Does your MCPS elementary school still do Halloween?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The anti-Halloween movement is being driven by evangelical christians. I'm frankly tired of evangelicals pushing their religion on everyone else.

Conservative muslims do not celebrate Halloween but they have seldom been vocal about it and are not a numerous group.
Catholics, even conservative ones, tend not to care about Halloween other than the political angle. Conservative catholics will criticize allowing a holiday with pagan origins when Christmas is not allowed. They also strongly object that yoga or Native American mythology, stories or history that touches on beliefs is allowed while any mention of Jesus or christianity is not allowed.

This depends on the school. There are definitely schools in MCPS where there are a good number of conservative Muslims who have been vocal about which holidays are celebrated in school.

I'm this PP. And, to be clear, I do agree that it's the Christians who are also against Halloween. IME, it's been both groups who disapprove.

[Anonymous]

So, to summarize thus far---

Yes, still Halloween (with costumes)
Strawberry Knoll
Viers Mill
Bannockburn
Fairland
Forest Knolls
Dufief
Travilah
Wilson Wims
Kensington-Parkwood
Oakland Terrace
Piney Branch
Jones Lane
Roscoe Nix
Cresthaven
Darnestown
Bells Mill

No:
Jackson Road
Snowden Farm
Barnsley
Candlewood
East Silver Spring
Takoma Park
Galway
Arcola
Burtonsville
Greencastle
McAuliffe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, to summarize thus far---

Yes, still Halloween (with costumes)
Strawberry Knoll
Viers Mill
Bannockburn
Fairland
Forest Knolls
Dufief
Travilah
Wilson Wims
Kensington-Parkwood
Oakland Terrace
Piney Branch
Jones Lane
Roscoe Nix
Cresthaven
Darnestown
Bells Mill

No:
Jackson Road
Snowden Farm
Barnsley
Candlewood
East Silver Spring
Takoma Park
Galway
Arcola
Burtonsville
Greencastle
McAuliffe

Thanks for taking the time to summarize. That's a decent number of schools who don't celebrate Halloween.

I also wonder if the results are skewed. DCUM tends to run wealthier. Many of the DCUM posters might be sending their kids to higher income schools, which seem to allow Halloween.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because some of us go to diverse schools where children do not celebrate Halloween for religious reasons. Separating them for an alternate activity may or may not work depending on who then has to supervise them and resources/space available.

I'm the PP you replied to. Diversity is really and truly not the excuse. We are French, our elementary has over 60 nations represented, and as you know, Halloween is mostly an Anglo-Saxon tradition (UK, USA, etc). Yet we all love Halloween because costumes have a special draw for children, and we see how happy our kids are. I lived in the UK and understand the celtic roots of Halloween. There are extremely few families who refuse to celebrate for religious reasons (since Halloween is not a celebration of evil, as anyone with any knowledge of history will know).

I agree there can be too much sugar, but that's more a matter for every parent to police at home. My kids never eat all their candy.

So the schools who choose to ban Halloween are doing it for other reasons.

You might know this. But not everyone does.

And, in some cultures, religion trumps all (unfortunately).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because some of us go to diverse schools where children do not celebrate Halloween for religious reasons. Separating them for an alternate activity may or may not work depending on who then has to supervise them and resources/space available.

I'm the PP you replied to. Diversity is really and truly not the excuse. We are French, our elementary has over 60 nations represented, and as you know, Halloween is mostly an Anglo-Saxon tradition (UK, USA, etc). Yet we all love Halloween because costumes have a special draw for children, and we see how happy our kids are. I lived in the UK and understand the celtic roots of Halloween. There are extremely few families who refuse to celebrate for religious reasons (since Halloween is not a celebration of evil, as anyone with any knowledge of history will know).

I agree there can be too much sugar, but that's more a matter for every parent to police at home. My kids never eat all their candy.

So the schools who choose to ban Halloween are doing it for other reasons.

You might know this. But not everyone does.

And, in some cultures, religion trumps all (unfortunately).

Does the majority need to cater to the needs of the minority?
Can the majority have celebrations related to their culture, way of life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, to summarize thus far---

Yes, still Halloween (with costumes)
Strawberry Knoll
Viers Mill
Bannockburn
Fairland
Forest Knolls
Dufief
Travilah
Wilson Wims
Kensington-Parkwood
Oakland Terrace
Piney Branch
Jones Lane
Roscoe Nix
Cresthaven
Darnestown
Bells Mill

No:
Jackson Road
Snowden Farm
Barnsley
Candlewood
East Silver Spring
Takoma Park
Galway
Arcola
Burtonsville
Greencastle
McAuliffe

Thanks for taking the time to summarize. That's a decent number of schools who don't celebrate Halloween.

I also wonder if the results are skewed. DCUM tends to run wealthier. Many of the DCUM posters might be sending their kids to higher income schools, which seem to allow Halloween.

But there are schools in that "diverse" area that do still celebrate. Viers Mill and Roscoe Nix are both in Silver Spring and have similar populations to Galway and Arcola. Twinbrook can be added to the "yes" list, and also Wood Acres.

[Anonymous]

Halloween is secular, There is not cultural history within the United States of Halloween being accompanied by satanic or any other religious ceremony. Both St Patrick's Day and Valentines Day have roots in the Catholic Church and Roman Empire. Valentine's Day was named after St Valentine. The original celebration was about fertility and pairing off of men and women by lottery.

At our school some evangelicals would donate toward the Valentine's Day party but not the Halloween party. Their kids would participate in the alternate party that did not include anything Halloween oriented. Their choice but its a head scratcher why the religious origins of Halloween were an issue but the other ones were not except that their origins aligned with their religion.

[Anonymous]

Rock Creek Forest ES - The week before Halloween we had a Fall festival (pumpkin rolling contests outside, food, games in the classrooms) but no Halloween decorations or Halloween-themed food or costumes or parade.

Halloween itself fell (was scheduled to occur, I imagine!) in the middle of Spirit Week, and Thursday/H-ween was Pajama Day. Usually PJ day is on the Friday of Spirit Week, but they moved it to Thursday so kids could at least wear something different/fun to school. No slippers though. GOD FORBID no slippers. Why the big deal about the slippers!?

[Anonymous]

Drew ES - similar to Rock Creek Forest (above) - Fall festival the week before Halloween, but no costumes or parade or celebration on Halloween. But Halloween was in the middle of "red ribbon week" so the kids were supposed to be wearing some wacky stuff anyway.

[Anonymous]

I'd suspect that the issue within the Silver Spring schools is more about the stark SES differences within the school than religion.

Costumes are expensive for FARMS kids. It would be pretty bad for all the white UMC kids to show up in costumes and the minority FARMS kids to not have ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd suspect that the issue within the Silver Spring schools is more about the stark SES differences within the school than religion.

Costumes are expensive for FARMS kids. It would be pretty bad for all the white UMC kids to show up in costumes and the minority FARMS kids to not have ones.

Costumes are expensive?? Please. That’s such a white privilege comment.

Anyone knows you can get super cheap costumes at thrift stores or borrow from friends or make them. Our lower-income school keeps some aside for kids who need them. Just like the front office keeps extra Valentine’s for kids to give out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'd suspect that the issue within the Silver Spring schools is more about the stark SES differences within the school than religion.

Costumes are expensive for FARMS kids. It would be pretty bad for all the white UMC kids to show up in costumes and the minority FARMS kids to not have ones.


Costumes are expensive?? Please. That’s such a white privilege comment.

Anyone knows you can get super cheap costumes at thrift stores or borrow from friends or make them. Our lower-income school keeps some aside for kids who need them. Just like the front office keeps extra Valentine’s for kids to give out.

If you are working two minimum wage jobs or unemployed and struggling to buy food, shampoo and have a place to sleep you are not shopping at thrift stores for costumes or getting out your craft material to make one. Many FARMS kids don't have coats or shoes that fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd suspect that the issue within the Silver Spring schools is more about the stark SES differences within the school than religion.

Costumes are expensive for FARMS kids. It would be pretty bad for all the white UMC kids to show up in costumes and the minority FARMS kids to not have ones.

Snowden Farm, Barnsley, and McAuliffe are not in Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bells Mill
parade moved to tomorrow (Nov 1)
no more parties as of this year - 'healthy snack and service projects' instead
people aren't happy

Oh, that is terrible.

I could see doing a 'service project' for Thanksgiving. But for Halloween? That's sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, to summarize thus far---

Yes, still Halloween (with costumes)
Strawberry Knoll
Viers Mill
Bannockburn
Fairland
Forest Knolls
Dufief
Travilah
Wilson Wims
Kensington-Parkwood
Oakland Terrace
Piney Branch
Jones Lane
Roscoe Nix
Cresthaven
Darnestown


No:
Jackson Road
Snowden Farm
Barnsley
Candlewood
East Silver Spring
Takoma Park
Galway
Arcola
Burtonsville
Greencastle
McAuliffe
Bells Mills

But, someone up above said no to Bells Mills. Maybe we should move it down the the No list.