Killjoys cancelling Halloween--is this the new normal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Halloween is the evening of October 31st. Your public school did not “cancel Halloween.”

BS. For many decades it has been the practice of American public schools to celebrate Halloween in some fashion. When Halloween falls on a weekend they do it on a Friday. You know that, and everyone else does too.

Eh, no. My kid did virtual K last year. I wasn't assuming his school would do anything with Halloween falling on a weekend. And that's ok because school isn't where the fun happens.

I do think kids are going to push the boundaries on this one though. What if a kid dresses up as one of the several ghost and werewolf characters from Harry Potter, for instance?

[Anonymous]

We have Halloween parties scheduled at our elementary school, public library, town rec center, and country cub. So glad to have left DC!

[Anonymous]

My kids school is doing an outdoor costume parade (weather permitting.) Parents and family are invited! Afterwards they’re having crafts and a PTA provided snack in the classroom—no parents allowed.

It sounds good to me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Halloween is the evening of October 31st. Your public school did not “cancel Halloween.”

BS. For many decades it has been the practice of American public schools to celebrate Halloween in some fashion. When Halloween falls on a weekend they do it on a Friday. You know that, and everyone else does too.

DP. No, really. Halloween will still be on October 31, and kids can still go trick-or-treating (if their parents allow it and don't make them go to some "trunk-or-treat" event in a parking lot instead).

For many decades it was also the practice of American public schools to celebrate Christmas in some fashion, but now that's much less common. Christmas has nonetheless somehow managed to maintain itself on December 25.

I dunno. I'm 43 and never celebrated Christmas in any fashion in public school. This seems like a strawman argument. Halloween is really not a religious holiday, and in fact it's one of the few distinctively American shared secular rituals we have. I'm less worried about Halloween's survival than I am about kids having fun and growing up with the sense that they are in some way a part of a shared culture. We are losing that in this country and you can see the results all around us. It's a troublesome trend. (And no I am not conservative; I'm as liberal as they come).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Halloween is the evening of October 31st. Your public school did not “cancel Halloween.”

BS. For many decades it has been the practice of American public schools to celebrate Halloween in some fashion. When Halloween falls on a weekend they do it on a Friday. You know that, and everyone else does too.

DP. No, really. Halloween will still be on October 31, and kids can still go trick-or-treating (if their parents allow it and don't make them go to some "trunk-or-treat" event in a parking lot instead).

For many decades it was also the practice of American public schools to celebrate Christmas in some fashion, but now that's much less common. Christmas has nonetheless somehow managed to maintain itself on December 25.

I dunno. I'm 43 and never celebrated Christmas in any fashion in public school. This seems like a strawman argument. Halloween is really not a religious holiday, and in fact it's one of the few distinctively American shared secular rituals we have. I'm less worried about Halloween's survival than I am about kids having fun and growing up with the sense that they are in some way a part of a shared culture. We are losing that in this country and you can see the results all around us. It's a troublesome trend. (And no I am not conservative; I'm as liberal as they come).

You may believe that Halloween is not a religious holiday, but plenty of other people believe that Halloween IS a religious holiday.

For that matter, plenty of people also believe that Christmas is not a religious holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Halloween is the evening of October 31st. Your public school did not “cancel Halloween.”

BS. For many decades it has been the practice of American public schools to celebrate Halloween in some fashion. When Halloween falls on a weekend they do it on a Friday. You know that, and everyone else does too.

DP. No, really. Halloween will still be on October 31, and kids can still go trick-or-treating (if their parents allow it and don't make them go to some "trunk-or-treat" event in a parking lot instead).

For many decades it was also the practice of American public schools to celebrate Christmas in some fashion, but now that's much less common. Christmas has nonetheless somehow managed to maintain itself on December 25.

I dunno. I'm 43 and never celebrated Christmas in any fashion in public school. This seems like a strawman argument. Halloween is really not a religious holiday, and in fact it's one of the few distinctively American shared secular rituals we have. I'm less worried about Halloween's survival than I am about kids having fun and growing up with the sense that they are in some way a part of a shared culture. We are losing that in this country and you can see the results all around us. It's a troublesome trend. (And no I am not conservative; I'm as liberal as they come).

If you grew up without in public schools (like I did), then why are you afraid of losing the shared culture? Halloween was part of your culture without the reinforcement from school. I grew up celebrating Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and the Fourth of July, but not at school. That doesn't disconnect me from a common American culture that includes all those things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Equity.. nope. We are not doing Halloween because of covid. I don't need your kid bringing covid to me when I'm not sending my kids to in person school. Some families don't celebrate halloween and our ES would have a separate room for them to read in and it was pretty unfair vs. doing a general fall party. You don't need to dress up in school. Its kida silly.

At our school it is due to Equity.

Has nothing to do with Covid. Our Principal got rid of Halloween over 5 years ago.

Teachers can’t read books about Halloween or talk about the holiday. Ever.

I am actually an immigrant, who came here as a young child and I LOVE Halloween. My relatives in another country also live the American tradition of Halloween.

Celebrating at school is fun and a shared experience for kids in this country.

I think it stinks that schools are getting rid of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This kind of thing drives me crazy because dressing up isn’t necessarily free. How is it equity to add one more costume request to a family budget?

It can be free. Growing up in the 80’s, most of us made homemade costumes. It was fun, free, and creative. Even if you didn’t plan anything, you could put on jeans and some sort of top to be a hippy/cowboy/etc. We can make homemade costumes. We can donate costumes. There are lots of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Halloween is the evening of October 31st. Your public school did not “cancel Halloween.”

BS. For many decades it has been the practice of American public schools to celebrate Halloween in some fashion. When Halloween falls on a weekend they do it on a Friday. You know that, and everyone else does too.

DP. No, really. Halloween will still be on October 31, and kids can still go trick-or-treating (if their parents allow it and don't make them go to some "trunk-or-treat" event in a parking lot instead).

For many decades it was also the practice of American public schools to celebrate Christmas in some fashion, but now that's much less common. Christmas has nonetheless somehow managed to maintain itself on December 25.

I dunno. I'm 43 and never celebrated Christmas in any fashion in public school. This seems like a strawman argument. Halloween is really not a religious holiday, and in fact it's one of the few distinctively American shared secular rituals we have. I'm less worried about Halloween's survival than I am about kids having fun and growing up with the sense that they are in some way a part of a shared culture. We are losing that in this country and you can see the results all around us. It's a troublesome trend. (And no I am not conservative; I'm as liberal as they come).

If you grew up without in public schools (like I did), then why are you afraid of losing the shared culture? Halloween was part of your culture without the reinforcement from school. I grew up celebrating Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and the Fourth of July, but not at school. That doesn't disconnect me from a common American culture that includes all those things.

Reread my post. I said that we did not celebrate CHRISTMAS in public school. We did celebrate Halloween, and it was truly wonderful. I attended a pretty diverse school with a large immigrant community and everyone participated enthusiastically.

My point is that the "well, people used to celebrate xmas in public school) argument is a strawman. The two really aren't the same, as most public schools have recognized for quite awhile . Show me church that observes Halloween as a religious holiday. Anyway, I don't want to fight about this, it just makes me said. I'm sorry there are so many people on here who just like to be contrarian. Good night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity.. nope. We are not doing Halloween because of covid. I don't need your kid bringing covid to me when I'm not sending my kids to in person school. Some families don't celebrate halloween and our ES would have a separate room for them to read in and it was pretty unfair vs. doing a general fall party. You don't need to dress up in school. Its kida silly.

At our school it is due to Equity.

Has nothing to do with Covid. Our Principal got rid of Halloween over 5 years ago.

Teachers can’t read books about Halloween or talk about the holiday. Ever.

I am actually an immigrant, who came here as a young child and I LOVE Halloween. My relatives in another country also live the American tradition of Halloween.

Celebrating at school is fun and a shared experience for kids in this country.

I think it stinks that schools are getting rid of it.

I’ll add that I grew up poor and there was no chance my parents would buy a costume. But my mom did help me make some awesome ones for cheap and I treasure the memories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kind of thing drives me crazy because dressing up isn’t necessarily free. How is it equity to add one more costume request to a family budget?

It can be free. Growing up in the 80’s, most of us made homemade costumes. It was fun, free, and creative. Even if you didn’t plan anything, you could put on jeans and some sort of top to be a hippy/cowboy/etc. We can make homemade costumes. We can donate costumes. There are lots of options.

THIS.

[Anonymous]

Our ES never permits Halloween costumes, nor a parade, nor a party. It’s been that way for years before Covid hit. It’s all cancelled. Concerts were turned into ‘winter’ concerts bc no mention of Christmas is allowed. (Yet, they sing Jewish songs for that concert.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids school is doing an outdoor costume parade (weather permitting.) Parents and family are invited! Afterwards they’re having crafts and a PTA provided snack in the classroom—no parents allowed.

It sounds good to me!

Are you in MCPS? If so, you are fortunate.

Many MCPS schools have eliminated Halloween. Some are just using Covid as an excuse this year, while others have banned Halloween for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just heard that my kids elementary school is not doing Halloween in the name of equity. Some families don't celebrate and they wanted to be inclusive. Instead it will be "dress like your favorite book character day" but no ghosts, ghouls, vampires, or dementors allowed. No parade or Halloween-themes crafts. I'm wondering if this is widespread throughout the county or if our school principal is uniquely anti-fun.

Our public school has always done that - it makes sense - a lot of families do have issues with the holiday - just celebrate at home/neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Halloween is the evening of October 31st. Your public school did not “cancel Halloween.”

BS. For many decades it has been the practice of American public schools to celebrate Halloween in some fashion. When Halloween falls on a weekend they do it on a Friday. You know that, and everyone else does too.

DP. No, really. Halloween will still be on October 31, and kids can still go trick-or-treating (if their parents allow it and don't make them go to some "trunk-or-treat" event in a parking lot instead).

For many decades it was also the practice of American public schools to celebrate Christmas in some fashion, but now that's much less common. Christmas has nonetheless somehow managed to maintain itself on December 25.

I dunno. I'm 43 and never celebrated Christmas in any fashion in public school. This seems like a strawman argument. Halloween is really not a religious holiday, and in fact it's one of the few distinctively American shared secular rituals we have. I'm less worried about Halloween's survival than I am about kids having fun and growing up with the sense that they are in some way a part of a shared culture. We are losing that in this country and you can see the results all around us. It's a troublesome trend. (And no I am not conservative; I'm as liberal as they come).

+1 million to all of this. And I am the PP who is an immigrant (and not Christian, FWIW).

And, with the influx of immigrants, this idea of having kids grow up with a ‘shared culture’ is even more important. We are definitely losing that here in the US.