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Lunar New Year School Holiday Likely
as Legislature Approves Bill
 BY SAM SPOKONY
As Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership, said Friday, it's been a long time coming. Even as they've continued to build communities, Chinese families all over the city have always had to choose whether to send their kids to school on the Lunar New Year or keep them home to celebrate the major cultural holiday.
"In Flushing, they're waiting, and in Sunset Park, they're waiting," said Chen.
They may not have to wait much longer, as the State Legislature has now taken a major step toward compelling the city's Department of Education to close schools on the Lunar New Year.
The State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would require consideration of school closure if a "considerable proportion" of students are likely to be absent. Since the State Assembly had already passed that bill in February, at will now go to the desk of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who, by most accounts, is likely to sign it into law soon.
"Passage of this bill to push the Lunar New Year school holiday is proof that momentum is building, and that this community's importance is greater across the city every single day," said State Senator Daniel Squadron, who sponsored the bill, at a press conference Friday outside Chinatown's P.S. 124, on Division St.
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