More and more school districts are considering making Eid-al-Fitr an official holiday on their school calendar, as well as accommodations for Ramadan. The conundrum with this for many districts is that they typically want their school calendars mapped out by the day for three to five years in advance. This presents a challenge because the changing of the months in the Islamic calendar is dependent on the sighting of the young waxing crescent that first follows the new moon, in Arabic it is called the hilal. 

What can further be a problem is the impression that the visibility of the hilal can be mathematically projected into the future with perfection, therefore making it possible to predict and forecast onto a calendar. I have already spoken with one school district that took this approach and is now at risk of not actually having Eid set as a day off when they are intending to depending on how the days play out. 

Abraham Education recently partnered with local Muslim community parents and leaders in the Columbus area to bring Engaging Muslim Students in Public Schools to that area in person. The training was conducted in Hilliard and attended by local educators including district leaders and teachers from eight different school districts. This program is very much one that has to be experienced to fully appreciate it, so the comments of attendees speak best to it. Below are the words of our respected attendees in Ohio of February 2023...