Norwich school board adopts new calendar changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day
Norwich — The Board of Education voted unanimously without comment to approve a new 2021-22 school calendar that included changing the Oct. 11 holiday from Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day.
The board received no public comments prior to the vote on the proposed change. Board members prior to the meeting said the change was made upon requests from members of the community. Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow said she would have recommended the change for the 2021-22 school year anyway.
The school district’s new cultural calendar, which lists dozens of dates significant to various nations, cultures and religions worldwide, already listed Oct. 11, 2021, as Indigenous People Day.
Assistant Superintendent Tamara Gloster told the school board Tuesday that she was contacted by Christopher Clouet, special adviser to the state Department of Education commissioner, regarding Norwich’s cultural calendar. Gloster said Clouet discovered the Norwich calendar, which is posted on the school website at www.norwichpublicschools.org, and he “would like to implement something like it for the state.”
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