City Council education chair Daniel Dromm is pushing chancellor Carmen Fariña to make Diwali an official public school holiday, but said he hadn’t yet heard from the administration about a letter he wrote to Fariña on the topic last week.
This comes as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on the Brian Lehrer show last week that he supports making Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Lunar New Year school holidays, but said he hadn’t decided about the Hindu festival of Diwali.
Dromm, who represents Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, made the case to Fariña for Diwali in a Feb. 7 letter. It was co-signed by his Council colleagues Mark Weprin, Mark Levine, Corey Johnson, Costa Constantinides, Inez Dickens, Margaret Chin, Peter Koo, Annabel Palma, I. Daneek Miller, Rosie Mendez, Inez Barron and Paul Vallone.
Read more: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/02/8540262/council-lobbies-fari%C3%B1a-make-diwali-school-holiday