CLN drops Juneteenth holiday

HAYDEN — The Community Library Network will no longer observe Juneteenth, the state and federally recognized holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States.

Chair Rachelle Ottosen, Vice Chair Tom Hanley and Trustee Tim Plass voted in favor of dropping Juneteenth as the board updated the holiday section of the network's personnel policy Thursday during a regular meeting at the Hayden Library. Juneteenth, or June 19, was added to the network's calendar last year following President Joe Biden's 2021 signing of a bill passed by Congress to reserve the day as a federal holiday.

The motion, which traded the Juneteenth holiday for a day off the day after Thanksgiving, was opposed by Trustees Vanessa Robinson and Katie Blank and criticized by members of the public as being racially motivated.

"So as not to overburden the budget, last in is first out, so I propose to exchange the extra day for Thanksgiving with the last date that was added, which is Juneteenth,” Ottosen said. "CLN’s only celebrated that once.”

Ottosen, who put the item on the agenda, said staff shouldn’t be prevented from spending Thanksgiving with their families just because they have to work the next day and can’t travel.

“Some people have impuned our motives, and I totally disagree," Ottosen said. "I just want to say that I’m 1,000% behind celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We homeschooled and we spent at least enough time on that day to discuss Martin Luther King, read a book about him.”

She said King was a great man.

“He was flawed, and hopefully he repented, but he was a great man and he did great things for America,” Ottosen said. “He made America a much better place with love, peace, unity and dignity, and like I said, I totally respect and admire him.”

Blank was taken aback when she saw the item on the agenda.

“First of all, taking Juneteenth off is going to be seen as racially motivated," she said. "It’s absolutely wrong."

She said she was sure Juneteenth was added to the holiday calendar by an unanimous vote of the CLN board, a move that was also requested by staff. 

The decision to remove Juneteenth as a holiday and instead add the day after Thanksgiving was not requested by staff.

Library Director Alexa Eccles pointed out the discussion was to be on Personnel Policy 5.3.6 Holidays, and the day after Thanksgiving is not a holiday. She recommended the board create a "Thanksgiving Friday" or "Thanksgiving Travel Day" in the same vein as Easter. Libraries are closed Easter Sunday, although it is not a paid holiday.

She said it’s important to let staff know they are the same as all other state employees, rather than treating the library district's 103 staff differently.

"What you’re saying by making this motion is that you feel differently than the rest of the state and government workers in the state that we do not get the designated holidays, that we get less or, again, a different set of standards, a different set of holidays, which, to me, sounds disparate, which is a legal term, which legal counsel can talk about," Eccles said.

Assistant Library Director Lindsey Miller-Escarfuller said adding the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday will be three days part-time staff won’t earn pay in November, “which is a very rough part of the year to have a shorter, smaller paycheck.”

“If you can spread that day out into June, that makes their livelihood a lot easier,” Miller-Escarfuller said.

Another piece to consider is that not everyone has wonderful, lovely family or holiday experiences, Miller-Escarfuller said.

“You’re assuming that everyone wants two days off to be with family, when in fact they might really want to go to work on Friday and be with their work family,” she said.

During public comment, Josiah Mannion of Coeur d'Alene questioned how the board decided Juneteenth was a disposable federal holiday, to be replaced with a non-federal holiday as a day staff will take off.

“If you’re trying to convince me that the driving force behind the board majority is not patriarchal white Christian nationalism, getting rid of the honoring of Juneteenth as a federal national holiday is absolutely not going to do it," he said.

He said he can only conclude that the board majority believes the holiday that honors Black freedom is disposable.

"Y’all gotta know that no matter how hard you try to frame it in colorblind official language, that stuff is racist to its core and it exposes your racist bones," he said.