N.J. district reverses course, will add holiday names back onto school calendar - NJ.com

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The Randolph Board of Education did an about-face Monday evening on its decision to remove holiday names from the school calendar following tremendous backlash from the public.

Following the board’s action, all holidays will be listed by name on the school calendar, including Columbus Day.

At its May meeting, the board voted to refer to Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Then on June 10 — over loud objections — the board voted to label holidays generically on its one-page calendar. Holidays including Christmas and Veterans Day were just listed as a “Day Off,” with no mention of the holiday name.

Following a nearly four-hour meeting Monday, which included public comment from about 50 people, the board voted 8-1 to adopt the motion to restore the calendar to the way it was before Columbus Day and the other holiday names were taken off.

Members also voted to amend the motion so that it would include sending the calendar to a committee for review and to gain input on it from a community survey. The idea was proposed by board member Vernetha Hope Powell, who said she wanted to community to be involved in the process.

Most members of the public who spoke during the meeting wanted to have the entire calendar changed back to the way it was, with a smaller group calling for only Columbus Day to be called something else, with one suggesting that it should be called “Italian Heritage Day.”

“We live in a cancel culture and we are very sensitive to that and we don’t want to see that in Randolph,” one resident said during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Several parents called for the board members to step down following their actions over the last few weeks. Another resident called the previous decision to erase the holiday names a, “nationwide embarrassment.”

“It’s not only insulting but it sends the wrong message to our students…we should be teaching our children the importance of these dates,” one said.

Before the vote, an online petition that called for Superintendent Jennifer Fano and members of the board of education to resign had generated thousands of signatures. In response, the district issued a lengthy statement saying its actions were “misconstrued” and that schools would still offer instruction on historical events such as Columbus’ voyage to the Western Hemisphere and the “people behind them.”

Gov. Phil Murphy suggested last week that the board should reconsider its recent vote.

“These holidays exist as they do for a reason, and I’m on the side of keeping it the way it is,” Murphy said on News 12 New Jersey’s “Ask the Governor.”

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.

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N.J. district reverses course, will add holiday names back onto school calendar - NJ.com
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