The Sag Harbor School District has established a new holiday, Indigenous People's Day, on its 2021-22 academic calendar to provide an opportunity for students to learn about and celebrate the original inhabitants of the North American continent, who were here before explorers from Europe colonized America. The holiday will be marked on the calendar as the day before Thanksgiving, when schools are already closed.
The addition came on Monday via a unanimous board vote that followed months of debate over whether such a holiday should in fact replace Columbus Day. Students, faculty and administrators, and board members served on a committee that conducted surveys and did robust research into both possibilities.
Jordana Sobey, the board vice president, initially suggested having two separate holidays but later said she would have favored designating Columbus Day and Indigenous People's Day together as one school holiday. At the heart of the issue is the fact that Christopher Columbus did not actually discover the North American continent and the idea that his actions toward native peoples can today be construed as damaging and deadly.
"Focusing on these types of negative attributes does not necessarily negate someone's legacy, because times were different and what is acceptable now should not necessarily be used as a measure of a person's character centuries ago," Ms. Sobey said in written comments to the board. "However, if the goal of Columbus Day is to celebrate his discovery of America as has been historically the case -- it just isn't true. That part of his legacy is simply false and when we talk about the 'discovery' of the United States of America, I believe that it is equally important that we discuss that Indigenous peoples were already here, and that Native Americans are facing persecution and adversity as a direct result of the colonialist actions of the empires of Western Europe like those that funded Columbus's explorations and conquests."
Jeff Nichols, the Sag Harbor superintendent, recommended keeping Columbus Day and adding Indigenous People's Day, though on March 1 he recognized that "the downside of doing that . . . is that you potentially send a message to some that in not doing away with the holiday, you are devaluing their views. I don't want to convey that. I just believe that educating people about a time and a person and a holiday is probably our most valuable approach."
The district also formally added Juneteenth as a school holiday. It marks the date in 1865 that the last enslaved Black people were freed. Some months prior to the board's actions, New York State added Juneteenth as an official holiday.
The first day of the 2021-22 school year in Sag Harbor will be Thursday, Sept. 9. The holiday break is from Dec. 24 through Dec. 31, and spring break will be April 15 through 22, 2022. The last day of school will be June 24, 2022.