The Randolph Board of Education has reversed its decision to remove the names of holidays from the school calendar following a contentious school board meeting.

Earlier this month, the board decided to remove the names of all holidays from the school calendar and replace the names with simply “day off.” The decision was made following controversy over Columbus Day and a nationwide push to change the name that holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day.

The 30-minute public comment portion of the school board meeting was extended several times Monday evening to allow members of the Randolph community to express their displeasure over the removal of the names.

"Stripping the traditional holidays on the school calendar is not only insulting, it sends the wrong message to our students. It lessens the meaning of the historical events,” said resident Jack Murray.

Many people wanted the holiday names to return, while others wanted to see different names.

"I recommend to change the name of Columbus Day to Italian American Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day. Ultimately each community will celebrate,” said Hazel Ball.

Caitlyn Sebastian, a 2016 Randolph High School graduate, left the meeting early after seeing attendees booing those they disagreed with. She said that the student body should have been there.

"They're a part of the town, they're the ones being taught, it's on their calendar. It's not somebody’s whose kids graduated 20 years ago who should have somebody's voice in the forefront. It should be your voice because you're being taught in the schools today,” she said.

Many members of the community called on the school board members to resign because they said that the original decision to remove the names was done without thought and lacked transparency.

The school board did decide to put the issues of holiday names up for a public vote in the next local election.