Pittsfield Public Schools Says Goodbye to Columbus Day

According to an iBerkshires.com story, published last week, The Pittsfield Public School Committee was considering joining a growing number of institutions and organizations  across the country in changing the name of the Columbus Day holiday to Indigenous People Day. With the release of Pittsfield Public Schools 2018-2019 Calendar on their website this morning, it has been made official.

The second Monday in October, which falls on the 8th in 2018, will continue to be a day off, as it has been a recognized federal holiday since 1937, but the wording on the calendar is now in celebration of the Native Americans of this country, rather than Christopher Columbus, who history has proven did not discover the United States, nor was even the first European explorer to make it here.

"I've come to realize really, there is nothing to honor about this man. The only thing I can come up with as a positive is I get a day off from the bank,"

 

School Committee Daniel Elias, via iBerkshires.com

Well here were are hundreds of years later and we're finally getting things right. I couldn't be prouder of the city's public school system. We're joining thousands of other organizations in choosing not to glorify a guy who basically raped and pillaged the first culture to inhabit this land and changed the name of a holiday is the least we can do to recognize this.

"We are here now and we know what we know from history, it seems very appropriate"

Jake McCandless, Superintendept of Pittsfield Public Schools via iBerkshires.com