RANDOLPH – First it was a brouhaha over Columbus Day; now it’s Rosh Hashanah.

This can’t be the diversity the local school board wants.

Less than a year after the board of education in this Morris County town eliminated – and then restored – Columbus Day as an official school holiday, a similar dispute has arisen over Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the Jewish New Year.

This is a two-day holiday occurring at varying times in the fall; this year from Sept. 25-Sept. 27, beginning and ending at sundown.

Many public schools are closed for both days, but in Randolph this year, schools will close only for the first day of the holiday. The board said it made the change after surveying the community and to incorporate all holidays into a school year that requires at least 180-days of teaching.

In many ways, this is another head-scratching decision by a board that caused an uproar by initially stripping Columbus Day from the calendar. That prompted angry crowds at meetings and criticism from many, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli who incorporated the Randolph saga into his stump speech.

Critics last year accused the board of caving to “political correctness” and insulting the contributions of Italian-Americans.

The tone was quite similar at a meeting three weeks ago when a number of speakers said the board was marginalizing Jewish residents and showing intolerance to a minority faith. A resolution to restore the two-day holiday was introduced at the end of the meeting, but failed, getting only two votes.

Just today, the criticism of the board ratcheted up a bit when Morris County Commissioner Deborah Smith released a lengthy statement that, among other things, urged a large crowd to protest the decision at the board’s next meeting on Feb. 15.

Broadly speaking, it is unusual for a county commissioner, or before that a freeholder, to publicly criticize a school board.

“… Randolph Township’s history is Jewish history in America – and the board apparently doesn’t realize that,” Smith wrote. “Maybe it is because history is no longer an important subject in schools these days.

“However as a Jew, I can not sit idle as that important fact of life in Randolph Township is so callously erased.”

Smith’s statement also mentions local history – history that makes the school board’s action more puzzling to grasp.

As Smith points out, Randolph has had a long – and admirable – history of respect for the Jewish community. Back a few generations ago when many hotels and resorts refused to accept Jewish guests, a number of what at the time were called “Jewish resorts” opened and flourished in Randolph. The most famous of which was probably the Saltz Hotel in the Mount Freedom section.

“Randolph Township became a retreat for Jews everywhere, arguably second only to the Catskills,” Smith wrote, adding that over time Randolph grew from a vacation spot for Jewish families to a permanent home. And she said it was the township’s Jewish community that helped develop the town and by extension, the school system.

“That is why the observance of Rosh Hashanah has become so important on the Randolph Township school calendar and why it must remain,” Smith said in encouraging all who embrace “America and its history” to attend the Feb. 15 meeting.