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I am currently teaching in an elementary school. Through the eighteen years that I have been teaching, Halloween has always been considered a hot topic, depending of the values and beliefs of the administration and colleagues of the schools where I taught. Although parents and staff were always torn between the pros and cons of celebrating Halloween in a public school, the outcome always differed, depending on either the majority or the decision of the administration. What are the reasons for banning Halloween parties? Let's see!

1) The excitement of planning a Halloween party affects the concentration level of students on academic tasks. The effort level is minimal, the socialization is rising and the stress level on the teacher having to control and discipline the class in order to allow learning to happen during school time is reaching its peak.

2) The planning of a Halloween is usually taking class time in order to ensure its success. The amount of time scheduled for learning is diminished, affecting the delivery of the curriculum.

3) As a teacher, you may be as clear as possible concerning expectations and things to avoid or stay away from altogether, there are always students that will defy authority and show up wearing disgusting, inappropriate, scary, sexy or even violent costumes. Last year, an older student showed up with a scary mask during recess and terrorized grade 1 and 2 children.

4) For parents of children with lethal allergies, Halloween parties are a nightmare! I even had a parent once that showed up for the party in order to control what her child was entitled to eat or not. She asked about the ingredients or read the list on each package herself in order to ensure her child's safety!

5) Not everyone can participate to Halloween parties. I knew of students of Jehovah Witnesses' faith that were either kept at home or had to go work at the office, not being allowed to participate in class. Other students either have no costume or were not allowed to wear it in class which made them feel left out.

6) It is usually always the same students that bring the goodies for the class. While unfair, some students are not allowed to bring anything or their parents cannot afford to buy treats for the class, making them feel uncomfortable despite the fact that they have no control or say over such a situation.

7) Not every child enjoys Halloween. In fact, I have known some children that were either distressed or scared by the costumes or scary stories told during the Halloween party. Imposing Halloween on them this way, is unfair and insensitive.

8) Although not many people are aware of it but Halloween is in fact based on an ancient religion and superstitious beliefs of evil. Hundreds of years ago, some people in Europe used to perform a certain ritual on Hollow Eve (Halloween). Their belief was that by sculpting a lantern using a turnip, putting a candle into it and carving a scary face, it would scare the evil spirits away. Later on, children used to dress up in scary costumes going from house to house to ask for treats in order to scare the spirits away or they would threaten the lack of generosity by playing tricks on them. This event happened on the eve of the day of all the saints which occurred on November 1st of each year. As you can see, if you have a Halloween party, you therefore impose a different faith or beliefs upon students.

As you can see, there are numerous reasons that answer the question: "Should public schools ban Halloween parties?" Let's show students and their families some respect by banning Halloween parties from public schools instead of forcing Halloween onto the pupils that have been entrusted to our care.

Learn more about this author, Sylvie Leochko.
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