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October 29, 2007
Boo! say some parents to Halloween costume restrictionsWhat's the Lone Ranger without his trusty six-shooter? Or Batman without his belt o' gizmos? Not to mention Robin Hood without his quiver of arrows. It seems that kids are getting doled some reality along with treats in schools that still allow kids to dress up for Halloween according to this article from the New York Times.
Some schools are banning masks and toy weapons, like swords, pitchforks, and laser guns during the Halloween season in the name of safety.
“We send out letters a few weeks before Halloween telling parents that their children cannot wear masks or bring weapons of any kind to the school,” said Kenneth Smith, the principal at Strathmore [Elementary School in Aberdeen, N.J.]“We know that kids are kids,” he said, “but times have changed.”
Mr. Smith’s letter this year spelled out in capital letters that students wearing Halloween costumes should not bring along toy “guns, knives or weapons.”
Prompted by school shootings across the country, a growing number of elementary schools, wary of the violent images that even 6- or 7-year-olds packing water pistols might project, have been trying to paint a friendlier face on America’s day for celebrating mischief.
BoardBuzz can certainly understand school officials wanting to keep kids safe, even as they celebrate, but one does wonder when is enough too much? These policies are leaving some parents scratching their heads, too.
“Halloween has always been the one day where it was acceptable for our children to fantasize about being somebody they are not, like a cowboy or a pirate or a person from outer space, and now we’re ripping that away from them,” said Laura Santoro, a nurse from New Milford, Conn., whose 7-year-old son, Johnny, is a second grader at Northville Elementary School there.Ms. Santoro said that her son would dress as Capt. Jack Sparrow, the character played by Johnny Depp in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, at the school’s Halloween party, but that he would not be allowed to take a sword — part of a policy that caught her by surprise last Halloween.
“I sent my son to school last year dressed as a special forces Power Ranger, and he was told that he couldn’t take along his red laser blaster, which really surprised me, because the laser is red and made of plastic and lights up, and it could never, ever be mistaken for a real gun,” Ms. Santoro said. “I mean, come on, the whole thing is getting really sad.”
NSBA Staff Attorney Cullen Casey weighed in too: "The banning of masks and weapons for safety concerns is something I’ve seen in policies in many states across the country. With all of these tragic events in recent years, schools are becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of their students, and much of this whole thing about banning toy weapons on Halloween has kind of grown out of that.”
Mostly it seems that there are no districtwide policies in effect, and that school principals are making the decisions on a case-by-case basis. At least Superman can still wear his cape ... for now. Does your school or district have a Halloween costume policy in place? Leave a comment and tell us about it.
Posted October 29, 2007 2:14 PM | Students
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Comments(2)
Posted by: Mr. G on October 30, 2007 9:46 AM
As long as the school sets the rules (no weapons, no masks) in advance before parents invest in costumes--I see no problem here.
Personally, I am insulted that a school would endorse a "Halloween" party. (Many schools have fall parties and the kids might dress up as book characters sometime in October or November).
My faith does not celebrate this wicked holiday. Not wicked you think? Just do your research.
Schools have changed "Christmas break" to Winter break and Easter break to Spring break....but still promoting wicked Halloween.
Shame on them.
Posted by: Don on November 1, 2007 8:40 AM
Halloween is hardly wicked, but rather a holiday of "pagan" origin celebrated on the night of October 31. Since when did pagan mean wicked? Last I checked, it was a term referring to rustic or country people. The term Halloween is shortened from All-hallow-eve, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also known as All Saints' Day.
Some modern Halloween traditions developed out of older pagan traditions, especially surrounding the Celtic holiday Samhain. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
By 43 C.E., Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 835. As the church day began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain.
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