Now they're going after Halloween

[smiths02]

Waste of classroom time. Kids are in school to learn. Celebrate holidays at home.

Unless you are going to teach the history of the holiday.

I agree about instructional time, but school is also about socialization and community...building good citizens. Celebrations bring parents to the school faster than PTA meetings and teacher conferences do.

 

[Marchand63]

Why is it thankful that Salem, MA, is NOT among the schools banning Halloween?

Salem has no connection with Halloween. And don't say the witch trials of the late 1600's have any association.

Have you ever been to Salem in October?

 

[Hikergirl]

My kids' elementary school has never celebrated Halloween, at least they didn't when my kids started. They did have a parade on a Saturday for the first couple of years my dd was in K and 1st, but they stopped doing it because only a handful of kids participated.
Costumes have never been allowed in school here. (Elementary though HS)
Kids, and their parents will survive without celebrating everything during school. Nobody is taking Halloween away from them, they are free to do whatever they like on their own time.

 

[Suger Mag]

Historically, attempts to ban or limit the celebration of Halloween have pretty much been minor, isolated ones where a house of worship made some noise about it. Or a neighborhood association put formal limitations on the hours allowed for trick or treating.

But now municipalities in MA are getting on that bandwagon, as two school principals there decide Halloween has to go, because is not "inclusive" and can be "difficult" for some students. In one it will be replaced by "Black and Orange Spirit Day" and the other by some vaguely defined "community day event" in November.

Thankfully, the municipalities involved in banning Halloween do not include Salem. The local chamber of commerce there would have a collective heart attack if anyone even hinted at the idea of "cancelling" that holiday

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/10/17/walpole-elementary-school-cancels-halloween-parade/

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/09/29/needham-elementary-school-cancels-halloween-festivities/

Many schools in Ma do not celebrate Halloween, this is nothing new. Mine did not when I went to school over 30+ years ago. The most you often see is a Pajama day, or a crazy hat day. It is disruptive to have kids come to school in huge unwieldy costumes. Kids are in school to learn, not Trick or Treat

 

[Suger Mag]

Have you ever been to Salem in October?

LOL yep, they milk it for all its worth...

 

[wonder whisper]

Why is it thankful that Salem, MA, is NOT among the schools banning Halloween?

Salem has no connection with Halloween. And don't say the witch trials of the late 1600's have any association.

With all due respect, saying Salem, MA has no connection to Halloween is patently absurd, and is like saying Plymouth, MA has no connection to Thanksgiving. Over a quarter million people visit Salem in the fall, specifically to soak up all the "Haunted Happenings" events (parade example below). Those include costume balls, ghost tours, scores of haunted houses, live music, and a bunch chilling theatrical presentations.

Or put another way, Salem in Sept-Oct. is absolutely the last place any humorless, spoilsport Halloween hater would ever want to be.

 

[msjprincess]

My oldest is in 11th grade. Our district has never allowed costumes. When they were little they would have a Fall Harvest party.

 

[Hikergirl]

With all due respect, saying Salem, MA has no connection to Halloween is patently absurd, and is like saying Plymouth, MA has no connection to Thanksgiving. Over a quarter million people visit Salem in the fall, specifically to soak up all the "Haunted Happenings" events (parade example below). Those include costume balls, ghost tours, scores of haunted houses, live music, and a bunch chilling theatrical presentations.

Or put another way, Salem in Sept-Oct. is absolutely the last place any humorless, spoilsport Halloween hater would ever want to be.

I wouldn't say that, I hate Halloween but if there are drinks and parties, haunted tours and ghost stories I'm all in.

 

[Wendy31]

I didn't know students older than kindergarten to lower elementary age even still went to school on Halloween in their costumes.

Most schools around here have Fall Harvest Parties & Fall Festivals if they do anything.

Random: If I were elected President, one of the first things I would do would be to make the celebrated day for Halloween always be the last Friday of October.

 

[sunshinehighway]

So, two elementary schools decide to not do Halloween parades and somehow that means the mysterious "they" are going after Halloween? Ok.

 

[Magpie]

I agree about instructional time, but school is also about socialization and community...building good citizens. Celebrations bring parents to the school faster than PTA meetings and teacher conferences do.

Public schools are historically also about enforcing cultural conformity, by ensuring everyone celebrates the same holidays in the same ways.

It was a much bigger deal in the 50's, when children would be taught everything right down to what they should eat and how they should do their hair and dress, in an overt attempt to erase all traces of ethnicity. But even as late as the 1970's, a friend of mine remembers coming home and telling her mother that they had to purchase and cook a turkey for Thanksgiving, because that's what her teacher said "everyone" does. They'd never had a turkey before, but her mother dutifully went out and got one, so they could have a "proper" Thanksgiving.

Now, Halloween's one of the leftovers. And don't get me wrong, it's also one of my favourite holidays. I love that it's wandered so far from it's Christian roots, that there are Christian sects which refuse to celebrate it, and Pagan sects which embrace it as Samhain!

However, I really don't think kids need to wear their costumes to school (certainly they don't in our school district, and haven't for the last 15 years or so). I don't even think schools should be required to hold any kind of after hours party, though it's quite nice that Walpole Elementary is doing this. Reminds me of our local elementary school's "haunted house" that they'd put up in the gym, in the evening.

Yes, it's true that schools are a place of not just learning, but also acculturation. However, I really don't think a lunch time Halloween parade is the be-all and end-all of making good citizens out of our students.

Personally, if we're going to focus on citizenship, I'd rather see a fall clean up detail, can drives, or kids making Thanksgiving meals for poor people, etc. (And happily, most schools do these things, too.)

Halloween can be celebrated at home. No harm, no foul.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

No way would we have orange and black spirit day. Those were the colors of our arch rivals across town.

 

[AustinMommyofThree]

It seems to me that some people are just looking to be offended by other people being offended (even when that’s not actually happening and the decision made has a sound foundation and rationale).

 

[Magpie]

So, two elementary schools decide to not do Halloween parades and somehow that means the mysterious "they" are going after Halloween? Ok.

Pshaw. Don't you know "they" control everything? "They" decide what news the mainstream media will print. "They" decide the narrative. "They" have secret meeting in pizza parlour basements where they plot out the future of the American people, a strangely dystopian future in which your children will identify as pansexual unicorns, your spouse will leave you for the family cat, and your school's Holiday pageant will end up looking like this:

I hear Their secret meetings have pretty good gluten-free mini cheesecakes, though...

 

[wonder whisper]

Many schools in Ma do not celebrate Halloween, this is nothing new. Mine did not when I went to school over 30+ years ago. The most you often see is a Pajama day, or a crazy hat day. It is disruptive to have kids come to school in huge unwieldy costumes. Kids are in school to learn, not Trick or Treat

What you are missing is the fact there is a difference between not "celebrating" Halloween vs. intentionally replacing it with concocted PC holiday "celebrations" that also take up school time.

Fortunately, Disney hasn't fallen into that trap (where can I get tickets to Mickey's not so scary orange and black day?) and the articles I posted imply many other people in MA didn't miss that fact and are not happy with the "re-label Halloween" initiatives. That's not surprising in a region where Celtic ancestry has deep roots and people generally have very strong reactions when bureaucrats attempt to mess around with long held traditions.

 

[amandaleigh2]

Halloween is my favorite holiday. In our school district, Halloween is a half-day. The kids come to school in their costumes, have a parade through our local village, attend a spooky-themed assembly, and then have a classroom party before being dismissed at lunch time. To each their own, but I'm glad our school district recognizes that kids need to be kids sometimes. Our school years keep getting longer and the standards tougher. I think it's good for kids' mental health to have a few days during the school year where they can just have fun with their classmates.

 

[jrmasm]

Historically, attempts to ban or limit the celebration of Halloween have pretty much been minor, isolated ones where a house of worship made some noise about it. Or a neighborhood association put formal limitations on the hours allowed for trick or treating.

But now municipalities in MA are getting on that bandwagon, as two school principals there decide Halloween has to go, because is not "inclusive" and can be "difficult" for some students. In one it will be replaced by "Black and Orange Spirit Day" and the other by some vaguely defined "community day event" in November.

Thankfully, the municipalities involved in banning Halloween do not include Salem. The local chamber of commerce there would have a collective heart attack if anyone even hinted at the idea of "cancelling" that holiday

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/10/17/walpole-elementary-school-cancels-halloween-parade/

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/09/29/needham-elementary-school-cancels-halloween-festivities/

We're ya been? We've had Harvest Days in our schools for more than 15 years.

 

[mom2rtk]

Bah Humug!

 

[jrmasm]

Ours have been "fall parties" for as long as I can remember. And here, trick-or-treat has had "hours" since I was a kid -- and <gasp> it's often not even on October 31. It's no big deal what it's called. It's still fun.

I always love reading people's reactions to this. Cracks me up!

 

[AustinMommyofThree]

We're ya been? We've had Harvest Days in our schools for more than 15 years.

We haven’t celebrated Halloween in the schools in our district, or others around of us as far as I’m aware, since kindergarten for each of my children. And I’m not living in what anybody has ever called a P.C. state.