Lunar New Year brouhaha: Turf war erupts between elected Quincy officials

QUINCY − A rift between the city council and school committee has opened over a measure to close Quincy's public schools for Lunar New Year, a holiday widely celebrated among the two-fifths of district students who identify as Asian. They are the largest single ethnic group within the student body.

On April 10, the school committee voted 4-2 not to include Lunar New Year as a day off for the 2024-25 academic year, with Mayor Thomas Koch and newly elected member Courtney Perdios voting in the minority.

Proponents of closing schools on Lunar New Year have noted the spike in absences on Feb. 5, the day preceding Lunar New Year in 2024, especially at North Quincy High School , which has a majority of Asian students. North Quincy High recorded 619 absences on that day, over 40% of its roughly 1,500 students.

Countering the school committee's no vote, Councilor-at-large Nina Liang introduced a law at a May 8 council meeting to reverse the school committee's decision . The council voted unanimously to pass the law May 20.

The school committee fired back. At its May 10 meeting, member Tina Cahill motioned to seek independent counsel to provide an opinion on the legality of city council's action. That motion was blocked when Koch said such an action would violate open meeting laws because the item was not posted on the meeting's agenda.

"It was a violation for the council to do what they did, frankly," said member Paul Bregoli in reply to Koch. "I was brought to tears, brought to tears, when I heard what the city council did to undermine this body who works very hard."

Emily Lebo, who opposed school closure on Lunar New Year on grounds that the school committee should not be the arbiter of which ethnic holidays do and do not merit a day off, said the council's action has wide-ranging implications.

"This is going to have big repercussions across the state," she said. "I have talked to colleagues from other school committees ... and they are appalled that it happened and that it could happen. What does a school committee really have the authority to do when an outside body can change some of your things?"

Cahill's motion to seek independent legal council is on the agenda for the Wednesday, May 22, meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at the Coddington Building. An open forum, during which members of the community can speak, is the first item on the agenda.

Koch says he plan to sign law closing schools on Lunar New Year

In an interview, Koch praised the work of both the city council and school committee on behalf of Quincy students. He then said he supports the Lunar New Year school sclosure and will sign Liang's ordinance.

"Ideally, the school committee would just adopt (the Lunar New Year holiday) without having to have the ordinance," he said. "But we're all independently elected and entitled to our own opinions."

Perdios was the only school committee member in attendance for the city council's vote to approve Liang's law. She told The Patriot Ledger that she supports the council's action and opposes Cahill's motion to seek funds for independent legal action, which she said would waste taxpayer dollars on something that doesn't benefit students.

Perdios said such a measure would be perceived by Asian American students and families as yet another step taken by the school committee against their interests.

Perdios also disagreed with Lebo's concern that the council's reversal of the school committee's decision sets a precedent for future interference. She described the council's action as "an issue-specific case," saying that the council doesn't have a record of "getting into the weeds" on school policy.

Rather, the council means to address a major concern raised by their constituency, a constituency which mirrors and overlaps the school committee's constituency, Perdios said.

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

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Lunar New Year brouhaha: Turf war erupts between elected Quincy officials