Recently, my mother asked me if I was available to go to a Lunar New Year festival at an Asian restaurant in Fairfield on Tuesday, February 17th. I was exhilarated at the prospect of celebrating Lunar New Year and feeling connected with my Vietnamese heritage with other Asian people. I almost immediately agreed to the plans until I was met with the baffling realization: I had to go to school at 7:25 AM that day like it was any other regular day and take a history test. This was due to the unfortunate fact that Stamford Public Schools (SPS) does not provide a day off for Lunar New Year. Disappointed, I had to turn down the invite and instead study.
Lunar New Year, also known as “Têt”, “Seollal”, and “Chūnjié”, is one of the most major days in East Asian culture. Lunar New Year is a day that marks the commencement of a new year in the Lunisolar calendar, celebrated in countries like Vietnam, China, and Korea by visiting family, eating together, and cleaning homes to promote an auspicious year. “Experts say the core focus of Lunar New Year celebrations is to bring families together,” reported CBS News. Evidently, Lunar New Year is a sacrosanct holiday filled with hospitality, festivities, and family. Due to the magnitude it holds in Asian cultures, it is clear why SPS should not have school on Lunar New Year.
The 2020 census reported that Stamford held the highest Asian population in Connecticut of 11,453, nearly 9% of our town’s residents and is rapidly growing. Some of the largest Asian ethnic groups in Connecticut are: Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Korean, all cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year. Both of those citations indicate how the Asian community in Connecticut is ever so present. With the increasing presence, we must reevaluate our district calendar to best represent our diverse community. Their latest revision of recognized holidays on the calendar was in 2024, where they removed Columbus Day and Veterans Day from the SPS Calendar. Part of their reasoning for removing Columbus Day, according to former Board of Education vice-president Versha Munshi-South, was, “I can’t imagine that we have many students on Columbus Day who are observing Columbus Day with their families.” However, if we cross-apply this logic to Lunar New Year, it further proves how Lunar New Year must be given a day off because the majority of Lunar New Year is celebrated and observed with family.
When Asian people comprise such a considerable amount of our city, we cannot expect them to just take a day off while we continue with teaching. It has been argued in the past that Asian students should not come to school on Lunar New Year rather than giving a day off completely, which would save us from adding more days we would make up in June. In theory, this may seem like an adequate solution, yet in practice, it is not very attainable. This is because many teachers assign activities that can only be completed in class in order to receive full credit, such as warmups and do nows. Additionally, in classes like Physical Education, it is even harder to be able to take a day off and maintain your grade, as you cannot receive credit if you are not in class and participating. Furthermore, SPS has put an immense emphasis on the expectation of students attending class daily with the adoption of the Attendance Grade Recovery (AGR) program. By not giving a day off for this holiday, we end up forcing our Asian students to pick between classes and celebrations.
When it is argued that schools should recognize Lunar New Year, proponents frequently argue how recognizing Lunar New Year evolves into a slippery slope, the question of “Where does the limit end?” emerging. This argument asserts that this day off will lead to a domino effect of our district trying to accommodate everyone. Yet, the plain truth is that we have never tried to accommodate everyone. Our district has, for many years, prioritized Christian holidays like Easter. Yet, they have rebranded it to seemingly secular names, like ‘spring break’ and ‘winter recess’, removing the explicit name but still revealing the structural power the holiday holds across the district. Of course, Christianity is very represented in our student body and they deserve to celebrate with their family, but so do Asian students.
2025 marked the first year New York celebrated Lunar New Year as an official holiday and mandated school closures. When they enacted the legislation, the sky did not fall. Education standards did not grievously decline. Instead, Asian students felt an increased sense of belonging and recognition from their peers and teachers. Grace Lee, a New York State Assemblymember, stated, “Recognizing Lunar New Year as a statewide holiday is sending a message to Asian Americans, and to all New Yorkers, that Asian Americans are New Yorkers, and that we belong here.”
SPS has already proven they are capable of adapting their calendar to best suit their constituents’ cultures and religions through calling off school for certain Islamic holidays. SPS first added Eid-Al-Fitr as a day off for 2023-2024 calendar and have continued this ever since. Eid-Al-Fitr forced students to decide between their religion and academics, as Eid-Al-Fitr is a sacred holiday in Islamic faith spent with family and praying. This decision to call a day off for Eid-Al-Fitr was not seen as biased, preferential treatment. However, it made Islamic students of SPS feel seen in their community.
If SPS provides a day off for Lunar New Year, it makes an implicit statement. It makes a statement that their new year is just as important as the traditional Gregorian New Year that SPS provides a day off for. That being Asian is something that should be celebrated, not minimized or put on the back burner. That Asian students are also encompassed in the statement “We the people”. Next February, I should not have to pick between my history test and my heritage. Neither should all of the other students in Stamford.