mind. Our coordinator of school safety operations [David Stokoe] is looking at this right now."

He added that if the Board truly felt conflicted about this issue they could look at taking back Easter Monday and swapping the day off for Primary Day.

Volpe said Stokoe will give the Board a proposal on how he plans to do keep the students and staff safe on Primary Day "but if it is not acceptable then that Easter Monday day is a day to look at."

To view the newly approved 2025-26 school calendar for Hillsborough Township Schools click here.

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