Muslims make up the second largest religious community in the world, yet Montgomery County Public School Muslim students are not able to have a day off to celebrate any of the most important days in the Muslim calendar.

On Tuesday, November 11, Montgomery County School Board members approved the removal of all religious references on the school calendar by a 7-1 vote. The vote essentially removes all religious-affiliated labels from the MCPS school calendar. The path to the board’s decision began nearly two years ago and was eventually presented to the board by Superintendent Dr. Joshua P. Starr, who offered three options to resolve the issue. The board – in the 7-1 vote – supported his recommended proposal of ridding the calendar of the names of Muslim, Jewish and Christian holidays.

Eid Al Adha is the most popular and most celebrated holiday for Muslims, so it should come as no surprise that Muslims want to officially have this day off to celebrate. This desire to celebrate a religious observance is akin to Christians having a Friday off to celebrate Good Friday or having the Monday following Easter Sunday off. However, in an attempt to avoid religious affiliations for days off, Montgomery County Public Schools has denied Muslim students the school day off to celebrate Eid Al Adha.

Interestingly enough, students are, essentially, given days off for major Christian and Jewish holidays such as Christmas and Rosh Hashanah due to the high absenteeism of students in MCPS. Because of the excessive criticism after the board’s decision, school board President Phil Kauffman and Vice President Patricia O’Neill stated that they “made this change to emphasize that we cannot—under state or federal law—close schools for a religious reason.

Any decision to close schools on a particular day must be made for a secular, operational reason, such as high absenteeism of students and/or staff.” Now Muslim students and their families must choose whether to commit to a specific religious celebration or miss class instruction. “It’s not fair that my fellow Christian and Jewish peers are able to get a day off to celebrate their holidays without school interruption and we don’t,” says senior Aabroo Isfahani, a practicing Muslim.

Some school districts in the U.S. ridded their school calendars of holidays years ago, and only six school systems in the United States currently provide students an off day for Eid.

Some argue that there should be no holidays on a school’s calendar due to the separation between church and state and the issue that one religion may not receive the same benefits as others. Perhaps these people should speak to the Muslim students and families who want recognition for their holiday and the opportunity to celebrate with pride and without penalty.