The Board of Education in a New Jersey town voted unanimously Thursday to replace holiday names on the school calendar with the more inclusive “Day Off."
The vote follows criticism over last month's decision to change Columbus Day on the school calendar, which led to board members receiving phone calls and emails from those in opposition to the change, according to TAPinto.
A motion was initially made to remove only holidays mentioning ethnic or religious groups in an effort to not offend any other group but the board then decided to vote on replacing all holiday names, putting "Day Off" in their place because of fears that some groups would still be “left out” of the existing holidays.
Members of Italian organizations, such as the Knights of Columbus, attended the board meeting to voice their opposition to the renaming of Columbus Day.
Speakers explained to board members the meaning and importance of Columbus Day to Italian Americans and said that Columbus' actions were not properly told by historians.
A former student said Italians had a history of being subject to discrimination throughout history, citing an 1891 event when 11 Italians were killed by a racist mob in New Orleans.
Meeting attendees hoping that Columbus Day would once again be included on the school calendar were shocked as every holiday was renamed to “Day Off” on the calendar.
The board said in a statement following the meeting:
After careful consideration of concerns introduced by both proponents of the change as well as those in opposition to the change, a motion was presented for consideration to stop using holiday titles on the district’s calendar … We agreed unanimously that the change would be both inclusive and equitable. Although we have made these changes to the school district’s calendar, our decision to change the calendar titles will not impact the education of holidays as guided by the district’s curriculum.
The vote comes as many schools nationwide replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day on their school calendars.