Halloween heartbreak: No school on Friday for some Hollister students
Some Central Coast children looking forward to Halloween won’t be sharing their costumes with their peers this year. The Hollister School District has scheduled a teacher work day on Friday — meaning no students will have classes — a new move for this year.
First-grader Austin Whitman has his costume all ready for Friday – Luke Skywalker.
But knowing he won’t be showing it off for his classmates brings some disappointment.
“I kind of feel not very happy,” he says.
The Hollister School District’s superintendent says the decision was made during calendar negotiations in April. It made sense to schedule a teacher work day on Oct. 31, and the Board of Trustees approved it. But the idea for change was set in motion before that.
The idea for the change was set in motion before that, however.
The superintendent says district administrators started discussing the celebration of Halloween in school more than a year ago, and they felt that parades and costumers were taking time away from learning.
“Losing a day of instruction is just something we couldn’t afford,” said Superintendent Gary McIntire.
There also were issues of fairness, he says.
“Some kids come to school with nice, neat, really fancy costumes, and some kids don’t,” he says. “And you have ‘haves and have nots,’ and issues of equity.”
But some parents say celebrating culture at school is important, and their kids look forward to the tradition. They say their kids have really enjoyed the costume parade in past years.
Still, other parents are trying to help their kids stay positive by reminding that that while they don’t get to wear their costumes to school, they do get a day off.
As for Austin, he says he’s still looking forward to celebrating with his family.
“We’re carving pumpkins,” the first-grader said.
The decision won’t affect the high school school in Hollister because it’s in a different district. It seems all of the other local school districts will be holding school this year on Halloween.
