Ron Cassie, The Examiner
2007-03-29 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

The president of the Baltimore chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee called on the county schools superintendent to respond favorably to what he called “a consensus of the calendar committee” for the addition of at least one Islamic holiday during the 2008-09 school year.

Dr. Bash Pharoan and other Baltimore County Muslim parents and students have been asking for several years to close public schools on two Islamic Holy days — Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, and Eid-al-Adha, signifying the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca — as the system does with two Jewish holidays. Pharoan’s three children graduated from Dulaney High School.

School board President Donald Arnold has said in the past that schools were closed on the Jewish holidays Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah not for religious reasons but for practical ones. He pointed to significantly lower attendance figures for students and teachers — a legal distinction courts have held up.

The two Jewish holidays were added in 1997. But Kara Calder, a schools spokeswoman, said attendance figures were not computerized then, and data is not currently available to support that claim.

Calder said the issue of adding Muslim holidays was discussed at several of the calendar committee meetings, but added that she had received phone calls disputing Pharoan’s characterization of the committee reaching a consensus. Pharoan, who was not originally on the committee, was offered a seat by Ella Campbell, the chair of the school system’s minority achievement committee, who said she supports adding a Muslim holiday.

Calder, who served on the calendar committee along with 20 other people, largely school system personnel, said the committee does not vote on recommendations. She said the Islamic holiday question was one of several issues raised that will be forwarded to the area assistant superintendents next for review. That report will then be forwarded to the superintendent in April.

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com