Latest news with #AnniversaryDay
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
NYC Schools' Calendar Error: Last-Minute Calendar Change Frustrates Principals
This article was originally published in Chalkbeat. New York City's 2024-25 school calendar was set more than a year ago. But the Education Department made a scheduling error for this week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and didn't communicate about it until Tuesday morning, frustrating some principals as the school year entered the June homestretch. New York City schools faced a particularly strange week: All schools are closed on Thursday for Eid al-adha/Anniversary Day. On Friday, though 6-12 and high schools are open, elementary and middle schools are closed to students while their staffers were expected to show up for a 'clerical' day. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Schools typically use the day for grading and collaborating on planning for the year ahead. They often use the time to take tech inventory or address other classroom housekeeping issues. Some schools schedule kindergarten or sixth-grade student orientations and tours. But in Tuesday's weekly email from the Education Department to principals, amid a litany of other news, officials included a brief note that Friday would not be an in-person staff day as planned because of Eid. The holiday starts Thursday evening and goes into Friday. Several principals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, expressed annoyance at the last-minute change, questioning why it had not been communicated earlier or in a direct and transparent manner with officials owning up to their mistake. One Manhattan elementary school principal wondered whether the Education Department failed to understand when the Muslim holiday began. The observance of the holiday is dependent on moon sightings, and it can shift year-to-year, officials said. 'The change was made to provide greater flexibility for educators to complete various end-of-year tasks,' Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull said in a statement. 'We are working closely with school leaders to support them in adjusting plans as needed.' Students in grades 6-12 schools who need to be absent, late or depart early for observance of Eid may be excused, Education Department officials said. 'We had already planned a full day, including an in-person orientation for our incoming sixth graders,' said one Manhattan middle school principal, who scrambled on Tuesday to find teachers willing to volunteer to come in person to avoid canceling the orientation while also reworking the other staff activities for the day. 'Most of what we planned won't translate to remote, or at least won't translate without significant changes,' the principal said. A Brooklyn middle school principal echoed similar concerns. 'We had a planned-out day dedicated to June-planning on teams and class list-making,' the principal said. 'While that can technically happen remotely, it will greatly diminish productivity and actual preparedness for the close of the year and the start of next year. It's a real shame.' Some school leaders, however, were pleased with the change — even if they were critical of the way it was communicated. 'I think the impact is relieved happiness overall and for some staff members who are observing Eid, overall relief,' one Bronx assistant principal said. 'I anticipated this was going to be a low staff attendance day anyway.' This isn't the first time New York City schools made a last-minute pivot to remote on this particular day. Two years ago, air pollution from Canadian wildfires forced schools to go remote for staffers on clerical day as well as students in schools that run from grades 6-12. 'But that was an external and last-minute thing due to an emergency,' one Manhattan elementary school principal said, unlike this year's switcheroo. Another Manhattan elementary principal recalled having to cancel a kindergarten orientation that day of the wildfires — and having to do damage control the entire next year for the parents who were still upset over not being able to have an in-person tour. That principal no longer uses that day for orientations, but was still scrambling on Tuesday to come up with a Plan B for school staffers, including office staff, whose work is harder to do remotely. 'The last-minute scramble and the gaps in communication — it's a frustrating pattern that has happened over multiple chancellors,' the principal said. 'It's a whole ripple effect.' Many principals were pleased, however, that the Education Department has already addressed an issue with next year's calendar, making Friday, Jan. 2 a day off so there isn't a one-day week after winter break. 'This isn't the biggest thing, but it just doesn't inspire a lot of confidence,' the Manhattan middle school principal said of this week's last-minute change. 'On the positive side, they did take away Jan. 2… but at least with that one there is plenty of advance warning so everyone can plan accordingly.' This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at
New York Post
7 days ago
- General
- New York Post
NYC Dept. of Ed picks wrong day to celebrate Muslim holiday
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. 3 The New York City Department of Education has come under fire for giving students the wrong day off to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha. Helayne Seidman 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. 3 Former Queens Councilman Daneek Miller, a practicing Muslim, blasted the DOE for 'jumping the gun' with the holiday calendar. Stefan Jeremiah '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. 3 Staten Island Assemblyman Charles Fall said there is no excuse for the DOE getting the date wrong. Hans Pennink 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.
Newsroom
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsroom
Mayor Brown has a better offer, turns chair over to restless deputy
Either Wayne Brown is super confident of his re-election in October, or he is just fed up with sitting around listening to colleagues' endless small points over two full days of meetings. For much of Thursday's full council meeting he appeared to want to be anywhere other than calling on councillors for questions or debate, his demeanour increasingly wearied and frustrated by everyone's need to hear the sound of their own voices. At one point he started awarding prizes of Danish pastries for any point made with brevity and salience. The councillors had been at it already for a full day on Wednesday, a budget committee thrashing through the council's 2025/26 Budget, eventually green lighting a 5.6 percent average residential rates rise. By Thursday afternoon, whether from boredom or needing to win the ear of Resource Management Act Reform Minister Chris Bishop, the first-term mayor left his job of chairing the governing body and turned the chair over to a high-profile deputy who's yet to declare if she will stand against him. Desley Simpson stepped up, as she does, seamlessly guiding the 19 other councillors through the afternoon's debates on subjects that were far from minor. They included a report on the early returns from Brown's prized investment vehicle, the Auckland Future Fund, approving the budget for the Independent Māori Statutory Board, and a major council-CCOs integration project. The Brown-Bishop external meeting from mid-afternoon was at the site of a proposed building project on Karangahape Rd that had been denied planning permission. Bishop favours planning permissions; Brown lives in an apartment just off K Rd. The urgent summit produced one tangible result – a photograph that Bishop tweeted to his X following of the pair and an unnamed person standing on the empty site. Meanwhile, back at the town hall, Simpson directed the final stanzas of the council's day with a degree of confidence that has already started to turn Brown's head in public meetings over the past weeks. Named Brown's deputy after his compelling mayoralty victory in October 2022, Simpson has coyly refused to say through 2025 if she intends to challenge the leader for his chair and chains. A domain name registered by her son last year 'for a laugh' has driven a wedge between the council's top two leaders. Simpson rose to national prominence in early 2023 when Brown was at his lowest point, failing to lead during the Anniversary Day flood disaster. As the new mayor flailed, criticising others and suggesting to Aucklanders he wasn't responsible for the rain, Simpson was active on social media messaging, comforting, calling for resources. Over the past weeks, the pair have been obviously more distanced. Simpson chided Brown for questioning if surf lifesaving clubs deserved council funding as they were, in his experience, glorified babysitting facilities. She interjected: 'Don't say that.' Brown snapped back 'I know a bit about this.' Last week at a committee meeting, as Brown outlined measures to fill a $7m gap in the city's events marketing budget, Simpson asked a question she said she had to ask publicly, on whether he would guarantee the spend from his mayoral budget if other efforts failed. Brown's response: 'You can ask that publicly, if you really must.' Simpson told journalist Simon Wilson of the NZ Herald last week he wouldn't have to wait long to know whether or not she would stand for the mayoralty. 'Timing that works for me,' she said, tantalisingly. 'You'll be surprised.' Desley Simpson chairing Thursday's governing body meeting. Photo: Screenshot from council livestream Taking on Brown would be a substantial undertaking. From the depths of his mishandling of the flooding two years ago, he has ground out budget and policy decisions that have won broad backing from councillors, and has become far more comfortable in his own skin – in real life and in quirky social media posts. Central government leaders josh with him as 'Brownie' and his efforts to fix bits of Auckland's government and finances have won grudging regard from some business and sector leaders. Another councillor, first-termer Kerrin Leoni is also mounting a challenge. Simpson, a self-assured leader and one highly attuned to public sentiment online and in communities, might yet believe a sunnier, younger, still-centre-right candidate could unseat a mayor known for his irascibility and dogmatic approach. Simpson is a deeply popular figure in her home Ōrakei ward, a former member of the National Party-aligned Communities and Ratepayers group that stands candidates around the city, and of course, married to former National Party president Peter Goodfellow. She's been a councillor for three terms. Her personal website says, high up: 'In the 2022 elections Desley received the highest personal vote of any councillor in Auckland (and in New Zealand).' Asked by Newsroom on Thursday evening how it felt to be in the mayoral chair, so close to an election, she made all the right noises. 'Not my first time and probably won't be my last,' she texted. 'Mayor was with Minister Bishop and I supported his decision to leave GB [governing body meeting] to attend that. 'After all, that's what you have a deputy for.' Her text ended with a smiling emoji, wearing sunglasses. A smart, informal, loyal and inscrutable response this close to declaring one way or the other if she might stand against Brown. 'Probably won't be my last' was heavy with realism, humour, intent or perhaps mischief. During his time in the chair across the morning and just after lunch, the mayor had repeatedly told councillors – who of course are not the audience he needs to impress come October – that there had been too much time spent on debates over the council CEO and financial updates. He awarded Josephine Bartley a Danish pastry for being brief and to the point, and told another 'no Danish cake for that one'. Brown listening to contributions at the council meeting on Thursday. Photo: Tim Murphy His jadedness included reminding the meeting that despite comments at the day before's budget session, 'for those not really good at numbers … things are actually pretty bloody good'. At one point, exasperated, he offered: 'If anyone surely can find another bloody comment, I'll have to listen to them.' And some mayoral advice to the councillors: 'If you have got something for the CEO, just drop him a note. We do not all have to endure every thought that crosses everyone's minds.' You could almost hear some of them thinking 'or that comes from that chair … for now'.
