School board won’t change meeting date so member can observe Eastern Orthodox Christmas

It’s an eye for an eye in Roselle Park, where a school board member observing a religious holiday on Tuesday can’t attend the annual reorganization meeting because some of her colleagues refused to change the date.

Jennifer Makar observes the Eastern Orthodox Christmas on January 7, but the ideologically divided Roselle Park Board of Education refused the change the date to accommodate her religious observance.

Another school board member, Chris Monroe, told the New Jersey Globe that he opposed changing the meeting date because he planned a trip, but his colleagues refused to accommodate him.

“I voted not to change because last year I was told no,” he said in an email obtained by the New Jersey Globe.  “I posed a question and was told, ‘No, that’s not possible, and you can’t mail in your vote either.’  It was a direct disrespect, and I was dismissed.  So, if it’s going to be like that across the board, then I’m standing firm on it.”

In his email, Monroe compared his race to Makar’s religious observance.

“If you feel attacked for religion, then I can say I feel attacked just for being Black,” he said.  “I can’t change my race like you can change religions.”