Norwich — The Board of Education on Tuesday is slated to vote on a proposal to change the Monday, Oct. 11, holiday from Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day.

Board of Education Chairwoman Heather Romanski said members of the public had requested that the board make the change in fall, and “more than one” board member brought the proposal forward.

“We felt it was brought to us by the community, and we had already planned to make the change when we talked about the calendar,” Romanski said.

The board is scheduled to vote on the 2021-22 school calendar, which included the change, during the board's 5:30 p.m. meeting. The meeting will be aired live on Facebook Live. Anyone wishing to comment at the start of the meeting should email arutigliano@norwichpublicschools.org or call (860) 823-4245 before 4 p.m. or can comment live on Facebook. 

Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow, in her second year in Norwich, said the current calendar was already solidified when she realized the district still recognized the second Monday in October as Columbus Day. She too planned to propose the change for the 2021-22 calendar.

The school district’s new cultural calendar, which recognizes dozens of significant dates for countries, cultures and religions worldwide, already lists Oct. 11, 2021, as Indigenous People Day

Recognition of Columbus has become controversial throughout the United States in recent years, and Columbus statues were targeted for protests locally and across the state in 2020. A Columbus statue in New London was removed and placed in storage after it had been splattered with red paint last summer.

In Norwich, the Italian Heritage & Cultural Committee announced in June it had decided without protests to alter its heritage monument at Chelsea Parade by removing an image of Columbus and references to the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage in 1992, when the monument was dedicated. The alterations, which included color images of the American and Italian flags and a rededication emphasizing the monument’s homage to Italian immigrant settlers in Norwich, was rededicated Nov. 21.

Frank Jacaruso, president of the Italian Heritage & Cultural Committee of Norwich and husband of school board member Yvette Jacaruso, said he would have liked the board to consider a change that would be “more inclusive,” such as Diversity Day. Otherwise, he said he had no comment on the proposed change.

Yvette Jacaruso said she would wait to hear comments from the public and other board members before commenting on the change.

Board member Swaranjit Singh Khalsa, who helped write the explanations for many of the dates on the cultural calendar, said he welcomes the October holiday change. As a Sikh, Khalsa said he understands the pain and emotion of people who have faced genocide and the calendar change will respect the history of indigenous people.

“We are basically keeping in mind the sentiments of our community,” Khalsa said. “I appreciate this move. It will increase education about the day and give more knowledge of indigenous people.”

Romanski said the change will not just be symbolic. As administrators have spent much time devoted to the response to the coronavirus, school Assistant Superintendent Tamara Gloster is working on a “cultural curriculum” to support many of the dates on the new cultural calendar.

“We are still working on teaching and learning and working on our equity curriculum,” Romanski said. “It’s hard to move quickly with all this other stuff, but that work cannot stop, because of the pandemic.”

c.bessette@theday.com