My parents came to the United States from Italy in search of opportunities and for the promise of what America had to offer.  For them and for so many others, that search and that promise was exemplified by Christopher Columbus and memorialized by the Columbus Day Holiday.  The spirit my parents sought and their heritage still lives on in millions of Italian Americans today, many of whom live right here within the Randolph community.

It should be no surprise then as a first-generation Italian American, and as a parent who has children in Randolph Schools, I am thoroughly insulted that the Randolph Board of Education (BOE) has changed Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day.  The way in which the BOE passed the resolution was equally nefarious.  It was not on their May 13^th agenda and there was no public discussion.  We Italian Americans, we Randolph’s taxpayers, we parents of Randolph’s students, had no say whatsoever.