Supporters of Lunar New Year holiday rally before Quincy School Committee meeting on May 20, 2026. Photo by Lisa C. Johnson.
It finally happened! Tonight the School Committee for Quincy Public Schools unanimously voted to make Lunar New Year a holiday for the students!
The push for the holiday started with students five years ago. And it finally paid off.
The Quincy community showed up again and spoke in favor of the holiday. From students to grandparents and all in between. There was an overflow room for all the people that attended.
Supporters of Lunar New Year holiday line up to speak at Quincy School Committee Meeting on May 20, 2026. Photo by Lisa C. Johnson.
One of the student advisors to the School Committee spoke about how he does not celebrate Lunar New Year, but he knows that it’s it important to his fellow students. He mentioned that so many students take the holiday off that nothing new is started by teachers that day, so they often end up with busy work.
He talked about the importance of students being able to spend time with their grandparents on Lunar New Year. Just like he cherishes the sixteen Christmases that he was able to spend with his grandparents. Especially since he recently lost grandparents.
After everyone spoke, the Committee went into an Executive Session to meet with counsel, so we all had to leave. After about a half an hour, we were called back in. New School Committee Member Tom Leung read a statement into the record about the long road to this vote. Then the voting began!
It all happened so quickly that I think we were all a bit stunned. Finally it passed! It makes me feel good that Quincy is on the right side of history. With this being our nation’s 250th birthday, it’s about time.
Quincy School Committee meeting on May 6, 2026. Photo by Lisa C. Johnson.
This past Wednesday evening, I attended my first ever school committee meeting. I don’t have children, so it’s not the type of thing that impacts me directly. But as a longtime resident of Quincy, I am interested in issues that impact Quincy at large. Especially when the issue relates to fairness, inclusiveness and respect. Several people told me about the meeting and urged me to go. So I was happy to attend.
Quincy Public Schools “recognize” Lunar New Year as a cultural holiday, but schools remain open. However, Good Friday is a holiday where schools are closed.
Quincy is approximately 30% Asian and the percentage of Asian students in Quincy Public Schools is close to 40%. In some schools, Asian students are the majority. For years, many Quincy residents have been trying to close the schools on Lunar New Year and have it truly recognized as a holiday.
Quincy School Committee meeting on May 6, 2026. Quincy residents lined up to speak in favor of Lunar New Year becoming a holiday for Quincy Public Schools. Photo by Lisa C. Johnson.
At this point, I can’t understand the opposition to the holiday. It seems like disrespect at best. And at worst, it feels like blatant racism.
While this would be a school district holiday, it reminds me of the decades long fight to make Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday. There was so much resistance!
But Quincy residents are not discouraged. They are galvanized. People wrote letters. They showed up at this meeting and stood in line to speak.
Many spoke about how Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year to many different Asian groups. It’s not just Chinese New Year. Many added that for Asian kids, going to school on Lunar New Year would be like going to school on Christmas Day. It’s unimaginable.
Lunar New Year is a full day with extended families gathering — going to temple, eating special foods, wearing traditional garb, red envelopes, and the passing down of culture from older generations to the next.
Several grandmothers spoke about missing time spent with their grandchildren because they had to go to school. Parents take time off from work to celebrate with their families. So for the children to miss out is hurtful to families. And hurtful to the children themselves. How much time do most children have to spend with grandparents? That time is so limited. You can’t get it back.
It was not only adults speaking either. There were two children who spoke in favor of schools closing on Lunar New Year. A girl and a boy. I think the boy said that he was 11 years old.
He spoke calmly and came out of the gate running by talking about the Chinese Exclusion Act. He mentioned that this day, May 6th, was an important date because it was when the Act became law. And how he was so sad when he learned about it.
Then he spoke about how he is Chinese Vietnamese and feels excluded because his holiday is not truly seen. He has to choose between going to school or spending the holiday with his family and that it isn’t right. He received a standing ovation. The next generation is ready.
People spoke about children’s attendance record being impacted and that sometimes most kids in classrooms would not be there on the holiday. That impacts everyone to not have full class participation.
After everyone spoke, the committee decided to table the vote for two weeks because they needed input from legal counsel. The vote should take place on May 20th. I hope to be there.
Guess who’s teaching another class? Me! Except this time, instead of teaching sconebaking, I’m teaching plant care. Since I started selling plants, it seemed like a fun next step.
Not much in the world has felt cozy lately. Tuning out all the news and noise for a bit is necessary. But cozy can be achieved. Even if only for a few hours.
Yesterday, I went to the library and took out a few books. I already had some, but another that I had on hold arrived. Then I noticed a few that were on display. Now I have quite a library haul with this big stack of books. It makes me so happy and reminds me of when I was a little kid taking out piles of books from the library.
The older I get, the more that I realize what makes me happy now are the same things that did when I was a child. We do grow up and change as adults. But I think that essentially we are that same soul that we were from the beginning. My soul loves books. Although having parents that were teachers helped too!
The library was packed with people yesterday. The parking lot was completely full and I was stuck in a traffic jam before I could leave it to look for additional parking. There were two events going on and some people were turned away from one because they were beyond capacity. Standing room only! I love to see it.
Even with the library crowds, everyone was in a good mood. It had a really nice community feeling. It was also where I met up with someone to sell them a bunch of plants. She was so happy to get her plants, which of course made me happy too. I love to spread the plant joy!
We chatted for a while and by the time I left, there were a lot of people in the store. It was such a good feeling seeing the people of Quincy enjoying all things books. It gave me a very warm feeling of community. Something that I don’t feel everyday, but that I’d like to feel more of. Even if only for a few hours.
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Now leaving the cozy feeling for a bit. Another book that I’m adding to my TBR list is On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder. It’s about how to resist fascism in America. He was interviewed by Rachel Maddow last month and spoke about what is happening with our current Administration. He said that they want to make us feel afraid and alone. I definitely think that a way to combat that feeling is through community. Libraries and bookstores are great places to start.
A few weeks ago, my mom and I both received letters in the mail about Quincy Community Electricity.
I briefly looked at them, but didn’t pay too much attention. My mom was finally home after a horrible cycle of falling, being hospitalized and staying at nursing rehabilitation facilities for several months. I stayed with her for a couple of weeks to get her back in the swing of things again.
She had several medication changes and we both were doing our best to get things right for her. Her health and independence were the focus for both of us.
Then I happened to notice that the letters we received required us to opt-out of the new Quincy electricity program or we would be automatically enrolled. That was news to us!
After reading a bit more about the program on the city of Quincy’s website, it seems that the changes won’t be as big as I thought initially. Dynegy will become Quincy’s retail electricity supplier, but the rest will remain the same.
“Participation in Quincy Community Electricity will only change the “Supply” portion of your National Grid electricity bill. National Grid will continue to manage electricity billing, maintain poles and wires, and respond to storm outages. Customers using budget billing or receiving low-income rate discounts will continue to receive those discounts without interruption.”
Both my mom and I were very concerned about repairs after power outages. Apparently that won’t change. At first, we were both hesitant about being part of the program. But now, I’m reconsidering. Maybe we should try it.
However, I wonder how many people have noticed that they have to opt-out. Will many Quincy residents be surprised when the new program starts in June? Or maybe the changes won’t be significant enough for most people to notice. It will be interesting to see how this new program fares.
