【华人头条卡罗莱纳站毛苌子报道】2月17日晚，北卡教堂山-卡博罗（Chapel Hill-Carrboro）学区参加议事的6位委员一致举手，齐声说“哎”。
这个特殊表决方式，标志着农历年从此成为这个学区的“法定假日”。
这是美国北卡州有史以来第一个区域，同意将把农历年列为教师工作日，全学区学生为此庆祝放假一天。
旁听席上，坐在第一排的两位发起人——东教堂山高中（East Chapel Hill High School）9年级学生方梓乔（Teresa Fang）、教堂山高中（Chapel Hill High School）9年级学生孙奕宽（Yikuan Sun）情不自禁欢呼出声，喜悦从蒙着口罩的笑脸上、眼睛的光芒中洋溢而出。
坐在他们身边的前教堂山市议员顾泓彬，还有两位孩子的母亲都兴奋不已；见证这个决定的几所公立学校校长向他们竖起大拇指，有一位还立马起身来到孩子跟前，称赞祝贺。
“美国某些城市、学区已经将农历年列为节日，很多人都想希望自己所在的地区也能这样，只是目前没有人来做。”孙奕宽说，这个创意并没有那么特别，他们却是身体力行的推动者。方梓乔介绍：“去年我们就有这个想法，等到今年春节前最合适的时机，我们着手实施。”他们的努力，让北卡最为包容的地区之一、教堂山大学城率先将农历新年列入学区日历。
学区安排：2023年农历年初一是周日，学区设初二（1月23日，周一）为教师工作日（teacher work day）；2024年年初一是周六，学区设除夕（2月9日，周五）放假。规律大致是，初一或离初一最近的工作日放假。
“这是我们新一代华人移民在美国社会主人翁精神的体现。这次请愿由我们年轻的华二代主动发起和组织，更令人欣喜鼓舞。”顾泓彬密切关注孩子们的这个举动。在学区委员会昨晚表决前征求台下公众意见时，她果然走向演讲台，眼泛激动的泪光，感谢学区对两位学生的鼓励和支持。
1月31日，方梓乔、孙奕宽向学区发出请愿书。他们说——
“明天是农历新年。我们很高兴能与我们的社区分享我们的快乐，这是一个温暖和包容的地方……作为两个亚裔美国人，我们想提议将农历新年作为学校假期。我们的理由如下:
首先，在教堂山，亚洲人是人口中的第二大族群，亚洲文化得到认可会带来更大的和谐。中国、韩国、越南、菲律宾、蒙古、新加坡、泰国、马来西亚和印度尼西亚等亚洲国家都在庆祝农历新年。根据北卡罗莱纳州人口统计数据，截至2020年，亚洲人占教堂山市人口的14.9%，亚裔学生占幼儿园至12年级学生总数的13.9%。
第二，教堂山是一个多元文化社区，作为社区的一分子，亚裔为学区的多元化作出了巨大贡献。
第三，在我们的童年时代，家长和老师每年都会在学校庆祝农历新年。我们希望通过每年的这个节日，将这些珍贵的回忆分享给社区的所有孩子。在农历新年放一天假不仅有利于文化保全，也有利于学生的情感健康。
2月3日晚，学区委员会将两位学生的请愿列为议案，邀请发起人在例会上公开陈述。方梓乔作为代表到场，“一个15岁的小姑娘，独自站在学区三个委员会的听证会上，为亚裔据理力争。”陪同她的妈妈说，方梓乔发言后，每个学区委员都主动走过来祝贺她。
从请愿书发出到2月17日晚学区委员会最后作出决定，顾泓彬和几位家长在教堂山中文学校微信群，呼吁同胞们发邮件支持两位学生，表达将农历年设为假日的强烈愿望。30多位家长积极响应，中文学校也推波助澜写信支持。
北卡华人联合会会长赵西隆、董事长杨建平联名发出支持信说：农历新年是亚裔美国人社区最重要的文化活动。在这两年的大流行病期间，亚裔美国人社区一直是偏见、歧视和仇恨暴力的目标。在这种环境里，许多亚洲青年遭受严重的抑郁和焦虑。学区将农历新年定为法定假日或教师工作日，可再次彰显我们多元、包容和公平的价值观。它会培养亚洲青年强烈的归属感和文化认同感。
在昨晚的听证和表决会上，前教堂山市议员、北卡州议员候选人Allen Buansi专程赶来支持，希望教委支持和通过两位学生的建议。他陈述说：“华人家庭和孩子是教堂山社区的重要组成部分，农历新年是亚裔社区最重要的文化节日。确立农历新年为学区假期之一是教堂山重视多元文化、关注少数族裔学生身心健康的体现。”
“疫情期间对华人暴力歧视事件的增加使很多华人意识到我们不能继续作哑裔，而必须主动积极参与社区事务，通过主动发声，维护自己的权益。”顾泓彬希望，“这次请愿的成功能推动更多的城市和学区认同多元文化，为华人移民在美国的生存发展创造更加宽容、接纳、安全、平等的环境。”
Dear CHCCS Board of Education and calendar committee,
We hope you all are doing well. We are Teresa Fang from East Chapel Hill High School and Yikuan Sun from Chapel Hill High School.
Tomorrow is the lunar new year. We are very glad to share our happiness with our community, which is such a warm and inclusive place. By the way, there is a small mistake on the 2021-22 School Calendar. This year’s Chinese new year is on February 1 instead of February 12.
As two Asian Americans, we want to propose that lunar new year day be a school holiday. Our reasons are below:
Firstly, in Chapel Hill, Asians make up the second largest ethnicity in the population and for Asian cultures to be recognized would bring greater harmony. The lunar new year is celebrated across Asia and Southeast Asia in countries like China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. We come from different countries, but we celebrate on the same day. People celebrate the lunar new year in their own ways, mixing their traditions and unique cultural identities. For Asian Americans in the US like us, we mix our traditions from the East and the West. According to the North Carolina Demographics as of 2020, Asians make up 14.9% of the town’s population after the 62.4% of white people. In our CHCCS schools, Asian students make up 13.9% of the k-12 student body. Being so widely-celebrated all over the world, lunar new year is a celebration for all Asian communities and for all Asian people, no matter how far apart they may be. This includes the 8000+ Asians in Chapel Hill.
Secondly, Chapel Hill is a multicultural community, provided it is a university town, having cultures originating from all over the world. As a big part of our community, Asian people have made great contributions in building our diversity. The LIGHTUP Festival was held to celebrate Chinese new year in the center of UNC in 2018 and 2019, emphasizing the magnitude that this celebration provides to everyone in Chapel Hill. Any curious people walking through Franklin Street that day would be lured and welcomed by the cultural music, flashy performances, and the smell of delicious food wafting through the joy-filled air. The majority of the booths were run by small organizations within our community, local restaurants, students, and academic and performing groups. People all over Chapel Hill were flocking to the festival. Mayor Pam Hemminger and other town councilors came as well, as part of the multicultural attraction joining different communities together. As students of CHCCS and part of the Asian community, we remember volunteering at stands there ourselves back in our middle school days. We received numerous positive comments and feedback about the festival soon afterwards; many people told us they would remember these moments dearly. The LIGHTUP festival was one of the most successful cultural events in our town. If not for the pandemic in the past two years, this festival would be well on its way today.
Thirdly, in our childhoods, we grew up through Glenwood and Seawell Elementary to Smith Middle School. Parents and teachers at the school would hold celebrations annually for the lunar new year at school. Especially throughout our elementary school years, teachers were open to teaching about different cultures and how to celebrate and appreciate them. These memories are very precious to us and made our Chapel Hill community a much warmer place to grow up in. So, we would like to share these precious memories to all kids in our community every year through celebrating this holiday.
Next, coincidentally, from our own experiences, lunar new year would unusually clash with severe weather in NC. Instead of deliberately making this a holiday off, we could also make it an inclement weather day. We know the district has specific days allowed for holidays and this would not disrupt the calendar plan.
Furthermore, commendably, our school district prioritizes equity above all else. However, the majority of Asian students have not seen them do anything about our situation. Last year during the peak of the Stop Asian Hate movements across the nation, other than seeing some announcements from the school district expressing their concerns about it, nothing was put into action for us. By implementing this day off for lunar new year, as Asian students ourselves, we hope to regain our trust and faith in the school district.
Lastly, considerably, due to the pandemic, the mental health of students have drastically decreased as compared to previous years. Especially in teens, the effects can be seen quite clearly: they are more prone to stress, mental breakdowns, and depression. According to data collected from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, over 50% of teens reported that the pandemic created problems in their mental health. In Chapel Hill, there were also many student incidents caused by mental health. As students, we have been aware of the district’s efforts to implement mental health days in the current school calendar. These are certainly helpful for keeping students safe, but we believe calling it a mental health day further emphasizes mental health and escape from these related issues. We’d rather the name be changed to celebrate a holiday to make students feel more happy. It would provide a more beneficial time of healing for everyone if this day could be taken off to spend time with family and friends, no matter if one celebrates lunar new year or not. Therefore, a day off on lunar new year would be helpful not only to students’ cultures, but also emotional well-being.
No matter what community one may be a part of, taking the lunar new year off from school would have its benefits for everyone. Chapel Hill is a diverse town and this culture has helped elevate the interconnectedness of its people, shaping the way we live. It is a special occasion for celebrating, connecting with family and friends, and a time of healing and restoration. This proposal aims to make a change in the calendars of future school years. Along with the rest of the Asian community in Chapel Hill, we would appreciate it very much if this could be considered.
Thank you for your attention!
Sincerely,
Teresa and Yikuan
