Opinion: NJ School District Canceling Halloween For Inclusivity is Cruel

Is there a huge Wheel Of Political Correctness in the cosmos somewhere that once a year spins and lands on a New Jersey school district? Then that district has to perform that year’s assault on Halloween?

This year it landed on South Orange-Maplewood.

They’re not outright canceling Halloween as other Jersey districts have tried in the past. They’re more giving Halloween a demotion of sorts. It’s being relegated to a lesser than after school activity, apart from regular hours.

Why?

As Superintendent Ronald Taylor puts it, “Do school-sponsored Halloween activities violate the dignity of some of our students and families, either culturally or religiously?”

Apart from that wokeness, he is also questioning whether it’s putting financial pressure on families. Really? Since when does any New Jersey school care about that? When was the last school week you DIDN’T get a fundraiser letter in your kid’s backpack or a notice for yet another book fair. Please. We all know darn well this is about…say it with me kids…inclusivity.

Such a pretty word. Such a wonderfully woke word. Inclusivity.

The problem with it is it’s seldom truly attainable.

Halloween in 2023 America is not a religious holiday. It’s a secular holiday. It’s a fun day for kids to imagine being something or somebody else, and carving pumpkins and swapping candy. It’s as harmless as it gets.

Yet in deference to certain religions like Jehovah’s Witnesses who won’t celebrate Halloween the district is all but canceling. You know what else Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate? Kids’ birthdays. So is it “violating their dignity” when your kid wants to bring cupcakes and share goody bags at school for their birthday? Should we disappoint the majority of children over one religion’s values?

Enough. Mormonism and Hinduism and Buddhism may not embrace Halloween but those religions do leave it up the individual as being free to partake.

Frankly it’s sad to take this away from children. Cruel to be honest. In this era of wokeness I sometimes want to go back to sleep and dream of when we weren’t so deathly afraid of looking bad.