“Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” Carlyle told FoxNews.com. “It’s not a holiday that’s generally associated with a religion.” What’s worse, Carlyle called the renaming of the holiday insulting and “unfair” to Irish Catholic students for whom the holiday might have special meaning.
A Massachusetts school principal is renaming “St. Patrick’s Day” with “O’Green Day” in an effort to be “inclusive and diverse,” while some parents are blasting the decision as “stupid” and illogical.
Lisa Curtin, principal of the Soule Road School in Wilbraham, Mass., decided to change the name to ease discomfort that some students might have in celebrating St. Patrick’s Day or Valentine’s Day — which last month was renamed to “Caring and Kindness Day,” according to parents with children in the school.
The St. Patrick’s Day holiday falls on a Saturday this year, but students at the elementary school will still be encouraged to wear green during class on Friday and eat green vegetables in the cafeteria.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Dina LaMotte, whose daughter is a fifth-grader at the school. “What’s next, birthdays?”
“It should be either in or out,” added Wilbraham resident Theresa Finnegan. “They’re still celebrating it by calling it a different name, which makes no sense to me. It’s totally illogical.
“Those two holidays are holidays that have become over the years very secular in nature,” she said.
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