Armed with legal opinion, Quincy school board flouts council's order on Lunar New Year

QUINCY ‒ City residents following the dispute between the city council and the school committee over whether schools will remain open on Lunar New Year are vulnerable to whiplash as each body takes turns overriding the other. The holiday is put on the calendar one week, only to be taken off the next.

Lunar New Year, the most important cultural holiday for billions of people, includes millions in the United States. In Quincy, almost 40% of the student body identifies as Asian – a plurality of all students.

In 2024, students, families and other advocates organized an effort to put Lunar New Year on the calendar. It failed for the second year in a row to convince enough school committee members to make the change.

In the latest development, the school district said on its website that schools will remain open for Lunar New Year, despite a law passed by the city council May 20 declaring Lunar New Year a school holiday.

The post includes a legal opinion provided by lawyers John Foskett and Elizabeth Valerio that lays out the school committee's exclusive authority to set the school calendar under state law. The school committee voted 5-2 to hire the attorneys to review the legality of the council's ordinance at its May 22 meeting.

Mayor Thomas Koch, who chairs the school committee, and member Courtney Perdios supported Lunar New Year's place on the calendar. It was opposed by members Paul Bregoli, Tina Cahill, Doug Gutro, Kathryn Hubley and Emily Lebo.

What happens next

Caught between conflicting orders from the school committee and the city council, the man tasked with implementing the calendar, Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, told The Patriot Ledger that schools will be open Lunar New Year.

"As of right now we are planning to have school on Lunar New Year, unless the school committee decides to take it up, but I don’t foresee that happening," Mulvey said. "I have to follow the school committee directive for the school calendar."

How we got here

On April 10, the school committee rejected an amendment to the 2024-25 academic calendar that would have closed schools for the Lunar New Year holiday on Jan. 25, 2025.

The vote followed a half dozen statements supporting the school holiday, including one from former Quincy High School principal and committee member Frank Santoro, as well as a letter of support from Councilor-at-large Nina Liang, the first and only Chinese American to serve on the city council.

Less than two weeks later, Liang introduced an ordinance declaring Lunar New Year a citywide holiday, which would have closed all municipal offices in recognition of the holiday. However, City Solicitor Jim Timmins told the council that it lacked authority under Massachusetts law to declare a legal holiday.

Liang amended the ordinance to declare Lunar New Year a school holiday, thus canceling classes while leaving all other city departments open. The amended order passed unanimously and was promptly signed into law by Koch.

Two days later, the school committee voted 5-2 to hire independent legal counsel using money from its legal fund. During debate on the motion, Gutro complained about lack of communication from the city council.

"It's disappointing and perhaps disrespectful that you didn't pick up the phone," he said.

The school committee has now posted the legal opinion it requested, accompanied by a statement that the calendar it approved on April 10, which excludes Lunar New Year, "will be implemented."

North Quincy's city councilor condemns school committee's decision

Ward 6 Councilor Bill Harris, whose North Quincy district includes predominantly Asian neighborhoods, said his constituents made their views clear on the matter.

"The numbers were overwhelming," Harris told The Patriot Ledger. "I had zero against (Lunar New Year's inclusion on the calendar) and everybody for it."

Responding to the committee's recent statement, "It's very disappointing," he said. "I think the school committee's dead wrong. We did the right thing."

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Harris said the ordinance making Lunar New Year a school holiday is the law and that it's up to Mulvey to honor it.

He concluded with sharp words for the school committee members who have blocked efforts to put Lunar New Year on the calendar, namely Bregoli, Cahill, Gutro, Hubley and Lebo:

"We're talking about a school committee that's abusing their power and using children and their education to satisfy their egos," Harris said. "I'm not going to vote for any of those people."

In previous public discussions, committee members opposing Lunar New Year argued that it's not the committee's place to determine which ethnic holidays do and do not warrant a day off, among other arguments.

Asked for comment, Liang, the primary sponsor of the council's ordinance, declined to comment because she is on vacation.

Chris Walker, Koch's chief of staff, also declined to comment on the legal opinion received by the school committee and its decision not to follow the council's ordinance.

Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com. 

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Quincy school board won't recognize new Lunar New Year holiday law