TOMS RIVER, NJ – The Toms River Regional School District has canceled Columbus Day. This week, the district released its first draft of the 2023-24 school year, and Christopher Columbus was cut.
Next October, schools will remain open for Columbus Day, but closed for Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, winter break, Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, spring break and Memorial Day.
Toms River resident Bob DiBiase, Chairman of the New Jersey Italian American Heritage Commission said the cancelation of Columbus Day by the Toms River schoolboard was an affront to all Italian Americans living in Toms River.
“Ocean County is home to one of the largest Italian American populations in New Jersey,” DiBiase said
DiBiase said he was made aware of the district’s stealth cancelation while he was attending an annual Columbus Day dinner.
“They voted in secrecy to do away with it,” DiBiase said. “It’s like a stake through our heart.”
DiBiase said he is most upset because the action was taken without consulting anyone in the community about dropping the holiday.
The Toms River School Board has not yet publicly announced why they canceled the date. School Board member Joseph Nardini confirmed the cancelation when asked about it by DiBiase.
The move to cancel Columbus Day has been one of the top agenda items by woke progressives in recent years with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy leading the charge to cancel the Italian American’s only cultural holiday.
In recent years, Columbus has been demonized for the colonization of the Americas and has been branded a ‘colonizer’ by the left.
Schools in New Jersey have been under attack by the politically motivated NJEA, backed by a progressive and liberal agenda to radicalize education in the Garden State. Last week, the NJEA branded tens of thousands of New Jersey parents upset with the direction the union is taking education in the state, as “extremists”.
DiBiase said he is upset over the cultural slap in the face delivered this week by the Toms River School Board.
Related: NJEA Just Called Frustrated and Upset Parents Extremists in New Commercial
