Halloween becoming academic

Some kids aren’t donning scary masks or princess tiaras to parade through the halls of schools.

More and more Spokane and North Idaho elementary schools are moving away from observing Halloween with costumes, candy and ghouls, instead choosing “fall harvest” celebrations with activities centered on the season.

“We stopped doing the costume parade years and years ago,” said Rita Forsythe, principal at Wilson Elementary School. This year, the South Hill school is celebrating a harvest festival in the gym with games and treats focused on Eastern Washington’s agriculture.

“It doesn’t exclude anybody, and it doesn’t interfere with school,” Forsythe said.

While many elementary schools still allow costume celebrations, some Spokane principals and school districts recognize that many families don’t celebrate Halloween for religious, cultural and sometimes financial reasons. Schools also are under pressure to fulfill state mandates and keep their focus on academics.

“We’re an institution of learning, and that’s our foremost mission,” said Pete Hall, principal at east-central Spokane’s Sheridan Elementary School, where no schoolwide activities are planned for Halloween. Sheridan teachers still can choose to celebrate in classrooms, but children are not allowed to wear costumes.

“I think most celebrations of one sort or another really should be left to the discretion of the families,” Hall said. “We don’t really feel the need to push one thing or another onto kids.”

Spokane Public Schools’ policy on holiday celebrations leaves the celebrations up to individual school communities as long as the holidays are “presented in an unbiased and objective manner.”

Schools in the Post Falls School District also have taken on a “harvest” theme rather than focus on a traditional Halloween, district officials said.

“Frankly, our teachers and our principals would rather just have a normal instructional day,” said Barney Brewton, director of elementary education.

But many schools have held on to the Halloween tradition of students dressed in costumes, with parades and parties.

That is the case at Arlington Elementary School in northeast Spokane, where students will dress in the afternoon for a costume parade, followed by classroom parties. The school’s Parent Teacher Organization has felt strongly over the years that the tradition be kept alive, Principal John Luher said.

“We want to take our lead from the community,” Luher said.

In the Coeur d’Alene School District, most schools allow costumes only during parades and class parties, and prohibit those that involve blood, gore or weapons.

“Our emphasis is on fun and happiness. It’s not an emphasis on gore and evil,” said David Miller, principal at Sorensen Elementary School. Sorensen students will parade through downtown Coeur d’Alene on Sherman Avenue today beginning at about 1:30 p.m., an annual tradition.

The Central Valley School District leaves the decision whether to celebrate to administrators at each building. Most schools do celebrate, said district spokeswoman Melanie Rose.

At Michael Anderson Elementary School on Fairchild Air Force Base, kids are allowed to wear costumes. Students at the school who don’t wish to participate are provided an alternate activity, such as a storytelling in the school’s library, said Principal Dale Lamphere.

“There’s not a lot of pressure for the kids that choose not to dress up,” Lamphere said.

Brentwood Elementary School in the Mead School District also has a Halloween parade beginning after lunch, followed by parties in the classroom. Parents are invited to watch the parade as it winds through the gymnasium.

“It’s been a tradition here for as long as I can remember; we’ve never talked about not doing it,” said Principal Roger Pike. “Children have the choice about whether they want to wear costumes and most of the kids do.”

Joann Ekstrom, principal at Spokane’s Garfield Elementary, said her staff made the decision about 10 years ago to do away with traditional Halloween celebrations. The school encourages harvest-themed festivals in individual classrooms.

“We felt it should look like and be respectful of all people’s beliefs and needs,” Ekstrom said.

Initially some parents were troubled by the changes.

“Back in the days when everybody in the school was in costume and paraded through the building, some families really loved that,” Ekstrom said. “But the more our focus turns to strictly academics, there’s a lot more understanding.”