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  Puyallup [WA] schools ban Halloween festivities
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ContributorRalphie 
Last EditedRalphie  Oct 22, 2004 10:41am
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CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
News DateFriday, October 22, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionThere will be no kiddie costume parade, no classroom candy handouts this year in Puyallup's public schools.

The district put the kibosh on all Halloween festivities during school hours, enforcing a policy that's been in place for several years but is being applied for the first time to Oct. 31 celebrations.

District officials say the ban is largely a matter of religious sensitivity -- to Wiccans.

Assistant Superintendent Tony Apostle advised Puyallup principals in a memo last week that Halloween costumes and parties are now banned. Pumpkins and cornstalks are fine, he said, but witches, black cats or "similar decorations that are intended to frighten or scare individuals" are not.

Halloween is a religious holiday for Wiccans, the memo noted, and its celebration in mainstream culture has generated unsavory images that might offend real-life witches.

"Building administrators should not tolerate such inappropriate stereotyping (images such as witches on flying brooms, stirring caldrons, casting spells, or with long noses and pointed hats)," Apostle's memo states.
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