The Never-ending Calendar Issue in Randolph – InsiderNJ

RANDOLPH Its not over until school board critics say its over.

That seems to be themantra of those unhappy with the school boardforeliminating one day of thetwo-day Rosh Hashanah holidayfrom next years school calendar.

That decision was made a few months ago and reinforced twicesince, including in a 5-4 vote at a contentious meeting last week.

That session was punctuated by the appearance of five local Republicans, all of whom criticized the boards move.

In no particular order, the list included state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco, Assemblyman Brian Bergen, Morris County Commissioner Tayfun Selen, who is also a CD-11 congressional candidate, Larry Friscia, a CD-11 candidate as well, and last, but not least, county commissioner Deborah Smith.

It was Smith who releaseda statementprior to last weeks meetingurging a big turnout.

As we said, the board has now voted on thecalendar three times, includingthe original vote, but Smith is not giving up.

She sent out another statement this afternoon expressing disappointment at the boards action and urging another big turnout at the March 15 meeting to continue pressing the issue. Other critics have done likewise on social media sites.

This board is not focused on education or teaching children about the diverse community thatmakes up Randolph or thehistory of the people whobuilt this wonderful township and this nation, Smith wrote. This board is focused on political correctness and joining a deeply disturbing trend among school boards across America of culturally cleansing our society of all traditions and history.

It is indisputable that Republicans in general seem unhappy withpublic education thesedays. And itcertainly can pay politicaldividends.

Yet, in fairness, its hard to see the boards Rosh Hashanahdecision having anything to do with political correctness.

The move seems more aresult of theboard trying to ensure therequired 180-days of teaching into theschool calendar without extendingthe school yearuntil late June.

Since this issue hasnt ended, one question is how determined will the board be to stay the course?

To a layman, this doesnt seem like such a tough issue. A check of the official 2022-23 school calendar shows 184 days of teaching with four snow/emergency days built in.

How hard would it be to reduce the snow days to three and make the second day of Rosh Hashanah a school holiday?

That seems particularly feasible when you realize the remote learning many schools wereable to do during the height of the pandemic can make traditional snow days obsolete.

Many school boards take pride in saying theyre above politics, but a purely political decision is needed here.

(Visited 1,156 times, 8 visits today)

Originally posted here:

The Never-ending Calendar Issue in Randolph - InsiderNJ