Scared of Halloween: Ghoulies, ghosties and DEI beasties

Halloween has been canceled at schools in New Jersey's South Orange-Maplewood School District. No costumes, no parades, no Halloween-themed art or poetry -- not even a handful of candy corn -- will brighten the day.

Waldo requires a striped shirt and hat.

Canceling Halloween will encourage diversity, equity and inclusion, says school officials.

In a post on X, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said, "Seriously? We can't let kids celebrate Halloween? Give me a break."

School officials in Northboro, Massachusetts, reversed a decision to cancel the Halloween costume parade after pushback from parents, reports Ted Wayman for WCBV. Elementary schools will start the day with a 20-minute parade with alternative activities for non-participants, said Superintendent Gregory Martineau in a statement.

Twelve percent of elementary school students did not participate in last year’s parade, Martineau told the school committee. Some were scared of costumes or anxious about marching. Others said the holiday conflicts with their family's beliefs.

Cardboard and mouse ears are enough for a "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" costume.

The district had planned to replace Halloween with a “fall-themed spirit day” to comply with the district’s “core values of equity and inclusion.”

A generation ago, before the invention of diversity, equity and inclusion, some religious parents who took devils and witches seriously objected to school assignments that trivialized evil, as they saw it. They were told to opt their kids out of the draw-a-witch assignment. Nobody thought to cancel Halloween.

Years ago, my daughter's elementary school asked parents not to choose violent costumes for our kids. These days, some schools ask children to dress up as characters from their favorite books. (But maybe not Captain Underpants.)

I think traditions pull a school community together. Also they're fun. I loved the Halloween costume parade, even though my mother was not a great costume maker and the most we bought at the store was a mask. We were ghosts or witches, as I recall. Perhaps a black cat? One year, my younger brother was a devil. That worked.