The school my 7 yr old goes too does not really have a Halloween party. The younger grades are able to have some sort of Fall party if teacher wants too. My daughter is in 2nd grade. There are 4 2nd grade classrooms. Only one of the 4 2nd grade classrooms are having a party today, and it is not the one my daughter is in. About a month ago, I asked her teacher about a party. The teacher told me, they are not having a Halloween party. They "might" have a fall party that week, but not on Halloween. She said she does not have room mothers, that if she wants parents to send stuff in, she writes a note. Well on Friday she sent a note home saying there was no Halloween party. That if kids wanted to bring a treat/snack in to share, it had to be done at lunchtime. My daughter never brought the note home. SHe mentioned something to me, what she could remember. I asked the teacher yesterday and explained I was never given the note. She said no they were not having a party, that she felt the class did not deserve one. She went on to say, that there are some kids who have fallen behind, some kids who have bad behavior etc.. That she didnt feel that the not so good kids should be rewarded. She said sometimes they can not even get through all their work, and that she needs today to be a full teaching day. Ok, I understand her point of view. I went on to say I know that the other teacher is going all out for Halloween, with a party, games, etc.. She said it was up to the individual teacher.
I completely understood what she was saying. I can not help but feel bad that these kids, can not enjoy 30 minutes out of their day for a special Halloween treat.
What do you think? Should the whole class be punished because of a few students?
In the big scheme of things, it really is no big deal. I will take the kids out tonight trick or treating, they will get plenty of candy. I just think Halloween is a timeless tradition that I enjoyed so much as a kid and as an adult.

By Kate on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 12:48 pm:

There needs to be a blanket school policy...that sort of thing can't be on a case by case basis as it's not at all fair. EVERY class needs to do the same thing and the only division that should be allowed is if you get into high enough grades that it just all ends. Either ALL four second grades should be having a party, or NONE of the second grades should be having a party. Personally I'd take this issue to the principal. And it has nothing to do with how well behaved your DD's class is...again, ALL classes participate or NO classes participate, EVERY year.

By Bemerry84 on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 01:04 pm:

At our school, everyone has a party from 1st thru 5th. There is a parade at 2:30pm and the class parties follow until 3:30pm, school is dismissed at 3:40pm. This is a school of about 450 kids in all five grades, everyone participates in the parade around the school grounds. We just switched from private to public this year and it was the same way at the private school. Your poor daughter, kids shouldn't be punished from fun stuff because of a select few. My goodness they are only in second grade!!!

By Kate on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 01:20 pm:

It has nothing to do with the 'punishment', though. Even before that only ONE class was having a party out of four. That right there is not fair. I'm sure the other two grades are pretty upset right now, too.

By Mommmie on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 01:51 pm:

As we are securely tucked into the Bible Belt here, my son's former public school did not acknowledge Halloween. They did, however, have a "Dress up as your favorite story book character party" and it was school wide.

Your school needs a school-wide party policy. What does your student handbook say about it? Is it left up to the teacher?

By Debbie on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 05:13 pm:

I think it is ridiculous that they don't have a school wide policy. How unfair for some dks to have a party, and others not to. It is really hard for 2nd graders to understand this.

Our school has several parties a year(Halloween is not one of them) But, all of the classes at school have them, not just some.

By Colette on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 05:49 pm:

It should be a school wide policy and it also sounds like she shouldn't be teaching 7yr olds. I get so fed up with people I work with (I work in a public school preschool-2) who expect adult behavior from little kids.

By Luvn29 on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 09:44 pm:

I would be enraged and would go to the principal to get a blanket policy. If that didn't work, I'd go to the School Board.

We don't have a party for Halloween, but all of the Primary school (Pre-K through 4th) has a "Special Snack" at the end of the day. It's pretty much a party, except parents aren't invited. They still get large treat bags, and have a good time.

It just isn't fair to the students to see other classes having a good time. A lot about life isn't fair, but this isn't one of those times it has to be. Behavior should not take part here. And if a couple of kids are completely unruly, then send them to the principal during party time. It's 30-60 minutes of one day. I think all the teachers can live without that.

It's so hard to take a stand as a parent. Be the brave one and the advocate to these children and the future children in this school. You CAN change things.

By Coopaveryben on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 10:26 pm:

We have school policy that says we can three a year at Christmas, Valentines, and End of the year but it really depends on the teacher.

I went to my DS teacher and asked if we could have a "fall party" and she said yes (extra parties really depend on our teachers). We had a great time, we did do a book and pumpkin decorating as a reading "extension" activity to make it legit. The last time I got to do one was Kindergarten and that was three years ago, none of the other teachers have allowed it. But the years he didn't have a party he wasn't upset and I think we were the only class who had one today, no one else even seemed to notice.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 11:00 pm:

The elementary school my kids went to, didn't have Halloween parties, and didn't let the kids dress up in costumes, but I know one year, they had a pajama day and a crazy hair day, around Halloween.

When Emily was in 3rd grade, the kids who had enough good behavior stickers, got an end of the quarter bowling party, that was near Halloween. The parents brought treats and most of them were in Halloween colors, so that seemed like a party, too.

So, it seemed you could skirt around it, a little.

By Enchens on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 11:59 pm:

Well, I have to say that if the teacher stated before that the students were not having a Halloween party, fine. She did say they "might" have a fall party. Now she decided it's a definite no. Ok. I understand all that. Maybe she can reward them for good behavior later, with a treat?

Now, as far as I know, in one of my former schools, it was so standard based (principal enforced), that a teacher could say that a party was not part of the standards and be done with it. It still got plenty of parents upset. This was mainly for things like Valentine's Day and stuff.

For Halloween, we were not allowed to even mention the word because of the high Russian population that we had around that area. I was told the Halloween tradition was offensive to them, so no one in the entire district did anything for Halloween. What my students ended up doing was bringing in a "snack" they could share with their buddies and some activities that could be squeezed into the standards somehow. I made sure they knew what standards they were under in case the boss walked in. (yes, the principal would walk in on occasion and randomly ask a student what standards were currently being covered with the activity we were doing).

Ok, I notice I just got way off topic.
Back to the point. Maybe the teacher can treat the students with a party for good behavior within the next couple of weeks?