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QC04232015

34 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 23, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com editorial THE QUEENS VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH GRAZIELLA ZERILLI STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JENNIFER DECIO, CHERYL GALLAGHER LIAM LA GUERRE, CRISTABELLE TUMOLA, ANGY ALTAMIRANO KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA, ALINA SURIEL CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI CRISTABELLE TUMOLA DEMETRA PLAGAKIS LOUISE CAVALIERE CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS STAFF REPORTERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS WEB EDITOR EVENTS MANAGER SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.queenscourier.com editorial e-mail: editorial@queenscourier.com for advertising e-mail: ads@queenscourier.com Entire Contents Copyright 2015 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. Two dogs waiting to make their votes count during this year’s participatory budgeting in Astoria Photos submitted by Brian Barnwell Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us via our Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@queenscourier.com. What are you doing for Mother’s Day? “A hibachi restaurant, probably. I was thinking about one in Brooklyn.” Kelly Thompson BY ALINA SURIEL “I celebrate with my wife and daughter. We’re going to eat and do whatever my wife wants.” Shang Gu “I hope my daughters will have something great planned for me!” Simone Perry “Actually, I work. Nothing else to do.” Alex Alverado “I have to work. I work in a restaurant, and it’s the biggest day of the year.” Hugo Herrera “I’m going to honor my wife and take her out to dinner.” Richard Vespi street talk “My mom lives in Pennsylvania so I’m probably going to visit her. My birthday’s the week before so it’s a mother-daughter thing.” Laura Kitterle “I’m seeing singer Audra McDonald with my mother. It’s a surprise!” Isabel Salane  SNAPS QUEENS Asian Lunar New Year must become a school holiday The one constant in Queens and New York City is change. Nothing is immune to it, including the public school calendar. Recently, Mayor Bill de Blasio established two Muslim observances—Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha—as public school holidays to refl ect the growing number of Muslim students citywide. Many in the ever-growing Asian community—from Flushing to Chinatown and beyond—have called on the mayor to similarly declare the Asian Lunar New Year as a school holiday. Published reports indicated that as many as 90 percent of the students at schools in largely Asian communities in the city are absent the day that the Asian Lunar New Year begins. The Lunar New Year is the most important cultural holiday for Asians, and yet Asian New York City students essentially lose a school day to observe it. There is a potential solution. Because the state regulates all public schools, state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky proposed legislation that would eliminate Brooklyn-Queens Day, thus freeing up a day on the school calendar to schedule an Asian Lunar New Year holiday in the winter. Brooklyn-Queens Day has been a public school holiday since the early 20th century. It celebrates the foundation of the fi rst Sunday schools on Long Island. At its peak, communities such as Ridgewood held large parades on the fi rst Thursday every June. Sunday school students by the hundreds joined parents, parishioners and pastors in taking to the local streets, marching on foot or riding in colorfully decorated fl oats, accompanied by musicians and bands playing traditional hymns. But in recent years, the Protestant congregations in Brooklyn and Queens diminished, and so did attendance at Brooklyn-Queens Day parades. Only a handful of the faithful turned out for the 2009 parade in Ridgewood, which turned out to be the last of its kind. It’s sad that Brooklyn-Queens Day has seemingly faded into the history books. But the city has changed, and there’s a large population of public school children who should be able to celebrate their own holiday without being punished with an absence on their record, or having to extend the school calendar into July. The state should adopt Stavisky’s plan, and the city should make the Asian Lunar New Year a public school holiday. Get well, Serf! We were saddened to hear that former state Senator Serphin Maltese recently suffered a broken hip, but we’re glad to report he is now on the long road to recovery. The former senator served the 15th Senatorial District with pride for 20 years, and he continues to remain active as chair of the Christ the King Regional High School board of trustees in Middle Village. His expertise and knowledge of government are second to none, and we hope that this setback doesn’t slow him down all that much. Best of luck on your recovery, Serf!


QC04232015
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