Is Christmas canceled? NJ school district removes holiday names to avoid ‘hurt feelings’
The controversy around Columbus Day is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon, but one New Jersey school district has decided to skip it entirely. The school board of Randolph Township in Morris County has decided to just avoid naming holidays in their academic calendar and replace it with a generic "day off" instead.
For a few years now, there has been a growing call to replace Columbus Day with 'Indigenous People's Day', which has had an effect. By 2020, 13 states officially removed Columbus Day, with protests in other states to do so as well. In June 2020, Black Lives Matter protestors topped the Columbus statue in Richmond, Virginia. Around a month later, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the city to remove the Columbus statue at Grant park, after earlier opposing such a move.
RELATED ARTICLES
The legacy of Christopher Columbus is controversial and clearly a major flashpoint. This is why the Randolph Board of Education (BoE) decided to join in and remove the day, but it didn't exactly go to plan. In the end, the board was forced to remove all the holiday names, which some see as a big win. "If we don’t have anything on the calendar, we don’t have to have anyone (with) hurt feelings," board member Dorene Roche told Fox News.
School board's bid to rename holiday fails
The controversial decision was taken after the board was slammed for removing Columbus Day, without public consultation. In a May 13 meeting, the BoE agreed to change the name of Columbus Day. That set of a firestorm of emails and calls, with many residents complaining that they weren't consulted on the change. That led to a public meeting on June 10, which was filled with over 100 people.
According to Tap into Randolph, the emotionally charged and chaotic meeting saw shouting, interruptions, and even an impromptu walkout. In fact, it was so contentious, that there were reportedly multiple calls for security to escort people outside, but it thankfully never came to that. With the BoE believed they had made the right decision, the community felt otherwise, slamming the removal of Columbus Day. Others also objected to the fact that the decision was taken without public consultation, even though some supported it.
The website reported, "Many of the speakers gave impassioned pleas and told personal stories, as they explained the meaning and importance of Columbus Day, while others argued and debated the truth or falsehood of how some historians have painted Columbus in a negative light." Eventually, the members of the board were forced to apologize for its decision, taken without discussion. According to them, the decision was made after "some other districts had made the same change in recent years."
Eventually, the contentious meeting ended with a proposition to remove all the holiday names from the list, that mention any ethnic/religious groups. "Realizing that some groups are still 'left out' and they cannot and do not recognize everyone, the board suddenly decided to vote on removing all holiday names and simply calling them 'Day Off'," the website said. The board unanimously voted yes on that proposition, leaving some attendees stunned.
The decision affects all holidays from Labour Day to Memorial Day and Thanksgiving to Yom Kippur. While many seemed pleased with the decision, not everyone was happy. "I don't think really it is the board's responsibility to be naming these holidays. Either take them off or just adopt whatever the federal and state governments are doing," board member Ronald Conti said. Nonetheless, the decision has been made, and Randolph Township students will no longer be saying "Merry Christmas" or "have a happy Thanksgiving" anymore. From now on, it will be "have a happy day off".