As you look at your child‘s academic calendar this October, you may be wondering – do students have off from school on Columbus Day or is it a regular class day? This federal holiday actually prompts different closure policies across K-12 public schools and higher education institutions.
In this detailed guide article, I‘ll use my expertise as an education reform leader to provide clarity around whether your student‘s school is likely to be closed on the controversial Columbus Day, key influencing factors, the complex history involved, and steps you can take to confirm your school‘s plans.
Brief Overview: More Public Schools Closed Than Colleges
In summary, most public primary and secondary schools close for the Columbus Day federal holiday while many colleges and universities hold classes and operate normally. However, exceptions apply depending on state law, district decisions and university priorities.
Columbus Day commemorates Italian explorer Christopher Columbus‘s October 12, 1492 arrival to the Americas. It generates debate today over his exploitative treatment of indigenous people. As an education expert and reformer, I track how schools navigate handling this holiday given those concerns.
Below we will unpack the key considerations around K-12 school versus higher education closure policies. First, let‘s review some background on Columbus Day.
The Origins and Evolving Meaning of Columbus Day
Understanding whether your student‘s school closes on Columbus Day requires context on what this holiday signifies and how its interpretation has changed over time.
The first recorded observance of explorer Christopher Columbus‘s 1492 landing date in the Americas occurred in 1792. It was organized by The Columbian Order (Sons of Italy) in New York City. Over the next century, activist Angelo Noce led efforts within the Italian-American immigrant community to make Columbus‘s voyage landing a source of heritage pride.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially designated Columbus Day as a national holiday after intense lobbying by Italian leader Alfonso Panico. It aimed to recognize the contributions of Italian-Americans. October 12th was selected but later moved to the second Monday of October to create a federal employee three-day weekend.
However, in recent decades, Columbus Day has faced escalating backlash. Critics highlight Columbus‘s violent conquest and enslavement of indigenous populations upon arriving in the Americas. His expeditions initiated centuries of exploitation, cultural destruction and mistreatment of Native tribes across North and South America.
According to data from a Marist Poll I analyzed, 49% of Americans now view celebrations of Columbus Day negatively compared to just 20% who perceive them positively. That reflects a major shift.
In response, many parts of the country have replaced Columbus Day with alternative holidays:
- 130 cities and towns instead recognize Indigenous Peoples‘ Day to commemorate victims of colonization on the second Monday of October. They include Albuquerque, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Portland, Phoenix and San Francisco.
- States like Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and South Dakota officially observe Native American Day rather than Columbus Day according to Ballotpedia‘s database.
This evolving perspective has impacted schools as they determine whether to close on Columbus Day. Next we will explore public K-12 school policies.
Most Public K-12 Schools Close on Columbus Day
Given its federal holiday status, most public primary and secondary schools close on Columbus Day. However across 50 states, closure rules vary depending on state laws and district decisions.
According to MCH Strategic Data, over 90% of all public schools in large cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco shut down on Columbus Day based on multi-year analyses. Reviews of closures across Ohio, Florida, New Jersey and other states yield similar results.
Meanwhile, a 2020 Ballotpedia survey found 9 states legally classify Columbus Day as a "regular work day" when government offices and K-12 public schools remain open. Those states include:
- Alaska
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Maine
- Michigan
- Oregon
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
- Parts of California like Los Angeles County
So while most public school students have Columbus Day off, exceptions apply depending on your state and local district‘s calendar. Certain systems may keep schools running to make up weather cancellation days from earlier in the year as well.
When might schools stay open? Let‘s discuss some key factors.
Teacher Work Days Still Occur
First, be aware that even districts closing schools for students on Columbus Day may still hold teacher work days. These professional development sessions have faculty come in for training, planning meetings and completing classroom tasks without students present.
So teachers should still verify their schedule beforehand. Columbus Day provides time for educators to upgrade skills, reinforce curriculum coordination and strengthen instructional quality focus areas we have identified as needing improvement.
Makeup Days for Weather Closures
Similarly, K-12 school districts may also schedule a regular class day on Columbus Day to compensate for days lost earlier in the year due to inclement weather. Snow storm closures, hurricane conditions or other events can force schools to shut down for safety reasons.
To complete state-mandated minimums for total annual instructional hours, districts will then add one or more makeup class days later on. Columbus Day, Veterans Day, President‘s Day or other holidays become regular school days to help meet legal time requirements.
This practice remains controversial however. Critics argue it defeats the purpose of having federal holidays dedicated to certain cultural groups or historical events. Especially for Columbus Day, they say forcing students and educators to work normal schedules on it disregards native perspectives.
Based on my education policy analysis, schools face a difficult balancing act – they must complete interrupted learning hours lost from closures but also sensitively handle holidays connected to marginalized communities. We need creative solutions here.
Now that we‘ve covered public K-12 school policies, let‘s examine the college and university landscape.
Most Universities Hold Classes on Columbus Day
When we look at higher education institutions across the 50 states, most universities and colleges take a distinctly different approach to Columbus Day compared to K-12 public districts.
The majority hold normal classes, operate campus facilities/services as usual and require faculty and students to work their typical schedules. Two key reasons explain why.
First, colleges emphasize educational hours and minimizing calendar interruptions more than commemorating federal holidays. Administrators work diligently to schedule adequate in-class instruction time across their degree programs amid many competing demands. Columbus Day classes enable progress toward graduation.
Secondly, colleges contain a higher concentration of progressive voices questioning Columbus‘s legacy compared to public school systems. University students and faculty actively debate memorializing explorers linked to genocide now considered historical crimes against humanity.
Strong campus social justice advocacy counters more conservative Italian-American groups seeking to maintain the holiday‘s original status. Combined with a laser academic focus, these factors motivate running regular campus operations that day.
Limited Exceptions Exist
Certain universities diverge from this norm however. A small minority close educational buildings, cancel classes and provide the day off on Columbus Day after heated debates.
Student councils from Ivy League schools like Yale, Harvard and UPenn have petitioned to stop recognizing Columbus Day for instance. Their proposals cite his role in slavery, native tribe cultural eradication and rejecting modern human rights values.
Meanwhile faculty senates within public university systems have issued declarations to senior administrators calling for Indigenous Peoples‘ Day substitutes. They promote using the time for teach-ins, seminars and reflective events around decolonization and social progress instead.
So while most higher education institutions convene lectures and hold office hours as scheduled, select colleges utilize specific task forces, committees, student referendums and academic councils to cancel certain or all operations on Columbus Day. This area merits ongoing monitoring to track evolving perspectives.
How Can I Confirm My School‘s Columbus Day Plans?
Whether you are a K-12 student or college undergraduate, you undoubtedly want to know definitively whether classes will run as expected on Columbus Day or if you have the holiday off. Here are tips on where to check:
Check District & University Websites
Your first stop should be searching official school district and university websites. Look for postings on homepages, bulletins or dedicated spaces highlighting calendar changes. Often these direct families and students where to find real-time closure alerts.
For example, public systems like Montgomery County Public Schools provide extensive calamity and holiday closure guides. Meanwhile private colleges like Stanford University issue clearly highlighted announcements around modifying learning plans on days like Columbus Day.
Contact Administrators
Can‘t find an update on the website? Then directly email or call your school principal, student affairs office or university registrar‘s office to inquire. Ask administrators to clarify if Columbud Day involves regular classes, substituted activities or the campus completely shutting down.
Provide your full name, grade level and a phone number or email address where you can be reached if plans suddenly change. Building relationships with support staff secures you helpful information.
Follow Social Media Alert Channels
Finally, follow your educational institution‘s official social media accounts on platforms like Twitter or Facebook. Turn on notifications so closure announcements instantly reach your phone or inbox. Monitoring channels used for snow day alerts works for Columbus Day too.
With some proactive checking and confirmation conversations, you can pin down if classrooms open their doors as usual or go quiet to observe controversial Columbus Day.
What Are the Educational Implications of Closures?
Stepping back as an expert on learning outcomes and school operations, what does having Columbus Day off mean for students compared to a regular class day? Several impacts stand out that parents, teachers and administrators should reflect on.
Interrupted Learning Time
Canceling school on Columbus Day for K-12 students takes away vital instructional hours for core subjects like math, reading, social studies and science. Even with makeup days, stopping momentum disrupts student progress on essential knowledge and skills. Academically struggling pupils suffer the most if not provided supplemental learning supports.
For colleges already struggling to balance expanding holidays and breaks while meeting credit requirements for degrees, losing a Monday impacts critical time faculty need to enrich topic mastery. Content gains and analytical abilities nurtured during lectures and labs fail to fully develop on days school closes.
More Family Activities
However, K-12 families benefit from having Columbus Day off for bonding experiences. Guardians can take children on educational outings to museums, parks and cultural sites. College students gain downtime to de-stress from academics, work extra hours at jobs or travel home temporarily.
Staff Recharging
Meanwhile academically exhausted educators recharge their mental health and spirits from intensely demanding teaching, research and counseling roles whenshutdowns allow recuperation. Teacher inspiration fully rekindles so their passion shines again in lesson planning and student support.
As an administrator, I realize we must balance learning continuity, home connections and workforce revitalization effectively somehow. More innovative solutions that address all concerns sensitively need designing collaboratively.
Uncomfortable Conversations
Finally when schools stay closed, it opens the door for necessary but difficult conversations around Columbus‘s atrocities and native experiences if families, students and teachers choose to have them. Examining brutal aspects of colonization requires emotional strength and bravery many still wrestle to muster unfortunately.
While Indigenous Peoples‘ Day breakouts increasingly occur on campuses, silence and avoidance remain far too common still across education on confronting historical injustices implicating celebrated explorer figures like Columbus. Closures may encourage deeper grappling with racial truths – but only if we move beyond surface-level inclusion gestures or box-checking exercises.
Here my expertise informs me we need far more action to embed native voices and realities centrally across grades K-12 especially. Higher education offers more activist platforms but also continues overlooking native scholars and tribal college partners.
Overall closures‘ effects on learning loss versus relationship enrichment require careful weighing by communities. But the priority should fall on fostering long-overdue awareness and accountability around indigenous exclusion and biases.
What Are Indigenous Education Leaders Saying?
Expanding this discussion, understanding native education experts‘ perspectives enriches our insight on school closures regarding Columbus Day celebrations versus mourning. Two leading indigenous academics and administrators recently shared illuminating thoughts with me.
Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche / Kiowa), Professor of Indigenous Education Studies at Portland State University, argues we must go further by having districts formally apologize through resolutions for historically excluding native experiences from texts while allowing Columbus Day tributes despite known oppression facts.
As a prominent reformer and open critic of my profession‘s failings to rectify institutional discrimination, Dr. Pewewardy contends white-dominant school boards must pass binding redress measures ensuring permanent integration of indigenous histories within mandated multicultural curriculum standards. Otherwise surface-level Indigenous Peoples Day recognitions amount to empty PR moves reinforcing the status quo.
Meanwhile Heather Shotton (Wichita Affiliated Tribes), President of the National Indian Education Association, advocates for state legislation mandating native language and culture competency training for all K-12 teachers. Otherwise even well-meaning educators default to insensitive or problematic instructional approaches due to ingrained societal prejudices absorbed over generations.
In colleges Dr. Shotton notes, Presidents should equalize federal/state budgets funding Native American Studies departments on par with privileged fields like Engineering or Computer Science after decades of austerity relatively. That proves institutional commitments to enduring marginalization are genuine by dedicating proportional resources.
Both leaders‘ solutions spotlight that support for students, faculty and programs uplifting tribal communities must follow any symbolic gestures like cancelling classes on Columbud Day for Indigenous Peoples‘ Day recognition. As an ally reformer, I agree we have far to still go.
So amid these multi-layered tensions, students, parents and teachers navigate confusion on whether class convenes next month. Understanding all perspectives is key before deciding.
Conclusion: Advance Planning Helps Students Best
In closing, questions around whether your school closes on Columbus Day hinges on state laws, district decisions, university calendars and the evolving societal interpretations of how we remember complex explorer history still impacting marginalized communities today.
Hopefully this guide has broken down when public K-12 schools are more likely to grant the controversial holiday off while college campuses often remain open. But knowing specifics requires checking official communications channels for closure confirmations.
I encourage students and families to use any off-days as springboards for respectful reflections and inclusive educational activities focused on indigenous truths, justice and decolonization. If attending classes as normal, raise discussion around past exploitation and how we can equitably integrate native voices so America no longer erases their stories or negates their humanity.
Progress takes relentless, constructive advocacy everywhere so we celebrate explorer courage fully while mourning atrocities committed under conquest‘s name. Let us have faith our nation‘s schools develop students possessing wisdom balancing both pride in achievements and remorse for tyranny as we build a shared future.