Starting Next Year, Moorestown Schools Will Take Day Off For Muslim Holiday Eid Al-Fitr

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Starting next year, Moorestown schools will take the day off for a major religious holiday. Officials voted unanimously Feb. 21 to approve the 2023-24 school calendar, which includes recognition of Eid al-Fitr.

Moorestown Township Public Schools joins a growing trend of New Jersey school systems that will give students the day off during the Muslim holiday. Eid al-Fitr or "feast of fast breaking" marks the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan.

The holiday falls on the first day of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar, which will occur in spring 2023. This year, Eid al-Fitr runs from April 20-21 and then from April 10-11, 2024. Moorestown schools will have the day off on April 10, 2024.

This will mark the first Muslim holiday recognized on the Moorestown school calendar. The district closes schools for several major Christian and Jewish holidays.

Muslims represent a growing population in Moorestown. Concerned residents, including the group Moorestown Muslims, advocated for the district to recognize the holiday.

Moorestown Muslims began working with school officials on adding Eid to the calendar last May, when testing for the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) interfered with the holiday. Shahrukh Mirza, president of Moorestown Muslims, credited district officials for including Eid on the new calendar and their inclusion of Diwali, a celebration of Indian religions, as a school holiday.

"The district was very open in welcoming our efforts to align with the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative," Mirza told Patch. "Despite the changes in leadership of the district, the administration was able to follow through and include other minority groups, including recognizing Diwali for the next year (2024-25). We truly are grateful for the quick response for the growing community."

At Feb. 21's Moorestown Board of Education meeting, Board Member Maurice Weeks thanked residents for helping officials make it possible.

"There was a very vocal and committed parent group that came and met with us and helped explain the issue, so I appreciate it," Weeks said. "It was a great community effort."

Board Member Melissa Arcaro Burns recognized the efforts of the governing body's Calendar Committee for including the holiday. Assembling the school calendar to meet all requirements and recommendations is a difficult task, said Burns, who previously served on the committee.

"I’m very appreciative of the work the Calendar Committee does every year, because it is awful," she said, laughing.

Nearly 30 schools in the state will close for Eid al-Fitr this school year, according to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ). Moorestown will join several districts adding the holiday's observance to its 2023-24 school calendar. The district also became the first in Burlington County to recognize the holiday, according to CAIR-NJ.

The organization's Eid-advocacy page includes a map of New Jersey public schools observing Eid.

Students in districts that don't recognize the holiday can get an excused day off. But CAIR-NJ says that "(leaves) students in a quagmire: Should they prioritize their academic obligations over their religious duties, or vice versa?"

Muslims represent 3 percent of New Jersey residents, according to Pew Research.

Moorestown's approved calendar for the 2023-24 school year is on page 111 of exhibits from the Feb. 21 school board meeting.