Marion School Committee member Christine Winters has condemned a decision that eliminated Good Friday as a day off for students.

“I’m personally disappointed with the way it was handled,” Winters said at the committee’s April 2 meeting. “I think many of us weren’t aware that day was going to be up for any particular discussion.”

At last week's Joint School Committee meeting, Winters voted against the move, which was part of a larger debate about how to deal with full and half-day vacations for students.

Marion School Committee members are expected to ask that the Joint School Committe vote be overturned. Member Christine Marcolini, who is also on the Joint School Committee, voted against the motion as well.

Member Jay Pateakos said he would would have voted against the decision as well.

According to Marcolini, parents and staff should have been consulted beforehand.

“Taking away the Good Friday holiday was discussed at length without a lot of investigation on what the impact would be,” said Marcolini.

She asked Superintendent Doug White if the committee had ever reversed a vote before.

White said he would check the committee's bylaws to see if that was possible.

Committee members urged residents to attend that meeting to express their opinions.

One resident, Joe Napoli, spoke out against the decision at Marion’s meeting.

Napoli, a former ORR School Committee member, said making Good Friday a school day was attempted before.

“We tried that shoe on before, and it didn’t work well at all. The community was up in arms,” Napoli said. “I’d like to know what the rationale was for leaving [school] open during Good Friday.”

Napoli added that holding classes on that day increased the substitute teacher budget more than expected.

Winters said that issue should be looked at closely.

“I don’t know if we can safely open a building because it wasn’t put out to the staff and parents,” she said. “It’s not a substantial educational day when you have half the students out and a lot of substitute teachers.”

The discussion to hold classes on Good Friday was suggested by Rochester School Committee members. At the joint meeting, members said singling out one religious holiday for a day off had no place in a public school.

Napoli disagreed.

“We’ve been in existence as a nation for 237 years I think. Our country was founded on a Christian/Judeo system, and it’s worked really well for us,” he said. “This serves to alienate the community.”