Today started like most mornings, a call from Bob saying, “You should blog about…” and me saying back, “You know how to write.” This morning Bob’s complaint was that schools are open on Veterans Day and that schools were closed part of last week for the annual NJEA Convention.

Bob went on a rant about how he remembers when he was a kid school was closed and how his mother used to drag him off to some Veterans Day celebration somewhere. Honestly, I was only half listening.

I couldn’t remember if I had off from school for Veterans Day as a kid, so I called my mother. She absolutely, positively remembers school was closed for my brother, sister and me on Veterans Day. Since arguing with my mother is a pointless exercise, it’s official, school was closed on Veterans Day when I was a kid.

After much discussion, and me asking Bob why he hasn’t typed anything for today’s blog, the bottom line, at least for us, is that it is incredibly disrespectful that teachers could be sure schools would be closed so they could be one of only three state teacher unions in the country to hold their annual convention during the school year and then have schools open on an important Federal Holiday – Veterans Day.

Why not simply keep schools closed one more day to honor our veterans? Is the NJEA afraid teachers would not be paid if schools were closed today? They shouldn’t be afraid because teachers, by law, get paid for attending the annual convention of the New Jersey Education Association.

Whatever the case, unlike the NJEA, we at the Bob and Steve Show believe that if schools can be closed for a convention they should be closed on Veterans Day.

We choose to remember the reason for the day. As explained on the U.S. Department of Defense website “Veterans Day honors all of those who have served the country in war or peace — dead or alive — although it’s largely intended to thank living veterans for their sacrifices.”

On this Veterans Day, and every day, we thank all veterans for their service.