Juneteenth, or June 19th, is Black Independence Day.  It is one of 11 official federal holidays and 24 states and wannabe state DC have officially made June 19th a state holiday.  Connecticut will be number 25 when it becomes an official holiday here in 2023.

However, despite its now lofty status federally and among half of the states of the U.S.A., Hartford Public Schools is not fully onboard with the celebration.

During the same Board meeting at which members finalized their first equity policy, and after months of meetings concerning diversity in teacher hiring, they were presented with a district proposal on celebrating Juneteenth as a school holiday, not a district holiday, which means all students would have the day off, but teachers would be excluded from the celebration, unless they wanted to use vacation time.  If this was a “red state,” CNN would be booking rooms at the Hartford Hilton for the time needed to do a 3-part series on the issue.

This bit of cultural incompetency and tone deafness on the part of HPS is mind numbing.  It follows the ignorance of opponents of state bills around the country that were being proposed in 2022 which would create funding to allow Juneteenth to become a state holiday.  These opponents stated, “not enough people know about the holiday to make the effort worthwhile.”  Jesus, I’m from Maine, where there are like 3 black people, and I’ve been aware of the date for years.

The State of Connecticut did not make the new Juneteenth holiday mandatory for schools, as is the case with banks and credit unions.  Choosing to close schools in celebration of Juneteenth is an individual district decision, a board of education decision, for those free-thinking boards.

However, “by law, each local and regional board of education that remains open on a legal state holiday must hold a suitable educational program in observance of the holiday.”  When the state closed for Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day this year, teachers remained in school without students and had a full day professional development session.

The Superintendent’s Chief of Office of Talent and Management, Tiffani Curtis, told the Board that on advice of counsel, the day should be made as a “student holiday” only.  Ms. Curtis stated that making Juneteenth a district wide holiday would mean that the district would have to open negotiations with each union involved with HPS employees.  This would result in a “significant” cost to the district.

Board Members Ledger and Escribano were the only Board members present at the meeting who spoke in favor of a district wide holiday, however Members Johnson and Escribano were both for adopting the holiday as stated so that at least recognition of the day could be made until the financial impact on the district could be ascertained.

This policy, if presented to the Board for a vote as is, would pit a Board which has never voted down a proposal, policy, or contract emanating from the Superintendent’s office, against a large African-American community, and a teacher population of which nearly 30% are teachers of color.  In fact, 8 of 9 Board members are people of color.

It took nearly 10 years for everyone to get on board with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Hopefully the current leadership of HPS and the Board will not take that long to respect June 19th.