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Students, educators, and advocates are renewing calls for the Detroit school district’s calendar to recognize the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
The district’s failure to observe the holiday in its academic calendar makes it difficult for Muslim students to celebrate without the stress of catching up on missed schoolwork or tests, speakers said during public comment at the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s board meeting Tuesday night. The group asked the board to adopt a 2026-27 calendar without any classes scheduled on the holiday.
“There is a lack of representation for the religious holidays for the Muslim students who are a part of this community,” said Nabila Wahid, a recent graduate of Cass Technical High School, during public comment.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti addressed the speakers to say the district will revisit the idea of adding the holiday to the calendar each year.
Metro Detroit is home to one of the country’s largest Muslim populations. Other districts in the area, including Hamtramck and Dearborn, take the day off from class for the holiday every year.
Though the district did recognize the holiday once in its calendar, in 2022, union negotiations and considerations for extending the school year derailed plans for continued observance.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, a month of communal fasting and prayer for Muslims. The holiday includes celebrations, meals with family, and prayer. The holiday falls on a different day each year because it is based on the Islamic lunar calendar.
This year, Eid is expected to begin around the night of March 18. The holiday lasts 24 hours, though celebrations may continue for up to three days.
Moriyum Begum, a 2025 graduate of the Detroit International Academy for Young Women, said students who miss school for the holiday won’t receive the district’s perfect attendance incentive for that week.
Religious observances are generally considered excused absences in the district, and students are given time to make up work.
The incentive, which pays students $100 gift cards in five-day cycles in an effort to curb absenteeism, will continue through the week of March 16.
“There still hasn’t been any communication on this matter from any faculty member or the district,” Begum said during the meeting.
A couple of months ago, MI Students Dream created an online petition calling Vitti and the board to put the holiday back on the calendar next year. As of Wednesday afternoon, 970 people had signed it.
The group also successfully lobbied for the Detroit Federation of Teachers to add a survey question about whether observing the holiday was a bargaining priority for members
Eid al-Fitr observance hinges on calendar negotiations with DFT
For years, students have asked DPSCD to recognize Eid.
The board voted for the first time to add Eid to its 2019-20 calendar. Days after the vote, members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers threatened to take action because they said the calendar violated their contract and prioritized standardized testing. After the backlash, the district revoked the proposed calendar.
Students again objected to the calendar not recognizing Eid al-Fitr in 2020-21. Board members and Vitti acknowledged the students’ complaints, but cited several barriers to including it.
After a student-led campaign and widespread community outreach, the district and the DFT agreed to observe it in 2021-22. In 2022-23, the holiday began on a Friday evening, so it was not included in the district calendar.
In 2023-24, union negotiations again hindered the observance because of objections to extending the school year later into the summer, Vitti said at last night’s meeting.
At the time, district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson told Chalkbeat that DPSCD would ensure any student absent for a religious holiday not recognized by the calendar would be excused and given time to catch up on missed assignments.
Lindsey Matson, deputy director of youth organizing for nonprofit 482Forward, said during public comment a student she worked with had to complete all of her finals in one day so she could take Eid off.
“She really feels like she didn’t get the score that she would have gotten had she been able to spread that out,” she said.
Begum said her sister, who attends Cass, skipped Eid celebrations last year to take her finals.
Vitti told the speakers during the meeting the district will adjust the final exam schedules if the holiday falls on the dates in the future.
Last year, Eid began the evening of March 30 and continued through March 31, which was a school day.
Valerie Ortiz Sanchez, a junior at Cass, said she has advocated for the calendar change for years for her many Muslim friends and peers.
“We have to all be treated equally,” she said after the meeting. “It’s not fair seeing my friends struggle and not getting justice.
Ortiz Sanchez said she’s emailed board members and the district administrators about the issue multiple times, but has not heard anything back.
During Tuesday’s meeting, two DFT members showed support for the calendar change next school year.
Begum and Wahid are hopeful that DPSCD will observe the holiday again.
“It’s not fair that other school districts around the area get the holiday off,” Begum said. “And it is not fair that we should be sacrificing our time over school. I really hope that we can get this.”
Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. She can be reached at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
