The Joint School Committee’s decision to do away with the Good Friday vacation day next year has drawn ire from residents in all three towns, and Mattapoisett’s School Committee was another opportunity for public discussion.

The joint committee made the choice at its April meeting, with some members saying that public schools should not recognize religious holidays.

On Monday night, Mattapoisett School Committee Chair James Higgins said he voted with the majority, not by raising his hand but by saying nothing.

“I didn’t have a lot of thought going in prior to the vote,” said Higgins.

Higgins said he didn’t think the Christian religions holidays should be changed to be fair to other religions and “politically correct.”

“We, as a School Committee, in my opinion, were over sensitive,” he said.

The Good Friday vote was part of a larger discussion on the school 2014-15 school calendar, and therefore, was not a separate item on the agenda. Higgins admitted to being confused about the overall discussion about half and full-day vacations for students.

“There was not a lot of time to think about the social ramifications, the public ramifications of that vote,” Higgins said.

Committee member James Muse disagreed. He voted in favor of the Good Friday change.

“I didn’t vote for political correctness,” said Muse. “This is a public school. I don’t think it is appropriate. It should be everyone’s choice to attend or not attend for all of the various holidays.”

Mattapoisett resident Thomas Alden was unhappy with the vote and thought it should have been more clear that the topic would be discussed at the joint meeting.

“If something like this can happen to Good Friday, what if someone is offended by the Pledge of Allegiance?” he asked. “Did the public have input to such a meeting?”

Both Higgins and Muse said the meeting was open and democratic.

“It was no agenda of any single town or individual,” said Muse. “It was discussed and did take place in a public meeting.”

Alden said there was not enough “pre-discussion” on the topic and that a petition around town already had 500 signatures of people calling for another vote.

Higgins said he would probably take that action at the next Joint meeting in May.