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Students to get day off for Eid District’s decision comes after two years of petitioning Without a day off, Muslim community members have argued, students may feel presAfter nearly two years of peti- sured to attend school and miss tioning the Sewanhaka Central out on their families’ celebraHigh School District Board of tions of the end of the holy Education for days off from month of Ramadan. school on Eid holiRafia Ahmed, a days that fall durstudent at New ing the school year, Hyde Park MemoMuslim parents’ rial High School, and students’ said at a Sewanhaefforts finally paid ka school district of f on Jan. 26, board meeting in when SuperintenDecember 2019 that dent James Groswhen she was sane announced forced to attend that May 3, 2022 — school on Eid one the date of Eid aly e a r, s h e w a s Fitr — will be a drowning in homeSuperintendent’s HADiqA SANDHU work when she got Senior, H. Frank Carey h o m e, a n d w a s Conference Day. Students are off High School unable to spend from school on time with her loved Superintendent’s ones on the holy Conference Days, Grossane day. At the same meeting, Wali explained in a virtual meeting Owais, who was then a sophowhose audio was streamed to more at Elmont Memorial High YouTube. That will allow Mus- School, said he did not believe lim students to take part in the the district respected his religion holiday festivities without as much as it respected others, requiring the school district to adding, “I believe that Muslim make Eid al-Fitr an official students have the right to follow school holiday — something dis- their religion.” trict officials are not legally Rukshana Khan, a student at authorized to do unless a certain New Hyde Park High also spoke percentage of students would be at the 2019 meeting, recounting absent that day. Continued on page 14
By MEliSSA KoENiG mkoenig@liherald.com
o
Courtesy Michael Sperduto
‘look at all that snow’ Adriano Mario Sperduto, 2 1/2, watched the snow come down on Monday from the comfort of his Franklin Square home. Story, more photos, Page 15.
Dozens of businesses closed Local legislators offer possible solutions By MEliSSA KoENiG mkoenig@liherald.com
In the year since a group of Franklin Square residents met at the local library to share their thoughts on revitalizing the community’s downtown, empty storefronts have only become more common, as the coronavirus pandemic has forced some local businesses to close. Franklin Square had about 15 empty storefronts on Jan. 21,
with four spotted on Franklin Avenue and seven on Hempstead Turnpike, between Madison and Herman avenues. Others, such as Deamo Kitchen and Bath and the Athletes in Training gym on Hempstead Turnpike, are temporarily closed. Elmont, meanwhile, had about 20 empty storefronts — six on Meacham Avenue, five on Dutch Broadway, three on Elmont Road and seven on Hempstead Turnpike, between
Remsen Street and the entrance to the Cross Island Parkway. “Our businesses really are suffering,” said State Sen. Anna Kaplan, who introduced a bill early last month to protect smallbusiness owners from the threat of foreclosure or eviction until May 1. The bill would create a standardized hardship declaration form that business owners would fill out and send to their Continued on page 11
ur community is changing, and we must change with it.