How did New York City Asians and Asian Americans get a Lunar New Year school holiday?

Abstract

Asians and Asian Americans lobbied for more than two decades without avail to get official public school recognition of Lunar New Year. On Lunar New Year Day in 2011, the New York City Department of Education, suspecting fraudulent attendance reporting, raided Shuang Wen PS 184M, the first Chinese dual language school in NYC and in the U.S. The principal was reassigned to administrative duty pending investigations, and a gag order was put on the school to prohibit communicating with any outside organization or media. In response, Asian American communities coalesced around a redistricting effort and schooling issues to push for recognition of the cultural practices of Asians. Prompted by the interim principal of Shuang Wen, Asian-serving principals encouraged students to take the Lunar New Year Day off in 2012, a mass action which resulted in official recognition of Lunar New Year as a school holiday in the 2015–2016 school year.