In Phoenixville, Scrooge has a new name: Phoenixville Area School District Superintendent Alan Fegley. You see, Superintendent Alan Fegley is banning Halloween in Phoenixville schools, citing among other things “controversy surrounding the religious connotations of Halloween.”
Bull twaddle. What a dope. Guess Santa Claus is next, huh? Oh wait, that is why so many schools across the country celebrate Halloween because it saves them from attacks by the political correctness police who whitewash everything into Happy Holidays Hell, right?
Seriously, somewhere Charlie Brown is screaming as another attempt is made to dumb down a childhood and American tradition. We all are still Americans, right? Or has that become politically incorrect overnight too in Phoenixville?
Halloween is a universal kid loved time no matter the gender, ethnicity, religion. As a matter of fact Halloween is so religion neutral across the country it is partially why it gets so much attention.
The History of Halloween is actually interesting:
History of Halloween
Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows Evening also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve.
Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses” and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture.
We are as a country, and certainly as an area, an ethnic melting pot. So many cultures celebrate Halloween that I do not see what the big deal is? Now from the costumey end of it, it is a holiday in major metropolitan areas like New York City that is very attractive to those of alternative lifestyles, so I have to ask, is Phoenixville Area School District riding the discrimination bus on this?
Kids love Halloween, and these teachers and this school district needed to get creative, not kill the holiday.
Thrift stores this time of year are LOADED to the gills with gently used costumes, so why couldn’t the Phoenixville Area School District put out a plea to ask people to donate gently used costumes? And the kids would dress up IN school instead of coming to school in costume? That is one way to deal in a sensitive manner with the kids who can’t afford costumes. School districts all over the country do this for prom (as in they have little events with gently used prom dresses, so those who might not be able to afford to go CAN, so why not Halloween?
Another thing they could have done was make the costumes that were acceptable kid created only and put a price on say whomever could design the best costume for under $10 dollars. Again, the school district could have put it out there that they were accepting clean and gently used donations towards Halloween costumes.
Or they could limit the costumes to “best mask”, and they could make the masks in class. A parade of masks and pumpkin decorating (and again, they could put it out there to local farms and businesses to donate pumpkins and gourds to donate.)
Halloween is not only a fun childhood tradition, it is a way for children to express themselves artistically and creatively. Often the reality of life is difficult enough for small children, so who does it hurt to let them escape reality for a few hours and just be kids dressing up?
Phoenixville is all wet and wrong on this one.
If I had kids in this school district I would dress up and protest in front of the school district administration building on a public sidewalk and protest this decision. Or in front of the post office (or any place that is a public sidewalk where they can’t arrest you for demonstrating.)
If I was a farmer or business owner in the area I would be delivering mounds of pumpkins to the steps of the Phoenixville Area School District building and to the front steps of the home of Superintendent Alan Fegley.
The Phoenixville Area School District Building is located at 386 City Line Avenue, Phoenixville, PA 19460. Phone number: 484-927-5000. Dr. Alan Fegley, 484-927-5010, fegleya@pasd.k12.pa.us
Is Fegley worth the $205,000 per year another blogger reports he earns? Maybe if the school district paid more realistic salaries considering the econony, it might have a couple bucks to give elementary school kids Halloween back?
And Fegley? Dressing up for Halloween doesn’t cause sexting (you know that other issue you dealt so well with?)
Seriously, Phoenixville? You need Operation Pumpkin Drop. Prove this school district wrong and give the kids Halloween back. Kids deserve to just be kids once in a while.
PHOENIXVILLE — Elementary school students in the Phoenixville Area School District will be celebrating a fall theme day as opposed to Halloween-centric events this year and Superintendent Alan Fegley explained why at Thursday night’s school board meeting.
Fegley said the announcement was made in the elementary school student “package” from the district in August, but he explained the district’s decision to move away from Halloween fully at the meeting.
According to Fegley, a number of the elementary schools’ principals came to him with their concerns regarding Halloween celebrations for Oct. 31.
“I approved the change for a fall-themed activity for a number of reasons,” Fegley said…“There was unhealthy competition for the costumes and treats that were being provided,” Fegley said. “I’m a competitive person, don’t get me wrong. But when it’s sitting there and making other students not feel good because they can’t afford the costume or can’t have it made, that’s something that’s just something the district just thought was not worth having to go through.”
Additionally, with the costumes and despite warnings from the school, children continued to bring in costume weapons in violation of the school’s weapons policy.
Finally, the district wanted to “honor the diverse background” of its students and open up the celebration to fall-themed events rather than Halloween because of the “controversy surrounding the religious connotations of Halloween.”