In a unanimous vote Monday night, the Appleton School District has adopted Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a school holiday.
Neither students nor staff will be at school on the third Monday of January anymore. The federally recognized holiday marks the birthday of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“The current policy allows for a parent to call their child out of school and they will be given an excused absence, but its still nonetheless an absence,” Rev. Alvin Dupree of Family First Ministries told WLUK. “The school district was not doing a good job observing this in the school, although that’s what was presented, it really wasn’t what was taking place in the schools.”
Appleton Area School District Superintendent Judy Baseman told WLUK-TV that previously students would do activities in the classroom to recognize the life and legacy of King.
“So rather than sending the kids out of the community or the day off, we felt, at the time, that it was more meaningful to have the kids engage in school activities,” Baseman told the news outlet. “This piece of recognizing it as a national holiday, not only for our students or staff, sends a message to our community that we really value that recognition as a school district,” said Baseman.
