{"id":2578,"date":"2025-10-31T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/?p=2578"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:46:15","slug":"why-some-schools-have-been-spooked-out-of-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/31\/why-some-schools-have-been-spooked-out-of-halloween\/","title":{"rendered":"Why some schools have been spooked out of Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"

Religion,\u00a0politics\u00a0and student participation are all among the reasons some schools have abandoned Halloween celebrations<\/a> that put candy-filled children<\/a> in bulky costumes in classrooms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oct. 31 parties and costume contests have been eliminated or somehow reformed at multiple districts over the years, but efforts have not gone without pushback, showing the increasing cultural and religious considerations schools face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a lot they have to balance,” said\u00a0Leandra Parris, who serves on the board of the National Association of School Psychologists. “They’re constantly having to balance the rights of all of the students against, also, being fair and open, and it really kind of gets complicated.”<\/p>\n

The Houston Independent School District (ISD), the largest in Texas, announced for the second year in a\u00a0row restrictions\u00a0on Halloween costumes and celebrations, telling schools festivities need to be limited to under an hour and tied to an\u00a0instructional\u00a0goal, the Houston Chronicle\u00a0reported<\/a>. Middle school and high school students are banned from wearing costumes, while elementary school students can with restrictions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

An informal social media poll by Education Week\u00a0found\u00a027 percent of educators<\/a> say their schools do not allow costumes, while 67 percent do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the holiday also has passionate defenders.<\/p>\n

As a mother of five boys, Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, said\u00a0her sons \u201cstill really look forward to Halloween, and it’s such a rite of passage for kids that it seems like a really weird fight to pick.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While she recognizes administrators are looking to be inclusive and considerations need to be made for others, Halloween\u00a0celebrations\u00a0at schools are \u201cpart of American culture as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think there’s ways to be inclusive without being exclusive to others that look forward to this as a tradition that we’ve long had in the United States,\u201d Rodrigues said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the biggest\u00a0concerns schools face is religious differences. Jehovah’s Witnesses and some sects of Judaism, Islam and Christianity reject Halloween celebrations and wearing costumes for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHalloween observances can create unintentional barriers,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Sandra\u00a0Chafouleas, distinguished professor and co-director of the University of Connecticut\u2019s Collaboratory on School and Child Health, adding, \u201cThe concerns are all centered around how schools make sure that they’re a place where\u00a0every students and staff\u00a0feel that they belong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A cancellation in New Jersey back in 2023 got lots of media attention after the\u00a0school district of South Orange and\u00a0Maplewood\u00a0ended\u00a0all Halloween celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the schools in the district,\u00a0Seth Boyden Elementary School, had canceled the holiday since 2015, citing high absenteeism rates and low participation among students who did come to school.\u00a0The school has tried to offer fun autumnal alternatives.<\/p>\n

“Students come, they pick pumpkins, they decorate pumpkins. [The fall festival] is\u00a0a just great\u00a0time for the families to get together and celebrate the\u00a0fall, and our community,\u201d said Shannon Glander, principal of Seth Boyden, ABC News 7 New York\u00a0reported\u00a0at the time<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concerns also arise over the costumes themselves, as administrators try to avoid gore or outfits that can inhibit learning, while still respecting students’ First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u00a0it comes to costumes, the things that schools\u00a0have to\u00a0maintain\u00a0is\u00a0what is called the Tinker standard. It was set back in the late ’60s by a court case that basically says that\u00a0[schools]\u00a0cannot infringe on the rights of the students in terms of free speech and religion and things like that, unless what the student is doing or wearing or saying is violating the rights of other students,\u00a0which is\u00a0kind of harder to talk about or to really prove,\u201d Parris said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cost of costumes can also be a burden for some families if children feel obliged to participate. The National Retail Foundation said\u00a0consumers spent more than\u00a0$3 billion\u00a0on costumes last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u00a0you have these costume requirements,\u00a0you’re\u00a0focusing on economic disparities, right? So not everybody can afford costumes,\u201d Chafouleas said.<\/p>\n

And far from the smallest concern is the struggle teachers face trying to get rowdy kids in funny costumes to\u00a0focus\u00a0when they know a Halloween parade or\u00a0an\u00a0impending mountain of candy is coming their way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Teachers talk about how difficult Halloween is. Kids can get\u00a0very excited.\u00a0…\u00a0There can be some behavioral issues and distractions, but you need to balance that, on the other\u00a0side,\u00a0that this is\u00a0really important\u00a0to\u00a0kids,\u201d said\u00a0Jennifer Fredricks, a professor of psychology at Union College.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKids are bored, they\u00a0don’t\u00a0like coming to school, and this is really a way to build\u00a0community, and it can be important to kids,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Religion,\u00a0politics\u00a0and student participation are all among the reasons some schools have abandoned Halloween celebrations that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2578"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2579,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2578\/revisions\/2579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}