Don't cancel Halloween in Waterloo region's classrooms, parents tell public school board
CBC
Linzi Schmidt says she thinks it's unfair her children have been told to skip wearing Halloween costumes to school this year.
The mother of two from Cambridge says she received a note home from her children's teachers saying instead, students would be able to take part in a pajama day next week. She saw other parents commenting on similar notes sent home on parenting groups on Facebook.
"As a parent who has two kids who went through so much and they tried so hard during COVID to stay in school and during lockdowns and not understanding and being genuinely afraid, that these little moments, they mean so much. They do," Schmidt said in an interview.
Schmidt started a petition on Change.org asking officials with the Waterloo Region District School Board to change their minds about Halloween.
"I'd never started a petition at all before I decided to start it, and it's been up for a week [on Thursday], and yeah, it's over 4,000 signatures," she said, adding the holiday could be used as a learning opportunity for those students unfamiliar with the tradition.
"We can work together as a community instead of being divided and shutting each other out. Please, let's do that."
The school board said in an email that it hasn't cancelled Halloween, but it did send a directive to schools to "avoid school-based Halloween celebrations including, but not limited to, decorations, costume day, distribution of treats and other expressions of this tradition."
But, the board noted, "If students choose to wear a Halloween costume to school that isn't discriminatory or violates the health and safety rules they would not be reprimanded."
The board said any costume would also need to follow all COVID-19 precautions and a costume mask is not a substitute for a face covering to prevent the spread of the virus.
The board's director of education jeewan chanicka will join CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition Friday at 8:10 a.m. to discuss Halloween and what students, staff and parents can expect. Listen at 89.1 FM, through the CBC Listen app or online through the CBC K-W website.
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