Abba Zaba Syndicate

PUYALLUP - "Let them have their 30 minutes of dressing goofy and having candy," said Silas Macon. Halloween night won't happen this year in the Puyallup School District for his two daughters.
The superintendent has cancelled all Halloween activities.
Karen Hansen says the superintendent made the decision for three primary reasons. First, Halloween parties and parades waste valuable classroom time. In addition some families can't afford costumes.
It's the third reason some Puyallup parents are struggling with.
The district says Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.
"Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that," said Hansen.
"I do lots of things that are not revolving around wearing a black outfit and stirring a cauldron," said Wiccan Priestess Cheryl Sulyma-Masson

2004 is the first year that the superintendent decided to cite that concern, along with loss of classroom study time and protection for students who can't afford costumes, as motivation for canceling in-school Halloween activities.
"They're so worried about being politically correct anymore that we're not allowed to do much of anything," said parent Tonya Reynolds.
To say the policy put families in an uproar is an understatement. It's tradition at Maplewood Elementary for the kids to parade their costumes through each of the classrooms.
"The younger children, to come in in their little butterfly costumes or their little clown costumes to me, it's just part of childhood," adds parent Marilyn McCoy.
Parents are worried about Halloween, or what's now called Harvest Celebration, and about other holidays.
"I'm afraid next it will be St Patrick's Day," says parent Katie McCoy.

Parents plan to appeal this Halloween ban at the School Board meeting Monday night. But the District says its decision is final.

# posted by Dion @ 11:43 PM