Toms River Regional urged to bring back Columbus Day holiday for students
TOMS RIVER – No, Toms River Regional leaders insist, they are not “canceling” Columbus Day by removing it as a holiday from this year’s school district calendar.
Leaders of some Italian-American organizations have strongly criticized the move, even after being told by Superintendent Mike Citta that lessons about Christopher Columbus and Italian heritage will continue to be taught in district classrooms.
They say that eliminating the holiday for students helps feed the growing nationwide controversy that has surrounded the commemoration of the day in 1492 that explorer Christopher Columbus made landfall in the “New World.”