(Newsworthy.news) – Following a Connecticut school board’s recent decision to remove Veterans Day and Columbus Day from the district’s calendar, the public has launched a campaign of backlash.
Stamford Public Schools decided to strip the two holidays from the official calendar during a January 23 board meeting, meaning that the district students will not get those days off. The board’s 5-3 vote will be effective for the next two school years.
Joshua Esses, a member of the school board, was the one who initiated a motion to remove the holidays at the recent meeting. He posed an argument that they pushed the school year into the middle of June, saying that ending the year sooner would be “better educationally” for the students. Connecticut law requires that a minimum of 180 teaching days take place every year.
Esses reportedly coupled his suggestion to remove Veterans and Columbus days with the proposed removal of Eid al-Fitr and Rosh Hashanah for the same reasons, but the motion to eliminate the religious holidays failed to gain traction with other board members.
Although the two days would be replaced by school lessons that reflect the meaning of the widely recognized holidays, Italian Americans and veterans alike have expressed anger and disagreement with the decision.
One member of an Italian American service group in Stamford lamented the school board’s vote to a local ABC affiliate. Alfred Fusco, who is also a veteran, described the decision to remove both holidays as “a gut punch” that “had no inclination.”
In comments made to the New York Post, Stamford Public Schools said that the board’s recent decision is not unlike current policies for other Connecticut districts which have already eliminated Veterans and Columbus days from the academic holiday calendar.
The Stamford district also emphasized that its Teaching and Learning Department is set to “develop programming” to give to students related to Columbus Day “in recognition of that federal holiday.”
Copyright 2024, Newsworthy.news
