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After N.J. district erases all holiday names from its school calendar, angry parents seek resignations
Pennlive ^ | 14 June A.D. 2021 | Jeff Goldman

Posted on 06/14/2021 6:41:35 PM PDT by lightman

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.

Randolph School District is located in Morris County, around 60 miles north of Trenton and around 40 miles northwest of New York City.

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: holiday; inclusion; politicalcorrectness; randolph; randolphtownship
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To: lightman

Does this mean that ‘Juneteenth’ is now just ‘Holiday Number 5’, or something like that?


21 posted on 06/14/2021 7:24:47 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: lightman

debate about how to refer to Columbus Day.
____________________________________

How about the Italians are coming the Italians are coming Day ???

Or the day Pizza was introduced to the West Indies Day...

Gee I dunno ...


22 posted on 06/14/2021 7:26:37 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: Jamestown1630

:)


23 posted on 06/14/2021 7:27:11 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: qaz123

Thanks qaz.
Yes, I have seen that before over here in California.
First one who starts ‘makin’ sense’ may end of losing.
Some people prefer a Don Quixote dreamer to a Winston Churchill doer type.


24 posted on 06/14/2021 7:27:12 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Jamestown1630

and no more pride month...

:)


25 posted on 06/14/2021 7:27:58 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: lightman

Birds...

There’s no limit to this cancel culture.

Might just as well start waging a war of our own.


26 posted on 06/14/2021 7:29:00 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Folks, if you haven't yet, please start an automatic monthly for Jim and his crew.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Will they be eliminating “June Teenth” holiday?


27 posted on 06/14/2021 7:29:14 PM PDT by thinden ( )
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To: lightman

I should keep that in mind. It’s a volunteer position, and may be for a number of years.
I still would like some sort of involvement in my community.
I will know when the right opportunity comes up.


28 posted on 06/14/2021 7:30:53 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: lightman

I understand that, but, again, the school board members, if they’re worth a sh*t will be transparent and keep ALL the taxpayers informed on EVERYTHING.

Every taxpayer should be able to look up their county/city budgets on line, whenever they want and be given the ability to question spending. Is that happening? I’m not so sure.

The school boards are the ones that help find the Superintendents, most of whom seem to be radical Leftists, offer them ridiculous contracts and seem to give them complete control over all things educational.

A while back, folks someplace in Tennessee got mad about Islam being taught in the school. Most simply stated that if they’re going to teach Islam, then teach Christianity and Judaism as well. If they can’t do that, then nothing, under that whole “separation of church and state” stuff the Left loves to cry about. Well, the school board came back and said it wasn’t religion, it was social studies. What did that do? Pissed off the parents even more. One of the board members made a comment....if the parents don’t like it, they can move.

One thing about the parents is(and you’re right), seeing what my buddies on Long Island are dealing with right now, when their kids are in school they don’t seem to care. But, when all the kids are gone and their still paying $15,000 or more a year, they get angry.

In the North Shore school district on Long Island...my buddy is a contractor and knows costs and repairs....school took 10yrs to build a $474,000 house on school property. Was supposed to support a program that none of the kids participated in. Was recently converted to a classroom. And, before it becoming a classroom, it needed over $110,000 worth of mold remediation and removal(that shows you how little, if any, it was used).

A good school board has a balance of taxpayer watchdogs and parents........why can’t the parents be the watchdogs? Why can’t the taxpayers demand transparency and access to the spreadsheets? How hard is it for one or two of the parents to tell their friends that “they want this or that and this is what it costs”?


29 posted on 06/14/2021 7:35:54 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: Tennessee Nana

I have no problem with ‘Juneteenth’. I get a day off this month! and we don’t have enough holidays in the US. And I’m certain that the popularization of the date has at least informed a lot of ignorant people as to how Emancipation spread across the Nation.

But I do like for things to be called what they actually are...


30 posted on 06/14/2021 7:36:25 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: lightman

“Our actions are somehow being misconstrued by some to mean that the Randolph School District is no longer recognizing these holidays…”

As they no longer recognize the Holidays.

But it’s not them. Oh no. It’s us. While they strip the names from legally authorized Holidays right in front of us they tell you they aren’t. And if you call them on this BS, well, you’re just to stupid to understand what they’re doing.

So sit down, shut up, and keep paying them.

And, of course, the “some” this piece of garbage is referring to is, you guessed it, us. Ya know, normal people. Those of us who take things like the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to heart.

Object to us changing Christmas to “Day Off” do ya? Well you’re a racist.

Well **** these people. We need to start showing up at these local meetings in numbers they can’t ignore.

L


31 posted on 06/14/2021 7:40:07 PM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: lee martell

Some people prefer a Don Quixote dreamer to a Winston Churchill doer type...........Bingo!!!!


32 posted on 06/14/2021 7:40:11 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: Tennessee Nana
How about “the father of all Latinx Day?” Latin Americans would not exist without Columbus.

Those of us in the English-speaking part of the Americas should be celebrating Henry Hudson.

33 posted on 06/14/2021 7:46:58 PM PDT by Clemenza (Elon Musk: wealthiest welfare queen in history )
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To: thinden

They will be adding so many holidays that the school year will be 120 days long. They can’t fit them all onto a one-page summary school year calendar.


34 posted on 06/14/2021 7:47:22 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ("Pour les vaincre il faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace")
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To: Jamestown1630
Does this mean that ‘Juneteenth’ is now just ‘Holiday Number 5’, or something like that?

Good question. What about black History Month? Will it just be February now?

35 posted on 06/14/2021 8:16:58 PM PDT by Mr.FixIt (Ethanol: Growing in four months what the U.S.A. burns in one day)
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To: lightman

I wonder if Eid al-Fitr is still on those calendars.


36 posted on 06/14/2021 8:28:09 PM PDT by SkyDancer (I Identify As Vaccinated)
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To: lightman

That part of New Jersey believe it or not is Trump Country.


37 posted on 06/14/2021 8:37:23 PM PDT by peter the great
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To: lightman

Next is the names of the days of the week, and of the months.


38 posted on 06/14/2021 9:19:28 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (My /s is more true than your /science (or you might mean /seance))
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To: Scrambler Bob

Yeah—you are on to something:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week

Looks like the days of the week have something to do with white folks and slaveholders and stuff like that...

;-)


39 posted on 06/14/2021 9:46:02 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: lightman

Love it

It’s starting to go down. Finally


40 posted on 06/14/2021 9:56:04 PM PDT by Truthoverpower (Arizona !!!! Now the TRUMP TRAIN is getting back on TRACK ! TRUTH! FREEDOM ! LIBERTY! )
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