Davino Rescinds Halloween Costume Ban for Springfield Schools

In a letter to parents, Springfield Schools Superintendent Michael Davino announced he has rescinded the . Davino writes that he has changed his position after hearing that elementary schools were planning Halloween parties on Monday, and to reflect feedback from the community. 

The full memo is below. 

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This memorandum is designed to clarify the status of Halloween celebrations in our elementary schoolshere in Springfield.

Over the past two years, with Halloween falling on the weekend, I have taken the opportunity to remindour principals that this holiday should not be an excuse for an all-day costume party which would detract from, if not squander, an entire day otherwise set aside to educate our students.

In that context, principals were specifically instructed not to set aside large blocks of time for Halloweencelebrations this year. Thus, when I issued the directive that costumes not be permitted, because they were distracting and likely to waste time, it was my understanding that all of our principals had complied with the directive not to set aside time for lengthy parties.

Since issuing that directive, I have come to understand that the elementary schools, without my knowledge, were planning Halloween parties on Monday.

Having discovered that, and having heard feedback from the community, I agree that there seems little point in preventing children from wearing costumes because these parties are taking up educational time anyway. Rather than force the cancellation of these parties at the last minute, I hereby rescind my prior directive and will permit elementary school children to wear costumes at the Halloween celebrations previously scheduled.

This decision does not diminish in any way my sincere concern that Halloween serves as a poor substitute for the educational process, which, many say, already falls short of accomplishing all of ourgoals within the 180 days provided on our school calendar. I respect the desires of parents and their young children to engage in some appropriate Halloween activity, just as I am sure that they wouldnot want to waste precious educational time.

Therefore, well in advance of the 2012 school year, I will be meeting with my staff to discuss the continued implementation of practices and procedures that support a cohesive educational environment.