Delegate Assembly Votes Support for Military Vets

Delegate Assembly Votes Support for Military Vets

NJSBA’s Delegate Assembly overwhelmingly adopted policy at its Nov. 17 meeting in Plainsboro that confirms its belief that local school districts should make students aware of the contributions of the nation’s military veterans and the significance of Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Submitted by the Sayreville Board of Education, the proposal is intended to clarify issues that arose earlier this year, when NJSBA supported legislation (A-17/S-9). Those bills would have eliminated numerous state-imposed requirements placed on local school districts, including mandatory classroom observances preceding Veterans Day and Memorial Day, as well as mandated observances of Columbus Day, Commodore Barry Day, and others. The legislation was proposed in response to recommendations from the state Education Mandate Review Study Commission, which included representatives from NJSBA, the NJEA, Garden State Coalition of Schools, and other organizations.

In response to concerns by veterans’ groups, Gov. Corzine conditionally vetoed the bill in February, striking out the provisions concerning the holidays.

Some veterans’ groups, however, mistook NJSBA’s support for local discretion over classroom activities as being insensitive to the contributions of the nation’s military veterans.

Clarifying Resolution “Everyone on the Sayreville Board of Education understands that NJSBA is not anti-veteran,” said Sayreville school board president Michael Macagnone, a retired U.S. Air Force major, who came to the Delegate Assembly in uniform. “Our resolution still supports school districts having the discretion to decide which holidays should be celebrated. However, it also states that NJSBA believes that Veterans Day and Memorial Day should be taught in our public schools since, without the efforts and sacrifices of veterans, we would not have a free public education among other liberties we enjoy.”

Stated Macagnone, “We live in a state with five major military installations and a number of National Guard armories, a state which tens of thousands more veterans call home. Several New Jersey units are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. I will give everyone in this room an opportunity to do something for a veteran today.”

The resolution passed 117-1. The Assembly recognized more than a dozen of the delegates who were also military veterans.

Sayreville school board president Michael Macagnone, a retired U.S. Air Force major, speaks at the Nov. 17 Delegate Assembly.