PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Montgomery County school district has decided to scrap plans for annual Halloween parades at its six elementary schools, including what would have been the first parade for one of the schools since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The move is part of a growing trend in the name of equity and inclusion.
Many schools over the years have opted for activities that resemble Halloween, such as “Dress Up Like Your Favorite Hero Day,” and have fallen away from traditional Halloween events.
Amy Buckman, director of school and community relations for the Lower Merion School District, said her district prides itself on creating a sense of belonging for all students.
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“We have numerous students over the years who, for their family’s religious or cultural beliefs, don't celebrate Halloween,” she said. She described how other students would be parading on a field in costumes, while those who don’t celebrate Halloween would sit in the school’s library.
“I think our goal as a district is to create a sense of belonging for every student, and that means it's really not okay for kids who don't celebrate Halloween to sit by themselves in the library,” she added.
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“The parade didn't seem to have that much of a benefit to the children that they couldn't enjoy activities in their classrooms with their friends and classmates.”
She says safety is also a concern, as many of the schools’ fields for Halloween parades are right alongside roads with just a chain-link fence between them and the public.
Nyeema Watson, vice chancellor for diversity, inclusion, and civic engagement at Rutgers University-Camden, says she's not surprised at this trend.
“School districts are being more thoughtful about [backing] away from these types of ceremonies, to try to minimize not only any exclusionary feelings for children who don't participate for religious reasons, but also not getting into these racialized or culturally-appropriated Halloween costumes,” said Watson.
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She said that as a society, we need to be more thoughtful about thinking about the whole, and not just the individual.
“Certainly there's a branch of Christianity that does not celebrate Halloween, but now you have students who are Muslim in schools. You have students who are Buddhists. You have students who are practicing other faith traditions that may not want their children to celebrate."
Still, Buckman says there will be festivities on Oct. 31 for the kids in the Lower Merion School District.
“There will be fun activities for students in the classrooms,” said Buckman. “They are certainly invited to dress up in costumes on the 31st, but we will direct activities that everybody can be involved in. It will be fall-themed.”