Broward schools to vote to recognize Diwali for the first time in upcoming school year

Miami Herald | By Amanda Rosa | December 16, 2024

Broward County Public Schools are set to take a day off for a major Hindu holiday next year.

The recommended calendar for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year shows that schools will take the day off on Oct. 20 for Diwali, a festival of lights celebrated by a billion people around the world that commemorates the triumph of good over evil. School Board members are expected to officially approve the calendar at Tuesday’s meeting.

In order for all students to have Diwali off, the middle school bell schedule will be extended by 10 minutes. (High school and elementary school class schedules will remain the same.) With this calendar, schools would finish the first semester before winter break and students would have the entire week of Thanksgiving off from school. The new school year would begin on Aug. 11 and end June 3, 2026.

Broward schools already take off for major Christian and Jewish holidays, and in recent years, Broward schools also take off for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr when it falls on a weekday. In the past year, the school district received requests from community members to include Diwali.

Though school board members were generally supportive of including Diwali as a day off, there were some logistical issues. The fall semester is packed with holidays, including Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, two Jewish holidays, a weeklong Thanksgiving break and a two-week winter break. That posed a problem for middle school students to get the required hours in class, so their school days were slightly extended.

During the Dec. 10 school board workshop, board member Rebecca Thompson asked if there was a legal issue with taking a day off school for a religious holiday. General Counsel Marilyn Batista said while government entities cannot prohibit or promote religion, it is permissible to recognize the holiday to promote diversity. Schools can also close for secular reasons, like if a large number of students or employees would be absent.

“If you’re looking at Diwali as a cultural holiday, that’s a different story,” Batista said.

At last week’s meeting, a district calendar committee presented board members with three calendar options, which all included Oct. 20 as a day off. The other two options would have kept middle school hours the same as this year. One option would extend the first semester into January, and the other would have reduced the five-day Thanksgiving break to three days.

Thompson was interested in the shorter Thanksgiving break to accommodate for working families who may prefer to have students in class on Monday and Tuesday. The district has taken a five-day break for Thanksgiving since 2020.

“It is extremely challenging for people, especially with young kids in middle school or elementary school, to have that full week,” Thompson said. “I know we talk about economic impacts and the situation of our economy. I think considering having school on Monday or Tuesday would actually be beneficial to a lot of families.”

Other board members disagreed, including Allen Zeman, who cited a survey that went out to school staff and families that showed that 70% of principals and assistant principals said they preferred a full week off for Thanksgiving. In the past, there was “horrendous absenteeism” on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, he said.

“There is an expectation that families can take trips that week now,” he said.