Not-Halloween Halloween celebrations--name your school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope Montgomery County is stepping up to provide safe alternative ways to celebrate Halloween, since the schools no longer are.

Unlikely the County takes this on. Drag Queen Story Hour is allowed, but Halloween is off-limits.

https://montgomeryparks.org/events/drag-queen-story-time-6-2/

You realize the Parks Department has lots of Halloween events, right? https://montgomeryparks.org/montgomery-parks-announces-halloween-special-events-and-programs/

The library has even more, plus whatever city governments are doing. There's plenty of ways to celebrate Halloween at official county events if that matters to you, but it seems like it probably actually isn't that important.

LOL! Is the Tequila Talk and Bat Walk meant for kids?

Do you even live in the County? There are no ‘city governments’ except for Rockville, which is its own entity.

Do you? Takoma Park has a city government, so does Gaithersburg (both organize Halloween events, Takoma Park does a costume parade, for instance). There's also almost a dozen smaller incorporated areas with their own governments, as well. I have no clue what if any of them do anything official got Halloween.

There's also plenty of things on that list for kids if were interested in having an actual discussion, but you weren't. You wanted to make a comment about Drag Queen Story Hours, didn't bother to check whether your comparison was accurate. It wasn't. Halloween is not "off limits" in Montgomery County but I suppose I'm expecting a lot of someone who didn't know Germantown existed.

And you know quite well that there is a big difference between the County Parks departments offering a Halloween celebration and kids celebrating with a fun parade at school with all of their school friends.

Celebrating Halloween AT school, has been a tradition and it is a fun tradition.

Whether the County offers programs or not is irrelevant to the discussion. This is specifically about MCPS cancelling Halloween celebrations IN school.

And there has been no good reason provided as to why MCPS has done so.

Equally there's a big difference between a program you can choose to go to at a park, and being legally required to go to school where you then sit out the party doing word finds somewhere else in the school.

When MCPS allowed Halloween at school, nobody was forced to attend. Any child who chose to opt out was offered an alternate activity.

You're not forced to attend the Halloween event, but you're forced to attend school. "Alternative activity" - i.e., a pile of word finds and coloring sheets with a handful of other ostracized kids. Woot!

Wait, make up your mind. Is it just a ‘handful of kids’ or is it hundreds of kids who are opting out of Halloween. Other posters have said that MCPS cancelled Halloween in schools because there were so many kids opting out.

Your arguments against Halloween are so full of holes, you can’t even be consistent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Halloween party at our school.

Are you at an MCPS school?

Unlikely that is the case for very long. Over the past few years, MCPS is slowly eliminating Halloween and Thanksgiving from elementary schools. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate in the classroom and are not allowed to read books about the holidays.

I can celebrate if it’s part of my religion. It’s not, just showing the absurdity of telling people they can’t do something. No wonder there are no good teachers left.

The progressive liberals in Montgomery County support this perverse, strange form of censorship. I mean, really, that is exactly what they are doing. My kid’s 1st grade teacher told me that they had been explicitly instructed not to read any books about Halloween to the kids at school. Definitely a bit extreme.

Truly sorry to upend your super fun anti-lib narrative, but we don't celebrate Halloween at our ES, not because of "teh libs" or "progressives," but because we have a very large population of families that don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, to the point where the number of kids opting out was large enough that the school was essentially holding two events on the same day. That population is not "woke" -- in fact, it's pretty conservative. Now we do a fall festival that everyone can attend. It's just easier on the school.

And you don’t think it’s weird that MCPS is catering to religious fanatics?

The religious families are welcome to opt out of Halloween in school. Why does it need to be cancelled for the rest of our kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had to do an alternate activity on take your child to work day!one year. It just really wasn’t appropriate for us to take our child to work, given our jobs.

It was t a big deal. I think they had pizza and got to read whatever books they wanted. That’s fun for my kid.

But even if it wasn’t, he learned something. Which is you aren’t always going to be included or invited to everything. And that’s ok.

What we didn’t do was complain to the principal or ask them to cancel take your child to work day. I’m just not sure where this ends, but I’d hate to see school become the dull, dreary place that I recall growing up or worse - what the kids had during covid.

When kids get to college, it will become apparent to them that they have peers who are different than them, and engage in different activities. Sheltering them from everything doesn’t really prepare them for the real world.

MCPS is hellbent on sucking every last bit of fun out of school, while simultaneously offering a subpar educational experience. That's equity for you.

Yep. All in the name of equity. An equally sub-par educational experience for all kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Halloween party at our school.

Are you at an MCPS school?

Unlikely that is the case for very long. Over the past few years, MCPS is slowly eliminating Halloween and Thanksgiving from elementary schools. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate in the classroom and are not allowed to read books about the holidays.

I can celebrate if it’s part of my religion. It’s not, just showing the absurdity of telling people they can’t do something. No wonder there are no good teachers left.

The progressive liberals in Montgomery County support this perverse, strange form of censorship. I mean, really, that is exactly what they are doing. My kid’s 1st grade teacher told me that they had been explicitly instructed not to read any books about Halloween to the kids at school. Definitely a bit extreme.

Truly sorry to upend your super fun anti-lib narrative, but we don't celebrate Halloween at our ES, not because of "teh libs" or "progressives," but because we have a very large population of families that don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, to the point where the number of kids opting out was large enough that the school was essentially holding two events on the same day. That population is not "woke" -- in fact, it's pretty conservative. Now we do a fall festival that everyone can attend. It's just easier on the school.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Like it or not, Montgomery County is a super liberal, progressive County where the voters are predominantly Democrats. MCPS is cancelling Halloween in school to demonstrate ‘tolerance’ towards the new immigrants who are opposed to Halloween, whether they be devout Christians or Muslims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope Montgomery County is stepping up to provide safe alternative ways to celebrate Halloween, since the schools no longer are.

Unlikely the County takes this on. Drag Queen Story Hour is allowed, but Halloween is off-limits.

https://montgomeryparks.org/events/drag-queen-story-time-6-2/

You realize the Parks Department has lots of Halloween events, right? https://montgomeryparks.org/montgomery-parks-announces-halloween-special-events-and-programs/

The library has even more, plus whatever city governments are doing. There's plenty of ways to celebrate Halloween at official county events if that matters to you, but it seems like it probably actually isn't that important.

LOL! Is the Tequila Talk and Bat Walk meant for kids?

Do you even live in the County? There are no ‘city governments’ except for Rockville, which is its own entity.

Do you? Takoma Park has a city government, so does Gaithersburg (both organize Halloween events, Takoma Park does a costume parade, for instance). There's also almost a dozen smaller incorporated areas with their own governments, as well. I have no clue what if any of them do anything official got Halloween.

There's also plenty of things on that list for kids if were interested in having an actual discussion, but you weren't. You wanted to make a comment about Drag Queen Story Hours, didn't bother to check whether your comparison was accurate. It wasn't. Halloween is not "off limits" in Montgomery County but I suppose I'm expecting a lot of someone who didn't know Germantown existed.

And you know quite well that there is a big difference between the County Parks departments offering a Halloween celebration and kids celebrating with a fun parade at school with all of their school friends.

Celebrating Halloween AT school, has been a tradition and it is a fun tradition.

Whether the County offers programs or not is irrelevant to the discussion. This is specifically about MCPS cancelling Halloween celebrations IN school.

And there has been no good reason provided as to why MCPS has done so.

Equally there's a big difference between a program you can choose to go to at a park, and being legally required to go to school where you then sit out the party doing word finds somewhere else in the school.

When MCPS allowed Halloween at school, nobody was forced to attend. Any child who chose to opt out was offered an alternate activity.

You're not forced to attend the Halloween event, but you're forced to attend school. "Alternative activity" - i.e., a pile of word finds and coloring sheets with a handful of other ostracized kids. Woot!

Wait, make up your mind. Is it just a ‘handful of kids’ or is it hundreds of kids who are opting out of Halloween. Other posters have said that MCPS cancelled Halloween in schools because there were so many kids opting out.

Your arguments against Halloween are so full of holes, you can’t even be consistent.

Different schools have different populations of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Halloween party at our school.

Are you at an MCPS school?

Unlikely that is the case for very long. Over the past few years, MCPS is slowly eliminating Halloween and Thanksgiving from elementary schools. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate in the classroom and are not allowed to read books about the holidays.

I can celebrate if it’s part of my religion. It’s not, just showing the absurdity of telling people they can’t do something. No wonder there are no good teachers left.

The progressive liberals in Montgomery County support this perverse, strange form of censorship. I mean, really, that is exactly what they are doing. My kid’s 1st grade teacher told me that they had been explicitly instructed not to read any books about Halloween to the kids at school. Definitely a bit extreme.

Truly sorry to upend your super fun anti-lib narrative, but we don't celebrate Halloween at our ES, not because of "teh libs" or "progressives," but because we have a very large population of families that don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, to the point where the number of kids opting out was large enough that the school was essentially holding two events on the same day. That population is not "woke" -- in fact, it's pretty conservative. Now we do a fall festival that everyone can attend. It's just easier on the school.

And you don’t think it’s weird that MCPS is catering to religious fanatics?

The religious families are welcome to opt out of Halloween in school. Why does it need to be cancelled for the rest of our kids?

No, I don't think it's weird, because I don't think they're religious fanatics. They didn't even ask the school to cancel Halloween celebrations -- the school decided to do it proactively. They're just trying to live their lives.

And the reason it was cancelled for the rest of the kids in the school is...literally in the post you're responding to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Halloween party at our school.

Are you at an MCPS school?

Unlikely that is the case for very long. Over the past few years, MCPS is slowly eliminating Halloween and Thanksgiving from elementary schools. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate in the classroom and are not allowed to read books about the holidays.

I can celebrate if it’s part of my religion. It’s not, just showing the absurdity of telling people they can’t do something. No wonder there are no good teachers left.

The progressive liberals in Montgomery County support this perverse, strange form of censorship. I mean, really, that is exactly what they are doing. My kid’s 1st grade teacher told me that they had been explicitly instructed not to read any books about Halloween to the kids at school. Definitely a bit extreme.

Truly sorry to upend your super fun anti-lib narrative, but we don't celebrate Halloween at our ES, not because of "teh libs" or "progressives," but because we have a very large population of families that don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, to the point where the number of kids opting out was large enough that the school was essentially holding two events on the same day. That population is not "woke" -- in fact, it's pretty conservative. Now we do a fall festival that everyone can attend. It's just easier on the school.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Like it or not, Montgomery County is a super liberal, progressive County where the voters are predominantly Democrats. MCPS is cancelling Halloween in school to demonstrate ‘tolerance’ towards the new immigrants who are opposed to Halloween, whether they be devout Christians or Muslims.

Sigh. If you're claiming that this is a county-wide position, can you please cite to the announcement or policy that establishes it as a county-wide position? Because I'm pretty sure this is decided on a school-by-school basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Halloween party at our school.

Are you at an MCPS school?

Unlikely that is the case for very long. Over the past few years, MCPS is slowly eliminating Halloween and Thanksgiving from elementary schools. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate in the classroom and are not allowed to read books about the holidays.

I can celebrate if it’s part of my religion. It’s not, just showing the absurdity of telling people they can’t do something. No wonder there are no good teachers left.

The progressive liberals in Montgomery County support this perverse, strange form of censorship. I mean, really, that is exactly what they are doing. My kid’s 1st grade teacher told me that they had been explicitly instructed not to read any books about Halloween to the kids at school. Definitely a bit extreme.

Truly sorry to upend your super fun anti-lib narrative, but we don't celebrate Halloween at our ES, not because of "teh libs" or "progressives," but because we have a very large population of families that don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, to the point where the number of kids opting out was large enough that the school was essentially holding two events on the same day. That population is not "woke" -- in fact, it's pretty conservative. Now we do a fall festival that everyone can attend. It's just easier on the school.

So a teacher can't even read a Halloween book? It's more important to cater to the religious extremists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a Halloween party at our school.

Are you at an MCPS school?

Unlikely that is the case for very long. Over the past few years, MCPS is slowly eliminating Halloween and Thanksgiving from elementary schools. Teachers are not allowed to celebrate in the classroom and are not allowed to read books about the holidays.

I can celebrate if it’s part of my religion. It’s not, just showing the absurdity of telling people they can’t do something. No wonder there are no good teachers left.

The progressive liberals in Montgomery County support this perverse, strange form of censorship. I mean, really, that is exactly what they are doing. My kid’s 1st grade teacher told me that they had been explicitly instructed not to read any books about Halloween to the kids at school. Definitely a bit extreme.

Truly sorry to upend your super fun anti-lib narrative, but we don't celebrate Halloween at our ES, not because of "teh libs" or "progressives," but because we have a very large population of families that don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, to the point where the number of kids opting out was large enough that the school was essentially holding two events on the same day. That population is not "woke" -- in fact, it's pretty conservative. Now we do a fall festival that everyone can attend. It's just easier on the school.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Like it or not, Montgomery County is a super liberal, progressive County where the voters are predominantly Democrats. MCPS is cancelling Halloween in school to demonstrate ‘tolerance’ towards the new immigrants who are opposed to Halloween, whether they be devout Christians or Muslims.

Sigh. If you're claiming that this is a county-wide position, can you please cite to the announcement or policy that establishes it as a county-wide position? Because I'm pretty sure this is decided on a school-by-school basis.

Clearly the culture of MCPS is to oppose Halloween celebrations at school. Might be on a school-by-school basis, but it appears that the majority of elementary schools in MCPS have cancelled the presence of Halloween in school.