Indigenous Peoples Day To Be Recognized By Oak Park Elementary School District

OAK PARK, IL — Oak Park Elementary School District 97 has achieved a major milestone by choosing to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on October 9 . School officials unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to observe Indigenous Peoples Day in conjunction with Columbus Day.

The school's resolution comes on the heels of the village's recent decision to recognize Indigenous People's Day on October 12 this year. Columbus Day is also observed on that day, but for many people Christopher Columbus's history of rape, murder, and enslavement of America's indigenous people makes that observance insulting and unwelcome. The aim of Indigenous Peoples Day is to honor those people's history and to make the public aware of Columbus's inhumane treatment of them.

This subject was brought up at a previous school board meeting to discuss the matter. Many school officials supported changing the name of Columbus Day — a"no attendance day" in District 97 on on October 9— because of the implications associated with Columbus. In an email from District spokesperson Chris Jasculca, text of the motion states that the board wished to honor the "contributions, cultures, and dignity of indigenous peoples."

Logistical and legal issues also came up at that meeting, since Columbus Day is a legal national holiday and school distric officials believe that it's against school policy to rename a designated day off. Ultimately, the school did not rename the day off as it was part of the calendar year that was approved in August of 2016. The approved motion states, "This motion does not replace Columbus Day due to limitations in the Illinois School Code. "

What remains to be seen is if Indigenous Peoples Day replace Columbus Day on the school calendar in Oak Park District 97 next year.

>>Oak Park Elementary School District 97 via GoogleMaps