There is no respect for the children who want to wear costumes. If you threaten the
school by saying you will not show up if kids dress up to celebrate the holiday, and
you find it offensive, you can dictate policy, and you can manipulate, with this cultural
sensitivty crap. In terms of what the 90 percent of teachers, they probably have to zip their lips. Their boss is the principal, why would they openly disagree? It may be foolish
when a principal thinks he knows best and is insensitive to the feelings of the children
who want to use their imagination and dress-up. You cannot send your kids out in
some areas. The school is erasing a tradition. Halloween use to bond people. Maybe
Buckman will start book burning, maybe some of the fairytales have offensive symbolism?
Where does it end?

did anyone actually read the article? most of your comments read like reactionary teaparty nutjobs. at a previous school some 40% of kids were russian and they wouldn't come to school because of the holiday, and not because they thought it was a day off. Celebrating Halloween when I was a kid began at 6pm on October 31st, and ended around 9. how about some compassion for all of those around us? If my kid wants to dress fancy on the 31st she will be allowed to, as long as she's still following the school rules....

My kids go to Buckman as well. There is no plan for a Harvest celebration on the 31st. There is a "harvest party" planned for Nov. 9th for 5th graders only. It appears Brian may have misspoke. I I don't believe by allowing children to have the option of wearing costumes on Halloween that we are "pushing" our traditions on others. And even if that is the case...isn't dressing up on Halloween an American tradition and by allowing others to dictate otherwise in fact is pushing others beliefs on Americans?

Also, the reason why parents did not make an issue out of this ordeal last year was because we were told Halloween conflicted with another Buckman event, we complied without question. But this year is different, there is no conflict. Brian says doing away with costumes and Halloween celebrations was agreed upon by the PTA...again, not the case, I am an active Buckman PTA member and there was no vote and minimal discussion of this matter. One parent said it best... "What more can I remove from my child's life to make you more comfortable?"

Would another country even consider changing their culture to make their immigrant population more comfortable? Not a chance. Germany without Octoberfest? Just because someone was against beer? Laughable. While worrying about infringing on our immigrant population's culture, we're forsaking our own. When moving to another country, one should consider the place that we're moving to. Going to Saudi Arabia? Don't expect to be treated with the same courtesy as you would in Beaverton. Think with your brains, people.

1. for those making the comments about Christmas etc...Most public schools have banned anything related specifically to Christmas. Everything is "Winter" you might get a few where things are "holiday" but those are only the really ambitious schools that work hard to give equal face time to every holiday during that time.

2. In spite of #1, this really isn't an issue of political correctness. It's about distractions and the ability to educate & learn. Anything that creates division among students is a distraction that infringes upon the opportunity to learn. In an environment of serious cut backs you have to choose your battles. It makes a lot more sense to be more inclusive then exclusive. If you are faced with a situation where a segment of your school population would be driven to the point of not attending school (be it for religious, cultural or socio-economics) because you chose to participate in an activity that was not based on it's educational value. You simply don't do it. It does not preclude anyone from celebrating at home.

3. You need to spend a little more time in the schools lately. I promise you, it's not how you remember things. Things are much more complicated for everyone. Students, teachers and administration. They all have much more important things to focus on then halloween cosutumes.

Finally, for the record, for those whom might want to trash my opinions. I LOVE Halloween, I have a blast with it. Our house is done up every year! So no I'm not a Halloween hater. I work in schools and have for years. I've seen it both ways. I adore how excited the kids are to talk about and show thier costumes. I am heartbroken by the kids I counsel because they couldn't afford to dress up or thier parents just didn't have the ambition to help them and now they aren't able to fully participate with their peers.

And I am sure that schools in Russia, Mexico and other countries would stop celebrating their cultural traditions immediately if American children were enrolled there!

Could everbody please, for the love, get over it. This "outrage" over halloween is laughable. The attention and time you all are pouring into this is redik. Here's an idea all you Buckman parents, how about you take all that passion you feel surrounding your precious angel not being able to dress up and put it into something that actually matters. Like, for example, volunteering in your classrooms. Where are all of you then? ummmmmm.

I am sure the 90% staff agree with the principal because he is their boss, plain & simple.
If kids cannot celebrate Halloween, the teachers probably have to zip their lips.

@zumpie...interesting. @jake, yeah pretty much. I used to live near Da Vinci, and a lot of those kids are annoying, loud and entitled little douchebags. I can only picture what their parents are like. Btw people, its SCHOOL. Boo fucking ho if your child can't wear a costume. Seriously, I am beginning to really wonder about this town

What a joke! Isn't this supposed to be a creative school? Is the administration and teachers to lazy to turn this into a learning opportunity? Also, what ever happened to assimilation? If you come to the US, you do as the US citizens do.

The only rationale I can imagine for this policy is that some kid's won't be able to have a costume, perhaps because their parent(s) are working three part time jobs and don't have time to help make one. But it seems to me that it would be easy to incorporate costume making into the curriculum, in fact it could be a great learning/teaching opportunity for all involved. Questions of what is scary, what is a hero, and what are the symbols that best portray the qualities of the character could all be productively explored in class and costumes could be created at school. I'm out side of the debate, so forgive me if I'm missing some finer point of the issue. I live in Buckman and my daughter (who is now a senior) attended Buckman. I'm surprised by this news, it seems kind of bizarre.

Wow, sure are a lot of Buckman haters out there. What's that all about? White, middle class... No, it's quite a bit more diverse than that. Plenty of hard-working people OUT OF DISTRICT (that means you all have an equal shot. Yes, you do. If you don't want that for your kids, you DO have other options) who simply want art-based education. Those who bash it...I'm guessing you don't see the arts as an ESSENTIAL PART OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE so, likewise, why the hell defend Halloween as a good ol' American tradition? (hmmm...makes one think...). Don't bash the kids or school. You don't have to like it and you DO have a choice. We're American after all! ;)

Hm, 2nd biggest holiday- economically, eh? Wonder whose driving the Halloween-love... it was not this big of a deal 30 years ago when it was me in school. I actually disliked the dressing up @ school- it's a LONG TIME to be wearing something that is quite likely uncomfortable. And the day is just a wash anyway, making it feel even longer. And yet, you didn't want to not dress up, that just wasn't done... Really, there are SO MANY community carnivals and whatnot, how much hullaballoo is needed?
I just dislike the idea that it must be some anti-American plot... lots of schools don't have costumes or parties, it's not that big of a deal.

I'm a Buckman parent. Here's my two cents in a nutshell...

The principal is an uptight non-creative nerd who was put to work in the wrong school.

@DamosA -- "Well russians in general are pretty bigoted, hateful, just plain mean people, anyways. The fact that most of them are either roman catholics or mobed up or both explains alot. So that russians don't like Halloween isn't the least bit surprising."

I do believe the Russians would be Orthodox Catholics, not Roman Catholics. If you are going to be a bigot, at least be an educated bigot.