Post by wvhsparent on Oct 31, 2007 7:24:08 GMT -6
Dist. 204 sees little change in Halloween
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 10/31/2007 12:11 AM
After months of debate about how to celebrate Halloween in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 schools this year, little is actually changing.
A new policy required elementary schools to seek feedback from parents about room parties and other events, but only three schools wound up asking parents to approve changes to last year's Halloween or fall party plans.
"Most of our communities were wanting things to stay more or less the same as last year," said Martha Baumann, director of elementary education.
Only Cowlishaw, Owen and Peterson elementary schools made significant changes.
But the issue is still a sensitive one. Most elementary school principals in the district that covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook did not return calls about the subject.
The debate began in November when some administrators asked the school board to eliminate costumes from Halloween parties during school hours, saying they were a distraction and could be insensitive to the beliefs of some students.
After months of discussion, the board decided in May to require schools to collaborate with parents, their PTA and faculty when planning room parties.
"Schools should be able to do their own thing because each has its own unique culture and community that it needs to try to meet the needs of," board President Mark Metzger said.
This year, schools sent out information about how they planned to celebrate holidays and other events and asked parents for feedback.
Of the 21 elementary schools, nearly all stuck to the same plan as last year. Nine are not allowing costumes during classes today.
At the three schools that changed their plans, Cowlishaw is holding a weekend event this year after not doing anything last year, and Owen switched from a daytime to an evening event. Students at the new Peterson Elementary will have an evening event; in past years when they attended Wheatland Elementary the celebration was during the school day.
At Clow, PTA member Wendy Montalbano said Principal Barbara Kaufman would not allow a daytime costume activity today. So, for the second straight year, the school held an evening event last Friday that included music, classroom trick-or-treating, a costume parade and crafts and games that was attended by about 750 people.
Montalbano said the event was well-received and she wants children to have fond memories of their time at the school.
"I know the kids will miss being able to dress up (today) and be able to do a parade for their parents. But our goal is to create that experience in the evening with other entertainment," she said. "Overall, it was a fun evening."
Students at Georgetown and Kendall elementary schools will be among those in costume for part of the day.
Georgetown Principal Stephen Selle said his students will get into costume at 2:45 p.m. for a parade followed by a brief party with one treat and drink per student.
He said the school tries to keep it simple but daytime parties are a tradition and work well for the parents at his Aurora school.
"In a lot of families, both parents work and many work evenings and are not able to attend evening events," he said. "So we just found it works for us to keep it at the end of the day where it doesn't disrupt anything and we seem to have pretty good attendance with parents."
Kendall students also will only be in costume for part of the day for a parade and PTA-sponsored party. All of the parents who responded to the school's survey approved the plan.
"We kept it the same as in the past and based on … input from the parent community," Principal Lena Guerrieri said.
All schools holding daytime activities today are providing alternate projects for students who do not wish to participate.
Baumann said the district likely will continue to allow schools to decide on celebrations for themselves with parent input.
"We're seeing that it's working well for each school to tap its own community, so I think we have no reason not to continue the same way," Baumann said. "It's been successful this year I think."
District 204 Halloween celebrations
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 elementary schools were required to ask parents to approve their plans for celebrating Halloween and other holidays this year. Only three made significant changes to the way they celebrated last year.
Time of activity Costumes Changes made?
Brookdale School day Yes Same
Brooks Evening Yes Same
Builta Weekend Yes Same
Clow Evening Yes Same
Cowlishaw Weekend Yes No event last year
Fry School day Yes Same
Georgetown School day Yes Same
Gombert Evening Yes Same
Graham School day Yes Same
Kendall School day Yes Parade moved outdoors
Longwood School day No* Same
McCarty Evening Yes Same
Owen Evening Yes Moved to evening
Patterson School day Yes Same
Peterson Evening Yes Moved to evening
Spring Brook School day Yes Same
Steck School day Yes Same
Watts School day Yes Same
Welch Daytime/evening Yes Same
White Eagle School day Yes Same
Young School day Yes Same
*Costume parade tentatively canceled due to lack of volunteers
Source: Indian Prairie Unit District 204
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 10/31/2007 12:11 AM
After months of debate about how to celebrate Halloween in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 schools this year, little is actually changing.
A new policy required elementary schools to seek feedback from parents about room parties and other events, but only three schools wound up asking parents to approve changes to last year's Halloween or fall party plans.
"Most of our communities were wanting things to stay more or less the same as last year," said Martha Baumann, director of elementary education.
Only Cowlishaw, Owen and Peterson elementary schools made significant changes.
But the issue is still a sensitive one. Most elementary school principals in the district that covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook did not return calls about the subject.
The debate began in November when some administrators asked the school board to eliminate costumes from Halloween parties during school hours, saying they were a distraction and could be insensitive to the beliefs of some students.
After months of discussion, the board decided in May to require schools to collaborate with parents, their PTA and faculty when planning room parties.
"Schools should be able to do their own thing because each has its own unique culture and community that it needs to try to meet the needs of," board President Mark Metzger said.
This year, schools sent out information about how they planned to celebrate holidays and other events and asked parents for feedback.
Of the 21 elementary schools, nearly all stuck to the same plan as last year. Nine are not allowing costumes during classes today.
At the three schools that changed their plans, Cowlishaw is holding a weekend event this year after not doing anything last year, and Owen switched from a daytime to an evening event. Students at the new Peterson Elementary will have an evening event; in past years when they attended Wheatland Elementary the celebration was during the school day.
At Clow, PTA member Wendy Montalbano said Principal Barbara Kaufman would not allow a daytime costume activity today. So, for the second straight year, the school held an evening event last Friday that included music, classroom trick-or-treating, a costume parade and crafts and games that was attended by about 750 people.
Montalbano said the event was well-received and she wants children to have fond memories of their time at the school.
"I know the kids will miss being able to dress up (today) and be able to do a parade for their parents. But our goal is to create that experience in the evening with other entertainment," she said. "Overall, it was a fun evening."
Students at Georgetown and Kendall elementary schools will be among those in costume for part of the day.
Georgetown Principal Stephen Selle said his students will get into costume at 2:45 p.m. for a parade followed by a brief party with one treat and drink per student.
He said the school tries to keep it simple but daytime parties are a tradition and work well for the parents at his Aurora school.
"In a lot of families, both parents work and many work evenings and are not able to attend evening events," he said. "So we just found it works for us to keep it at the end of the day where it doesn't disrupt anything and we seem to have pretty good attendance with parents."
Kendall students also will only be in costume for part of the day for a parade and PTA-sponsored party. All of the parents who responded to the school's survey approved the plan.
"We kept it the same as in the past and based on … input from the parent community," Principal Lena Guerrieri said.
All schools holding daytime activities today are providing alternate projects for students who do not wish to participate.
Baumann said the district likely will continue to allow schools to decide on celebrations for themselves with parent input.
"We're seeing that it's working well for each school to tap its own community, so I think we have no reason not to continue the same way," Baumann said. "It's been successful this year I think."
District 204 Halloween celebrations
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 elementary schools were required to ask parents to approve their plans for celebrating Halloween and other holidays this year. Only three made significant changes to the way they celebrated last year.
Time of activity Costumes Changes made?
Brookdale School day Yes Same
Brooks Evening Yes Same
Builta Weekend Yes Same
Clow Evening Yes Same
Cowlishaw Weekend Yes No event last year
Fry School day Yes Same
Georgetown School day Yes Same
Gombert Evening Yes Same
Graham School day Yes Same
Kendall School day Yes Parade moved outdoors
Longwood School day No* Same
McCarty Evening Yes Same
Owen Evening Yes Moved to evening
Patterson School day Yes Same
Peterson Evening Yes Moved to evening
Spring Brook School day Yes Same
Steck School day Yes Same
Watts School day Yes Same
Welch Daytime/evening Yes Same
White Eagle School day Yes Same
Young School day Yes Same
*Costume parade tentatively canceled due to lack of volunteers
Source: Indian Prairie Unit District 204
