Why do the public schools get Cinco de Mayo off?
595477
because there will be no janitors to clean up, since they will be taking off....
366508
They should loose tax dollars!! I'd pull my child out of the school, and enroll him in a private school. The act that you speak of happened in CA. The principal should have his noggin re-adjusted, what the hell was he thinking? I incenses me to no end that that inept SOB, let it occur. It is grossly disrespectful, and an open act of provocation. That's not what my family, nor myself, served for. I would expel those responsible for the remainder of the year. I remain, ALL AMERICAN, ALL THE TIME!  VIVA LA MIGRA!\nJester that "piece of cloth" represents everything I believe in. All gave some, some gave all for Old Glory. To disrespect the US flag, is to disrespect all who love it, salute it, and revere it.
895266
It would be the same as we have in some neighborhoods in Los Angeles whose public schools close as needed for the major Jewish holidays.  As long as they are able to schedule in the requisite number of schooldays per term, it would be beneficial and unifying to the community  However, at this time there probably are few, if any, districts that would have this issue.
416878
The celebration of Cinco de Mayo (meaning 5th of May in Spanish) should not be confused with Mexican Independence Day. Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on 15th September while Cinco de Mayo falls on 5th of May. Mexico declared its independence from Spain on 24th August, 1821. This modern holiday begain when a group of California State University students decided to hold the first Cinco de Mayo commemoration in the United States. This was around 1967. The students felt that there was no Chicano holidays and needed to do something about it. They wanted something to recapture their history and identity and decided that the Battle of Puebla was symbolic and they could connect it to their struggle for the formation of a Chicano Studies program at the university.\n\nCinco de Mayo is not an American Holiday but it is celebrated on a much larger scale by Chicanos in the U.S. than in Mexico. In Mexico, the celebration of Independence Day is considered more important. Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of the courage of the Mexican people during the battle (La Batalla de Puebla) on May 5th, 1862 where 4,500 Mexican soldiers defeated the Mexican traitors (exiled Mexican Convervatives) and French army of 6,500 at Puebla, Mexico . Puebla is 100 miles east of Mexico City. The Mexican forces were made up of untrained commoners. This victory did not win the war but it showed the courage and strength of the Mexican troops. The "Batalla de Puebla" became a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism.\n\nAfter Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, the country was faced with many problems. There were internal power struggles and during the dictatorship of Santa Anna, Mexico went to war with the United States in 1846. This war and the years of fighting put Mexico in a very bad financial position. It was bankrupt. Mexico had to give away a huge portion of its land to the United States. That land is now known as Texas.
675146
I don't care if they want to celebrate it. I just don't understand why public schools celebrate it. My children are Anglo Americans, and they get upset because they are being forced to celebrate something that means nothing to them, or their country. However keep in mind that my children are the 2% of Anglos at their school. 50% of the rest don not speak English...it's just like them flying the Mexican Flag over our City Hall.
881257
Yes I do.\nI believe it was eliminated to keep the kids at school so they could be taught the significance of the day and better appreciate it.\nBy eliminating the holiday, the Christmas break went to an automatic 2-week period. Before this the length of the break was dictated by how Christmas Day and New Years Day fell.\nI may be out-to-lunch, but I believe this to be the case.
433050
Most likely for the same reason that black government workers enjoy taking the day off for the Confederate Memorial Day (offered in GA) and white government workers enjoy taking MLK Jr. Day off.  They don't celebrate the traditional holiday itself, they just enjoy the holiday time off of work.
523464
it isnt against the law per se but it is against a certain lunch monitor's rules or standards.\n\nhttp://www.westislandchronicle.com/pages/article.php?noArticle=7475 \n\nand\n\n \ncheck out the article - filipino punished in school for eating with fork and spoon \n\n\nhttp://www.westislandchronicle.com/pages/article.php?noArticle=6063
1143972
Usually the question you ask implies you know the answer you want to hear. I can't give you the racist view.  We celebrate American history with every national holiday.  The purpose of ethnic history months is to introduce us to different cultures, it isn't meant to be devisive.    The United States of American is a amalgam of many cultures.
633685
Cinco de Mayo and Uno de Mayo
206101
YES...\n\n\nThat's Right!!! All Highschool Latinos Are Being Asked To Miss School Monday!! Why? To Prove U.S. Aint Shyt Without Latinos!!!! Yes We Are Trying To Stop The Prop. HR4437 From Passing On March 27, 2006 . Do ANY Of You Know How Much Money Our Schools Make For Each Student That Attends Everyday? Around $50 [[EACH STUDENT]] Imagine How Much Money They Would Lose If We Didnt Go... We're Trying To Get Our Point Across That It Is Not Fair What They Are Trying To Do To Immigrants! Please Join And Tell Every Friend Of The Hispanic Race! Let Your Parents Know What We Are Trying To Do!!! The Statement We're Trying To Make!!! Please Repost This If You're A Proud Latino! And Let Out The Word! CALL Your Friends! Let Everyone Know! PLEASE REPOST! -THE DISTRICT ACTUALLY LOOSES ABOUT $7,000 EACH STUDENT.\n\nPass diz on everywhere!thanx!!!
529246
cinco de mayo... well one person was telling my a joke and said there was this boat and it was traveling to mexico and it had a lot of mayo on it and it sank and they now celibrate "cinco de mayo" lol but actually its just like our 4th of july because cinco de mayo means the 5th of may... they are both independants day just for difrent countries...
716774
because the snacks are delicious.  if schools remove vending machines, kids are still going to the market or fast food restaurants before/after school to buy deliciouslness.
449971
Spain is a predominantly Catholic country.  Easter is one of the major Catholic holidays, so the schools would naturally be closed.
525306
The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be!  And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be.  Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810.  And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico. \n\nSo, why Cinco de Mayo?  And why should Americans savor this day as well?  Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862. \n\nThe French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez.  The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left.  The French, however, had different ideas. \n\nUnder Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay.  They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire.  His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota.  Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion.  The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War. \n\nThe French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did. \n\nUnder the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited.  Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns.  The Mexican Army was less stylish. \n\nGeneral Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks.  In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them.  The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes. \n\nWhen the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away.  The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen.  This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War. \n\nUnion forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French.  American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French.  The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City. \n\nIt might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862.  But who knows? \n\nIn gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces.  As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America. \n\nMexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans.  That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty.  There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862.
581920
I think that we should allow the celebration of cinco de mayo because It helps the reminds the poeple of mexico what happened the year of 1862. Also because that there are so many cultures and they deserve a holiday. same thing with why do we celebrate st. patricks day.
187089
Most of these kids wanted a day off from school.  What is this all about - waving the Mexican Flag.  That sure sends a good, clear message.  They like Mexico better than America - if they like Mexico so much - send them back there.\n\nI was fine with the protests until they all started pulling out the Mexican Flag.  Go home.