New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 8 - EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Chapter II - Regulations of the Commissioner
Subchapter E - Elementary and Secondary Education
Part 109 - Holiday And Religious Observance
Section 109.1 - Observance of special holidays

The Education Law (section 802, subdivision 2) requires the observance in public schools of Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Flag Day. To these should be added Veterans' Day, Columbus Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Each school should observe these holidays in its own way. While the original purpose of both Memorial Day and Veterans' Day was to honor those who have given their lives for their country, special exercises or study for these days may properly be directed, in the one case, to creating a better and deeper understanding of the American Union; and in the other to keeping alive the ideal of world peace.