- A New Jersey school district decided to take holidays off their academic school calendar, reports say.
- The Randolph Township Board of Education decided to replace holidays with "Day off."
- The unanimous decision occurred during a meeting on June 10.
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A school district in New Jersey decided to completely remove holiday names, like Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, from their school calendar, according to reports.
The decision was made by the Randolph Board of Education meeting on Thursday, who voted to change holidays to "Day off" on the academic calendar, Tap Into Randolph reported. The adjustment comes as tensions thickened between parents and board members after they previously passed a resolution to drop Columbus Day and rename the holiday to Indigenous People's Day, according to the Morristown Daily Record.
"The way in which the BOE passed the resolution was unacceptable and nefarious," a parent told Morristown Daily Record last month. "I would rather the school systems throughout the country portray a balanced picture of Columbus. He did a lot of good, and I think the villain part of him is really out of context."
Over 100 people attended the June 10 meeting to argue against removing Columbus Day before the board just dropped holidays altogether, according to Fox 5 New York.
"If we don't have anything on the calendar, we don't have to have anyone be hurt feelings or anything like that," Dorene Roche, a board member, told the news station.
Emotions were high at the meeting as community members shouted and walked out during the discussion. After the board's unanimous decision, a people said, "What just happened?" and "What did you just do," according to reports.
"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," the Randolph Township Board of Education said in a statement, according to NY Daily News. "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."