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.
Oh, quit your whining, people! You voted for this! Or didn’t you know that?!?
Along with resignations, how about some of these folks run for school board and other boards and finally put some sense back into things. Or at least try.
Might be able to get a firsthand look at just how far and deep the corruption is, even down the most local level.
Finally realize how bad they’ve been getting ripped off by these crooks. Some of those crooks, being their neighbors.
It is well past time to make the people making these decisions to answer for their crimes.
The Tree of Liberty doesn’t like being thirsty.
While the parents are at it, let them take a good look at the cirriculum.
Just wondering. You may or may not have the answer:
Is the typical elected position on a School Board for a set period of time, say two years, or does it differ with every individual school board?
**Your statement made me think: What if I ever considered running for a local school board? The idea excites me.
But first, I would need to learn more about such positions.
With every religion wanting their place on the calendar, they need a 10-page summary calendar.
Yeah, you STUPID RUBES just don't properly construe what your betters are doing here. Just go back to your little hovels and let us run the schools.
Scene at School District Headquarters....
Aide: There are a lot of biological birthing agents mad about their offspring entities not having the old systemic racist holidays outside. And they don’t like our forward looking race theory curriculum.
School Superintendent: So what? I don’t care what they want.
Aide: They have cylinders with fire and are carrying wood chopping tools and they want to get in here.
Boss: What? You mean angry mothers with lit torches carrying axes are breaking in?
Aide: Exactly.
Boss: Screw all the PC stuff, let’s get our azzes the hell outta here.
I agree with you. I dated an education major in college. Very sweet person but dumber than a bag of hammers without a lick of common sense. I was amazed that she was even admitted to college and dumbfounded when she actually graduated. Saw her at a college reunion a few years ago and found out she teaches high school social studies in Tacoma now. That’s just nuts.
Good for these parents!
I don’t know about Joisy but to the west of the Delaware River (PA) School Directors are elected for staggered 4 year terms.
It is purely volunteer. No compensation.
Also allegedly non-partisan. Candidates may cross file for positions on both the Democrat and Republican primary ballots.
I'm old enough to remember when teachers and educators were respected members of the community.
“...The board added the changes were simply a matter of condensing a 1-page calendar.”
I have no idea. I don’t have kids and I’m of the belief that whoever is on the school board should have some skin in the game....IE...kids in the school.
As for the money being spent, that’s what the county tax assessor and finance people are paid to do.
One thing I have seen though, which boggles my mind, is folks running for school board. They say all the right things. Have good ideas. Want transparency, no underhanded crap and no critical race theory crap. No common core. No ridiculous new way to do math.
Just Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Folks agree with them. They NEVER win.
I think folks are just worn down and accepting of property taxes and school taxes, thinking they can’t do anything about them other than pay them and deduct them from their taxes, that they don’t care.
Everything about the system is wrong. Donald Trump was exposing ALL of it and they got rid of him.
The people who have skin in the game are the taxpayers whose “rent to the government” aka property taxes fund the operation.
Parents are largely gimmedats who want to spend, spend, spend. Nothing is too good or too costly for their kiddos.
A good school board has a balance of taxpayer watchdogs and parents.
It is a pushback. The left wants to selectively replace holidays.
This board said no.
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