N.J. district erased all holiday names from school calendar. Angry parents want superintendent, board to resi - NJ.com

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More than 2,500 people have signed a petition calling for the Randolph board of education to resign days after the district voted to remove the names of holidays from the school calendar following a earlier debate about how to refer to Columbus Day.

“(Superintendent) Jen Fano and all of the Board of Education Members have disgraced our community and clearly do not have the best interests of our children in anything they do,” the online petition started late last week reads. “They represent everything that is wrong in education today and are completely incompetent in every aspect of their role.”

The Randolph public school calendar will no longer list any holiday by name. Instead, they’ll be labeled generically — just as a “Day Off,” with no description of the reason behind it. The decision led to a firestorm of criticism.

On Sunday, the board of education issued a statement saying the “large public outcry” regarding the removal of the holidays is because their intentions were misunderstood.

“Our actions are somehow being misconstrued by some to mean that the Randolph School District is no longer recognizing these holidays, teaching about them to our students and honoring the great veterans and the heroes for whom many of these holidays have been named,” the board of education said in remarks posed on the district’s website. “Nothing could be further from the truth. These state, federal and other holidays have not been cancelled or taken away by this board of education as some are falsely claiming. Schools will still be closed on the days that we originally approved and our children will know why. They will still continue to receive instruction in schools about these important historical events and the people behind them.”

The board added the changes were simply a matter of condensing a 1-page calendar.

“Everyone should remember that the primary purpose of the school calendar is to inform parents when schools will be open and when schools will be closed,” the board said. “In essence, it is a school attendance calendar which is why we did not feel the need to list every state, federal and religious holiday on the one-page calendar that we adopt every year.”

Other districts have taken a similar approach, the board said.

“The Randolph School District is in no way minimizing or taking that away from anyone. Everyone is still encouraged to celebrate them in whatever way they deem appropriate.”

Thursday’s vote took place during a raucous in-person board meeting weeks after the board changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the school calendar.

Some parents said the vote was taken without public input and was insulting to Italian Americans and their contributions to the country.

Neither Board president Tammy McKay nor Fano’s spokesman could immediately be reached Monday. Petition organizer Tom Tatem also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from NJ Advance Media.

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.

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June 14, 2021 at 11:32PM
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N.J. district erased all holiday names from school calendar. Angry parents want superintendent, board to resi - NJ.com

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