The ANNOTICO Report

News Italia Press, an Italian news service featured an article on
Sayreville, NJ school district considering eliminating Columbus Day as a
School Holiday.Both Acting Superintendent of Schools Frank Alfano and
Borough Councilman John Melillo, were interviewed for the article.

Unless, NIAF, OSIA, or UNICO, and hopefully ALL Three, Perhaps through
CARRES, are willing to build a Strong Coalition NOT Only with Italian
American organizations, BUT with ALL Organizations with Columbus in their Name
(such as Knights of Columbus) and all US Cities named after Columbus, and
show an Intimidating Solidarity, we will   continue fighting this guerilla
war, on a variety of fronts, (like that below, and the Denver Parade) that
will drain our limited resources, and that we Can Not win. Therefore
"Goodbye Columbus". :)

Home News Tribune
A Gannett/USA Today Newspaper
Serving Central New Jersey
By Arielle Levin Baker
Staff Writer
April 28, 2005

SAYREVILLE — The possibility that Sayreville pupils might have school on
Columbus Day next year drew objections from members of the Knights of
Columbus and a borough councilman of Italian descent.

And then it brought acting Superintendent of Schools Frank Alfano an
unexpected phone call.

"I was just a little startled that the guy was calling from Italy," Alfano
said. "I thought there was something wrong with one of my long-lost
relatives."

In fact, the call came from News Italia Press, an Italian news service that
featured an article on Sayreville's pending school calendar on its Web site
last week. Both Alfano and Borough Councilman John Melillo, who spoke at a
school board meeting against eliminating the holiday, were interviewed for
the article.

"I'm pleased to know that people thousands of miles away are interested in
what happens in Sayreville," Melillo said, though he acknowledged he did
not read the article because he does not speak Italian.

"God only knows what they printed in there," he said.

The school board resolved the calendar dispute Tuesday night, for now at
least. Members adopted a 2005-2006 calendar that includes a day off for
Columbus Day.

But the issue may surface again next year, Alfano said, when officials
might consider eliminating several holidays — and part of spring break — to
end the 2006-2007 school year early enough to begin construction for
renovation and expansion of the high school.

If that happens, Melillo said he will continue his objections.

The board initially considered dropping the Columbus Day holiday as part of
a plan by member Curtis Clark III aimed at keeping school from running into
late June, when conditions in the high school become almost unbearable,
Clark said.

Alfano said the decision to avoid changing next year's schedule had more to
do with not inconveniencing teachers who may have already made plans.

But with school running into late June each year, a problem exacerbated by
snow days that further delays graduation, Alfano said the district should
work to end school earlier — something he said he explained to the Italian
news service.

"I said I'm not opposed to Columbus, don't get the wrong idea," Alfano
said. "It's just we had to pick days in the calendar and all of a sudden,
it's become a major issue."

He said the Italian reporter asked if he was from Italy or Italian. Alfano
answered that he was from New Jersey and American, but allowed that his
family was from Naples.

Melillo, whose grandparents were born in Teora, a hamlet near Naples, said
he worried that Americans were forgetting the importance of Columbus and
European roots.

"The heritage is being lost, maybe, in favor of other heritages and other
cultures and other religions," he said. "I'm not saying that anyone should
be in the forefront, but we don't want to be in the background. We don't
want to be behind anybody, we want to be equal in stature."

Arielle Levin Becker: (732) 565-7205; << abecker@thnt.com >>
Contributing:  Staff writer : Laurie Granieri

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article?AID=/20050428/NEWS/504280411/1001