Connecticut school district facing backlash after stripping Veterans Day, Columbus Day from holiday calendar

A Connecticut school district is facing backlash after deciding to strip Veterans and Columbus Days from its official holiday calendar in a controversial vote by the school board last week.

Students at Stamford public schools will no longer get the day off on both holidays for the next two school years after the board voted 5-3 to remove them on Tuesday night, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Board member Joshua Esses made a motion to wipe the holidays from the school calendar at Tuesday’s meeting, arguing that the school year cut too far into the summer — ending in mid-June.

“We should make it shorter because it’s better educationally for our students,” Esses said of the school year — which is required by state law to have at least 180 teaching days for students, according to the local newspaper.

He also suggested cutting the religious holidays Eid al-Fitr and the second day of Rosh Hashanah from the list of official holidays with the same justification — but that motion received no support, the outlet reported.

Esses noted that Veterans Day and Columbus Day would instead be recognized and celebrated with lesson plans about the meaning of each on the day of, a state requirement.

Still, the board’s decision — which was discussed at another meeting earlier this month when brought up by a different member — garnered outrage from veterans and Italian-Americans.

Veteran Alfred Fusco, a founding member of the Stamford chapter of the Italian-American service organization UNICO, told ABC7 that the school district’s announcement was a double whammy.

“It was a gut punch. It was terrible. It had no inclination,” Fusco told the station.

The school district defended its decision when reached by The Post, noting that other districts in the state already keep schools open on the two holidays.

“Stamford Public Schools already hosts many events in recognition of our local veterans, and we look forward to continuing that tradition on Veterans’ Day in 2024 and 2025,” a spokesperson for Stamford Public Schools said in a statement.

“In addition, our Teaching and Learning Department will be working to develop programming about Columbus Day that will be presented to students in recognition of that federal holiday.”

A large part of the debate focused on the particular role of Columbus Day, which has been rejected by some Americans in recent years in favor of Indigenous People’s Day due to the sordid history surrounding Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ treatment of native peoples.

The other board member Versha Munshi-South said she observed a class lesson titled “Columbus: Hero or Villian?” at Dolan Middle School which made her rethink the holiday.

“The students were using primary sources to investigate the true history of Columbus and I can tell you that based on primary source research, no, they did not conclude that Columbus was a hero,” Munshi-South said, according to the Advocate.

“I don’t think it makes sense to teach students one thing in class and then have Columbus Day off. It’s a mixed message for students,” she said.

Another member of the school board, however, said that she saw Columbus as a hero and thought polarization on the issue should not inform their decision.

“There’s a lot of polarization with curriculums, so to paint Columbus as a villain is because of the polarization and I think we can’t be doing that publicly,” Becky Hamman said, the outlet reported.

“On Tuesday, January 23, the Stamford BOE approved the 2024-25 and 2025-26 Stamford Public Schools calendars following passage of a motion to have schools remain open on Columbus Day and Veterans Day,” a spokesperson for Stamford Public Schools said in a statement.

“Several neighboring districts already keep schools open on Columbus Day and/or Veterans Day, and both Columbus Day and Veterans Day will be acknowledged on the Stamford Public Schools calendar with other holidays and religious observances that occur when school is in session.”