When I heard the school busses go by the house this morning, knowing it was the Martin Luther King holiday; my first thought was, “…how unusual that school should be open for MLK.”

Then I thought that since Sandy had most schools closed for up to a week, perhaps it was not so unusual after all…since those days were going to have to be made up somewhere.

But, you had to figure that some would be upset with schools being open.

The decision to open schools was not well received by the Rev. Ronald L. Owens, a member of the Black Ministers’ Council of New Jersey, who said “I think it’s motivated still by some people who have narrow minds, and it’s a shame.”

“This was an extraordinary circumstance and we tried to do the best we could to balance out where we were heading,” according to Ray Albano, Glen Rock’s interim superintendent.

In predominantly black school districts like Teaneck, Hackensack, Englewood and Paterson, the holiday is being observed. To offset days lost by Sandy, Paterson and Teaneck school districts scheduled classes on some days of spring break, school officials said.

On the decision to honor the holiday, Teaneck Superintendent Barbara Pinsak said, “We looked at all the days that the kids were off, and it wasn’t even discussed. Martin Luther King’s birthday is relevant and important to all people because of his actions in the world.”

I marvel at the reasoning behind keeping schools closed despite the possible shortfall in school days due to Sandy.

True, Martin Luther King’s actions were and are relevant…however wouldn’t they have been best learned about if school were in attendance.

I’m sure that if Rev. King were alive today, he’s have no problem with school being in session…placing emphasis on education as one way to assure subsequent generations of being able to achieve the equality of which he so eloquently spoke.

Educators and community leaders sometimes befuddle me.

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