assemblywoman pushing for official lunar new year holiday

Happy Lunar New Year! What better way to celebrate than a day off school? Kids, your champion is Grace Meng. For the third year in a row, the Queens Assemblywoman is asking city and state officials to close schools in observance of the Lunar New Year: New year, new push.

"We're going to do this every year until this becomes a reality," Meng vowed during Wednesday's rally at Public School 244 in Flushing. "We just want the same right to celebrate our holiday at home, the same as other cultures."

The Year of the Rabbit began yesterday, and the holiday is celebrated with large family gatherings. Alternate-side parking rules are suspended that day.

Asians make up about 12% of the city's population and 22% in Queens, according to the 2009 American Community Survey.

A lot of children in the community question why their Jewish friends get to celebrate Rosh Hashanah at home but they have to go to school, Meng said.

Hey, why the heck not? For some Asian families, this is the most important holiday of the year. But the Assemblywoman's push isn't going to be easy, facing resistance from the Mayor's office and the city Education Department. The last holiday added to the school calendar was Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- nearly thirty years ago. I have a hard time seeing everybody agree to this... but it would be fun, wouldn't it?