Some folks would like it back.
The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — a local Muslim advocacy group — is calling on Houston ISD to add a school holiday back for Eid al-Fitr during the 2025-2026 school year.
HISD’s Board of Managers approved an academic calendar Thursday that does not provide a day off to students or staff for Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday that the district began recognizing with a day off in 2023. The Muslim holiday celebrates the end of Ramadan, a holy month of fasting and reflection.
The district began observing a spring holiday in 2023 during Eid al-Fitr in response to requests from the Muslim community in Houston, making it one of only three religious holidays at the time recognized by the state’s largest school district.
The exact date of Eid every year is unclear because it is dependent on the sighting of the crescent moon, but it is expected to begin in 2026 on the evening of Thursday, March 19 and end Friday, March 20. HISD does not have a school holiday scheduled for either date in the approved calendar.
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“The removal of Eid as a school holiday is deeply disappointing for the thousands of Muslim families in HISD,” CAIR-Houston director William White said. “HISD has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to diversity and equity by ensuring that all students, regardless of their religious background, feel seen and valued.”
The organization said it was urging the school district to listen to the Muslim community and reinstate Eid as a district-wide holiday. The group said it wanted to encourage parents, students and community members to “contact HISD leadership and advocate for this essential accommodation.”
I remember seeing the original story last fall but didn’t comment on it at the time. As the story notes, the Christian celebration of Good Friday and the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur remain on the HISD calendar. The reason why a religious day of observance might be a day off from school is that a significant number of students will feel it necessary to put their religious obligations ahead of their school obligations. It’s neither fair nor a good look to make then choose, so the day off makes the most sense. It’s not mandatory for HISD to do this – the story doesn’t say, but I suspect very few other school districts offer this holiday – but I do think at the least the HISD community was owed more of a discussion before this change was made. I don’t know if anything can be done for this year at this late date, but I hope the matter is brought up for a longer conversation soon.
A lot of school districts observe Eid on their school calendar.
Austin, Round Rock, Fort Bend, and a few others in Dallas do not include the thousands nationwide that observe Eid on their school calendars.
As you pointed out, making students choose religious obligations over school obligations is unfair.