# Are there any school districts in the US that have Columbus Day off? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233 "2005-10-07T19:29:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/1 "2005-10-07T19:29:40Z")
Columbus Day is coming up and I’ve noticed [some references in articles on the net](http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/entertainment/article.adp?id=20051006214009990009) to schoolchildren having no classes on that day. This is something I’m not familiar with. When I was going to school, I always found Columbus Day to be an annoying tease of a holiday. The post office was closed, the libraries were closed, banks were closed; but where I went to school (California and the state of Washington), schools remained open. In terms of getting the maximum number of days off from school, was I short-changed? Did any of the Dopers here have Columbus Day off? Where in the U.S. are schools closed at that day? ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/2 "2005-10-07T19:45:07Z")
Judging from the traffic heading north early this afternoon, Illinois kids won’t be in school on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/3 "2005-10-07T19:50:02Z")
Back when I was a young’un, the Cleveland public schools (and many of the private ones as well) had Columbus Day off. My (Catholic) high school originally had it off, but that day off was changed by popular demand to St. Patrick’s Day. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/4 "2005-10-07T19:52:42Z")
You better believe that the New York City schools are closed for Columbus Day! ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/5 "2005-10-07T19:53:42Z")
Kids in at the very least Hoboken, NJ won’t have school either. I also won’t have work, and my college in Newark is also closed. YAY! Go C.C. you, European slave trading, SOB! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/6 "2005-10-07T20:02:25Z")
They’re out in Boston, too. When I was going to high school in Columbus itself, we didn’t have Columbus Day off, though. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/7 "2005-10-07T20:06:41Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Kids in at the very least Hoboken, NJ won’t have school either. I also won’t have work, and my college in Newark is also closed. YAY! > > Go C.C. you, European slave trading, SOB! Of course, the [city of Berkeley, California](http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/) celebrates it as “Indigenous People’s Day”. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/8 "2005-10-07T20:07:39Z")
The Round Rock (Texas) ISD isn’t having classes on Monday, but the staff (including the English-teachin’ cavewoman) have meetings and such. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/9 "2005-10-07T20:11:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My (Catholic) high school originally had it off, but that day off was changed by popular demand to St. Patrick’s Day. You’d think teachers would want the day _after_ St. Patty’s Day… Philadelphia public schools have off. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/10 "2005-10-07T21:19:49Z")
I don’t remember Albuquerque public schools giving Columbus Day off. They had gone to a two-day fall break (started when I was in high school) which appear to sometimes include Columbus Day, but I think the real purpose was to give some time off for the balloon fiesta. Now, I swear that when it started it was the Thursday and Friday of the first full week of October, but I don’t have a calendar from five or six years ago and I can’t find one archived. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/11 "2005-10-07T21:27:52Z")
Scranton School District checking in. No school. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/12 "2005-10-07T21:30:55Z")
And in Illinois you get Polaski day off too 🆒 You remember him, don’t you? Casimir??? Anybody else get that day off? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/13 "2005-10-07T21:32:26Z")
I’ve always thought of it as a Yankee thing. South Carolina schools are definately open (and I can assure you, so are the libraries.) Mostly here we buy mattresses on Columbus Day. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/14 "2005-10-07T21:39:52Z")
My kids will be in school, but apparently it’s a bank holiday and all the military and GS types on the base where I work have it as a holiday. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/15 "2005-10-07T21:40:20Z")
Oddly enough, Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools don’t get it off. There’s a replica of the Santa Maria in Columbus. ---
**Author:** ![dlack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@dlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlack)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/16 "2005-10-07T21:43:26Z")
Upstate New York, school’s out. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/17 "2005-10-07T21:53:48Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > And in Illinois you get Polaski day off too 🆒 You remember him, don’t you? Casimir??? Anybody else get that day off? Nitpick, it’s Pulaski. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/18 "2005-10-07T21:59:52Z")
It is a “non-instructional day” in the Natomas Unified School District. The kids get the day off, but teachers are in-service. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/19 "2005-10-07T22:44:05Z")
Most, if not all, of the districts in Connecticut closed on Columbus Day. I was a little thrown off when I moved to North Carolina and we had to go to school on that day. I felt so cheated! ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233/20 "2005-10-07T22:56:40Z")
My kids had it off when we lived in NJ, as did I. I can’t remember if they had off in central Pennsylvania. They don’t have it off here, a little less than an hour north of San Francisco, CA. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-school-districts-in-the-us-that-have-columbus-day-off/325233.md?page=2)