Fearful of Offending Wiccans, School District Invokes Vanishing Act
by Jim Brown
October 25, 2004
(AgapePress) - A school district in the state of Washington has banned all forms of Halloween activities, arguing they are a waste of time and disrespectful to witches.The decision by Puyallup School District to ditch its annual Halloween celebration has outraged scores of parents and students. District spokeswoman Karen Hansen says students dressed up Halloween costumes might be "offensive" to members of the Wiccan religion. The district says its decision to ban the festivities is final and irreversible.
Tonya Reynolds, whose daughter attends an elementary school in the district, says she was shocked the district would consider taking this action. "This has been a tradition in our schools for years and years," she laments, "and we've already changed most of it over from being a Halloween [observance] to just a harvest festival anyway."
She also takes issue with the argument about offending people of the pagan Wiccan religion. "The idea that the costumes were offensive to Wiccans and such? I don't think it ever crossed a child's mind that that was an issue, nor an adult's," she says. "I think they're being very outlandish about the whole thing."
The Puyallup mom says it seems the rights of Wiccans supersede those of non-pagans. "A Wiccan now has more rights than [me] -- they're protected, yet I am not. We need to be very sensitive to all of their needs and all their concerns, but not mine," she offers somewhat sarcastically.
"What about my concern that this is tradition; that this is what our schools have done, this is what our children have done, this is what our parents have done for years and years?" Reynolds asks. "And because all of a sudden we have this irrational fear of being politically correct, we're going to change all of our traditions?"
Since the district has been sued in the past, Reynolds believes it is afraid of not being politically correct on every issue. But, she says, that attitude has to end.
