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Year of the Dragon

By Hunter Walker 1/30/12 10:16am

Year of the Dragon

Grace Meng (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Grace Meng ‘Frustrated’ With Mayor Bloomberg’s Response To Lunar New Year Bill

Assemblywoman Grace Meng doesn’t buy Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s claim that he can’t make Lunar New Year a public school holiday because “you cannot have … a day off from school for every single holiday or we’d have no school.”

“I think he is exaggerating when he said that we had no school days left,” Ms. Meng told The Politicker. “His policies on immigrant services have been very good, they’re very progressive. He’s done a lot for immigrant communities in New York City and it’s frustrating for me that he doesn’t understand why this community wants its first and most important holiday off.” Read More

By Colin Campbell and Hunter Walker 1/26/12 2:05pm

Year of the Dragon

Revelers in Chinatown celebrating the last Lunar New Year in 2011. (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Doesn’t Want To Make Lunar New Year a School Holiday

At a press conference at Silvercup Studios in Queens today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he doesn’t support the push to make Lunar New Year a holiday in New York City public schools.

“No. I mean, You cannot have … a day off from school for every single holiday or we’d have no school,” Mayor Bloomberg said in response to a question from The Politicker. Read More

By Hunter Walker 1/23/12 1:27pm

Year of the Dragon

Revelers in Chinatown celebrating the last Lunar New Year in 2011. (Photo: Getty)

Daniel Squadron And Grace Meng Ask Bloomberg To Make Lunar New Year a School Holiday

State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Grace Meng celebrated the Year of the Dragon by sending Mayor Michael Bloomberg a letter asking him to make the next Lunar New Year a holiday in city public schools.

“According to Asian customs, all the members of a family gather together on the eve of the New Year to prepare a giant feast and perform certain rites. Because of these important customs, a school holiday would allow Asian American children to celebrate the holiday with their families,” they wrote.

Currently, public school students receive an “excused” absence if they give written notification they’re missing class for Lunar New Year, but those absences still count on their record. Read More