Excerpt:
Mayor Bloomberg is rejecting calls from lawmakers to make two Muslim holy days official school holidays, saying students cannot afford more days off.
"The truth of the matter is we need more children in school," Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday. "More, not less."
Council Member Robert Jackson of Manhattan, who is Muslim, and 12 co-sponsors introduced a resolution this year calling on the state to require that New York City students be given days off for the Muslim holidays of Eid Ul-Fitr, typically in October, and Eid Ul-Adha, which falls in December this year.
"Parents have had to make a decision on whether or not to send their students to school on the holiest day of the Muslim calendar, celebrating the month of the fast of Ramadan, or to send their kids to take a test," Mr. Jackson said in an interview. "That type of situation should not be."