(MENAFN- AFP) The Lunar New Year is now an official holiday in New York public schools, allowing tens of thousands of Asian families to celebrate without children missing class, the mayor said Tuesday.
Progressive Democrat Bill de Blasio added the holiday, observed in China and other countries in Asia, three months after adding the two most sacred Muslim holidays to the school calendar.
Schools will close on February 8 for the Lunar New Year in 2016.
"We pledged to families we would keep working until we made Lunar New Year an official school holiday, and today we are keeping that promise," the mayor said.
New York follows San Francisco and Tenafly, a suburb in New Jersey, which already close public schools on Lunar New Year.
Asian-Americans are the fastest growing community in New York and there are nearly 175,000 students of Asian descent enrolled in public schools, officials said Tuesday.
Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Asian populations outside Asia and Asian-American students make up more than 12 percent of Manhattan's public school population.
New York public schools already give students the day off for some important Christian and Jewish holidays.
Two half-days, previously designated for staff work, have been consolidated to compensate against the extra day off.
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