Fulton County Schools adjusted its work calendar to recognize the new federal holiday Juneteenth.

June 19 marks the anniversary of the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued more than two years before, reached enslaved people in Texas.

President Joe Biden signed legislation earlier this year declaring the day a holiday.

While most school system employees do not work during that part of June, there are 1,630 Fulton employees who do. The school board on Thursday voted to reduce the number of annual work days for those employees from 235 days a year to 234 in order to recognize the new holiday.

The Fulton school district’s action is in line with other employers, including Atlanta Public Schools, which announced previously that it also would make Juneteenth a district holiday.

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Rose Scott signals as Closer Look goes on air in the WABE studio. An Atlanta resident left WABE a $3 million donation, a boost after WABE lost $1.9 million in annual funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. (Ben Gray / AJC file)

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