Exclusive | NYC Dept. of Ed picks wrong day to celebrate Muslim holiday: ‘It’s a snafu’

The city Department of Education is getting a failing grade for mishandling observance of a major Muslim holiday.

New York City Schools are off on Thursday to observe Eid al-Adha — but the religious holiday doesn’t actually begin until sundown Thursday night into Friday, angering Muslims and confusing other educators.

“They jumped the gun. They picked the wrong day. It’s a snafu,” said former Queens Councilman Daneek Miller, a practicing Muslim.

Staten Island Assemblyman Charles Fall, a Muslim, fumed, “The department didn’t get this observance right. There is no excuse for getting it wrong.”

“We would not do this to any other major religious group. Why are we doing this to Muslims?”

Eid al-Adha is the festival which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son.

The city Department of Education sent a notice to administrators and schools admitting it’s observing the holiday on the wrong day.

“Pursuant to the 2024–2025 school year calendar, all schools are closed on June 5, in recognition of Eid al-Adha and Anniversary Day,” the DOE’s Division of Human Resources said in a June 2 notice.

“However, all Central Offices remain open and follow a regular work schedule. Please note that the actual date of Eid al-Adha is determined by moon sightings and may vary from year to year. As such, while our calendar observes the holiday on June 5, the religious observance is expected to fall on June 6 this year.  

Staffers may request time off for the actual religious observance on Friday June 6, the notice said..

“All requests should be considered in a manner consistent with Chancellor’s Regulation C-606, which allows for time off for holy day observance,” the memo said.

Realizing its error, the DOE made Friday, which was supposed to be a “Clerical Day,” for teachers and supervisors in pre-K to 8 to do administrative work with students off, a “remote” day, sources said.

A Brooklyn principal fumed that the mixup makes his job harder to keep on top of staff, and that “a fraction of what needs to be done will be done.”

The DOE, in a subsequent June 3 “guidance” memo, said that Friday will be a “remote” Clerical Day for most schools — with the exception of high schools and , whose students are preparing for Regents exams.

So, students in most schools get both days off.

“The purpose of this day is to allow these staff time to complete the various administrative tasks and may include, but are not limited to: preparing report cards and finalizing gradebooks; documenting student areas for improvement for summer; organizing promotion portfolios electronically to share with summer school teachers; data-sharing for articulation purposes from one grade to another; and/or planning for Summer Rising,” the DOE guidance said.