Even Thanksgiving is canceled! New Jersey school district yanks ALL holiday names off the calendar to avoid 'hurt feelings' as students can now get ready to gather with the family to celebrate ... 'Day Off'
A New Jersey school board has scrapped the names of all holidays from its calender to avoid 'hurt feelings' after backlash over renaming Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Randolph Board of Education members unanimously voted to remove all holiday names off of the school calendar, including religious holidays such as Yom Kippur and Christmas, at a meeting that drew over 100 people on Thursday.
Instead, all holidays will be designated as simply 'days off,' in schools across the Morris County township, which is about an hour west of New York City, according to a Fox5 NY report.
'If we don't have anything on the calendar, we don't have to have anyone be hurt feelings or anything like that,' board member Dorene Roche said of the controversial change.
At a Randolph Board of Education meeting on Thursday, board members voted to remove all holiday names off of the school calendar amidst backlash from the community
'If we don't have anything on the calendar, we don't have to have anyone be hurt feelings or anything like that,' board member Dorene Roche said of the controversial change
Board members made the decision in an effort to mitigate any potential offense a group or person may feel in regard to holidays that celebrate certain historical figures or ethnic groups, while also maintaining that the board is not responsible for naming the holidays to begin with.
'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 prior to Thursday's controversial vote.
The change was not made in haste, however, as the public comment section of the meeting dragged on with dissenters from the crowd.
The jeers only grew louder after the board made the unanimous vote to strike holiday names from the school calendar.
'What did you just do? What just happened?' one man exclaimed incredulously in an audio recording of the meeting minutes and agenda.
'I don't think really it is the board's responsibility to be naming these holidays,' board member Ronald Conti said before Thursday's unanimous vote
The move came amidst backlash over changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day from the 100-plus people who attended Thursday's meeting
As of Friday, the town's website showed the district school calendars still had holiday names.
'The support and concern of the Randolph community is vital to the educational process,' the township's Board of Education website reads.
'We welcome the public to take the time to interact with the Board of Education. Community members are encouraged to attend public meetings, express their opinions, ask questions and communicate their needs as constituents.'
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