The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
A Vermont school cancelled Halloween celebrations this year.
“It’s not that we are teaching that Halloween is a bad thing,” Miriam Ehtesham-Cating, the district’s director of programs, told CBS affiliate WCAX. “We’re reflecting on our practices that we believe every celebration held in school should be fully inclusive.”
Officials say the holiday traditions also makes some students feel uncomfortable, WCAX reported.
“For example, many people are made uncomfortable by the notion that you change your identity, you turn into someone else and those somebody else’s could represent cultural appropriations,” Ehtesham-Cating said.
QUESTION: Do you agree or disagree with this decision to cancel Halloween celebrations at school, and can you see this happening in California in the future?
Talk about it.
OMG. When is the madness going to end. This is just another way you are teaching your kids that life is all about them. The kids are never going to understand how to be happy for other people. Not to mention they are taking the fun out of everything.
It won’t ever end until the voices of the small percentage of people offended are drowned out by the voices of reasonable people.
By reasonable people you mean people who look like you. Well, guess what that’s not the same anymore, or ever was actually. If you want some fun, invite your friends over to you house and have a party. Serve some booze, everyone will be happy with that. If you want to have a party in a public space, then make it profitable, like Christmas. Nothing works good like profit!
When is it going to end?……when the Civil War ends.
OMG Ano! You said it!! People need to put their “rational” hats back on and buck up and let OTHER people enjoy their lives, too!! For GAWDSAKE we’re all getting offended and so politically correct we absolutely cannot do ANYTHING without offending someone!! I guess banning Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Easter and all the political holidays are next! GEEZZ!
Jojo, what a horrible thing to write! To claim that all reasonable people look like me, while flattering, is simply not true.
I’ve got news for you. “Reasonable” knows no racial, ethnic, sexual or economic bounds.
JOJO what ridiculousness are you saying now?reasonable people are “people that look like you”what does that mean?These are tall people?these are ” ” people?Enlighten.There are plenty of republicans that “look like you” and they wont what went wrong when they see you.
Do you feel picked on by how you look?We can’t see you here,but what you are saying does give a visual as to what you actually look like.
Don’t be so oppressed and have a blessed day? That would be your advise?That should fix everything that ails you,according to “people that look like you”
Rollo,she’s an angry kid that found a place to vent where she won’t get arrested.And she just gave away her personal info with that comment.I’m surprised she didn’t just say “you honkeys”
Just cancel the whole damn thing if this is gonna start being a thing. No more dressing up for halloween, its now a safety issue because one person was offended. Cant please everybody so now just please nobody and cancel halloween for all.
Go To. Your. Room! ÷)
Back when the world was sane in the 1940s and I was in grammar school in Chicago. On Halloween the whole school (at least the lower grades) had a single file parade through out the whole school district for my school. We covered a lot of ground for hours. Everyone in costume.
“For example, many people are made uncomfortable by the notion that you change your identity, you turn into someone else and those somebody else’s could represent cultural appropriations,” Ehtesham-Cating said.
Officials say the holiday traditions also makes some students feel uncomfortable, WCAX reported.
Whoa two people are uncomfortable so we will cancel it for everyone. It is not just BART it is everywhere.
Sounds like they are accomidating for religious reasons. Cancel the fun for everyone because a few JW’s go to a school is BS! Those kids can stay home that day! Majority rules! Halloween for all!!!
Oh it’s definitely not JWs. 😂 It’s the woke PC people wanting to protect marginalized people from seeing their culture represented as a costume. There was complaints about costumes from Moana, Pocahontas, kids can’t paint their faces if they want to be Black Panther, etc..
Are you talking about Jehovah Witness? Doubt they would be a problem.
I have never met a person or child that had a problem with dressing up for Halloween. Who is perverting these children?
Is this the change you want for your legacy?
The hilarious part is.all these people that think its ok for a man to be a woman or a woman to be a man and you can choose your own identity are the same people saying it’s not ok ON OCTOBER 31ST.How dare you be someone or something youre not and try to have fun with it.The next time someone says they are trans gender tell them no no !!
Please refer to last Halloween.
I agree jon, but I would hate for you to be jailed for miss interpretating what ever transgender mutation the sacred cow is currently trying to embody.
Aside from Cat in the Hat day and 100th Day of School, NOTHING ELSE IS ALL INCLUSIVE! Some kid’s mom is going to be crappy over it, or a kid will feel left out.
When I grew up wwaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the 1900’s (Late 80’s, early 90’s) if you didn’t celebrate something? You hung out in another class for the brief birthday cupcake shindig, you didn’t come in on Halloween, you didn’t stand to salute the flag. Fine. Do your thing! As we got older? We learned why our friends did different things. Great! Kid to kid education is important!
But no, let’s just wash away any fun, any celebration, any chance to be bonus silly to appease the .05% of the school population who isn’t into it.
Garbage.
Good grief!! I strongly disagree with that decision. Tell me what celebration is there that IS fully inclusive?
I could see that decision coming here to California. Glad I got to enjoy Halloween festivities in elementary school back in the day.
Disagree. Isn’t teaching kids about it and encouraging them to join in the fun being inclusive? I do realize some religions don’t approve of celebrations but that’s another discussion. Celebrating Cinco de Mayo or Rosh Hashanah at school should be the same. Include lots of different cultures’ holidays so they can learn to be accepting and not offended by every little thing.
What holiday is not fully inclusive? Federal holiday’s are, MLK Jr Day, Memorial Day, New Years Day, President’s Day, Columbus Day, Labor Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Then there are non federal holiday’s, such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Halloween. There will always be a woe is me snowflake that is offended by something in any given holiday and will go above and beyond any reasoning to spoil it for everybody else.
As long as we have morons that are lacking in critical thinking skills and keep voting for other morons like Libby Schaaf and Gavin Newsom, then yes, I can see it happening in California.
I am willing to bet the school in Vermont won’t have a problem celebrating Cinco de Mayo. After all, denying that celebration will be “racist” and we cannot allow that now, can we?
I do not understand how anybody can be proud of being a liberal, they have absolutely no honor for our country and our way of life.
MLK Jr day might be offensive to some white supremacists. We should stop observing it with a school holiday.
Totally Agree!!!
For sure its going to happen in Cal soon. If one person feels uncomfortable all the rules will change. Nobody cares about the 99.9 percent of the population that enjoy the activity. This is insane.
I’ve never seen a kid who was uncomfortable on Halloween. It’s doesn’t make any sense. Kids LOVE Halloween and these people are insane.
have them all dress as snowflakes; they’ll be happy. Not!
GHEEZE
One word: snowflake
Another word: ridiculous
There is ALWAYS someone who is offended or does not feel ‘included’, so that means no more fun for ANYONE at ANY TIME. And you must apologize for whatever you are thinking.
“For example, many people are made uncomfortable by the notion that you change your identity, you turn into someone else and those somebody else’s could represent cultural appropriations.”
This is the whole reason that you wear a costume! Kids want to be baseball players and princesses, pirates and power rangers, jedis and witches.
This is just another perfect example of leftists projecting their own biases and objecting to them. Give me a break. A first-grader is NOT worried about changing identity and the sure as hell are Not worried about cultural appropriation. These are adult concepts that kids can’t even pronounce.
A perfect illustration of do-gooders sucking out all of the joy of life for the many in the attempt to placate the vocal few.
Disagree! Bad decision making. What’s next? Christmas. It happened in Illinois and it happened in Antelope California. The schools are saying they want all inclusive participation or none. BS! They are losing money when the students who don’t celebrate Halloween don’t show up at school. Simple as that!
Oh look, a ‘woke’ progressive female with a hyphenated name…
Well done – you beat me to it!
My thoughts exactly.
Take a look at her FB page. You won’t be disappointed! LOL!
Ha! I was checking the replies to see if anyone would comment on that. You didn’t disappoint me.
Halloween should be changed from Oct 31st to the fourth Saturday in October.
Oh for goodness sake, let the kids have a dang party. What you’re teaching kids is we all have to cater to the lowest common denominator. One kid’s family doesn’t participate? Oh my goodness, we must cancel to respect that one person’s beliefs! NO. Get over it.
Name 1 school event that is fully inclusive.
We are humans & the best part of our identity is that we are different. We cannot all be put into 1 box.
I hated HS football & basketball games. But I would never expect the sports program to be canceled because I don’t like them.
There is no such thing as “cultural appropriation.”
That is an invented term to have a reason to be outraged. Black people bleach their hair blonde. Nobody calls that cultural appropriation of White people.
You possess wisdom beyond your years.
Next we’re going to cancel Veteran’s Day because non-veterans may become offended, or because it’s not inclusive. Or, Memorial Day because not everyone died serving our country! Or, especially in California, we’ll cancel 4th of July because illegals are offended! Grow up people!
Cancel birthdays since they are not all on the same day and month. Cancel weekends because different cultures count the days of the week differently. Cancel all holidays related to a religion since not everyone has the same one. Cancel all education because not everyone can learn the same way at the same time. Next up: Cancel the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Love the way you put that.
By the way, Halloween can come in under a religious event. It starts with All Hallows Eve (Halloween) on Oct 31st, goes into All Saints Day (Nov 1), and add the Day of the Dead and there you are.
Well we sure wouldn’t to make anyone feel uncomfortable now, would we? That kind of trauma could scar someone for life.
Why don’t progressives just cancel everything that’s fun and get it over with? Then, we can all be miserable and depressed just like they are.
I would expect people States like New Jersey or California to adopt a policy like that, not Vermont! Folks in that corner of the country tend to be very independent and traditional.
Kirkwood – Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are your three most liberal states. Vermont is the most liberal state in the country.
People think of California as the most liberal state. We have liberals, moderates and conservatives.
Admittedly I’ve never been to Vermont. My opinion reflects people I know who have lived in rural Vermont, and others I have met.
Elementary children don’t know what “cultural appropriation” means (nor can they pronounce it) so they cannot be “offended” by their 8 y/o classmate’s Indian costume. They only see the beautiful colored feathers.
These are the adults fighting with adults & using their children as pawns. CPS should visit these parents for teaching their 8 y/o’s to hate & be angry while they chant “Stop the Hate.”
Frauds!
@ DVC
“They only see the beautiful colored feathers.”
That’s all they care about. It’s only when adults teach them to differentiate and hate that the children follow in their ways.
Just another excuse to have another party in class!
I forgot to add, 70 years ago very little attention was paid in class to any holiday, religious or secular. Life was much more family-centric than today. We ate together, played together, did nearly everything together up into our teens.
Better cancel Christmas too, because the atheists, Jews and Muslims don’t celebrate that one. Idiots!
Oh dear. They also have a history of murdering each other too. Centuries of it. Eons, even.
Three words: Private Catholic School 🙂
One of the most first world things I’ve ever heard.
We have all these religious holidays for Jews and Christians and Catholics, but when the worshipers of the Dark Lord want to celebrate we get a big NO SIR.
Hail Satan!
Hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
Awaken sleeping Cthulhu!
People in the know are aware that All Hallow’s Eve (and All Hallows Day or All Saints Day) is actually a Christian holiday and has nothing to do with Satan worshipping, but you go ahead and spout off to show us all how well-versed you are. It’s a typical Christian celebration in that the early church usurped pagan celebrations in order to convince people to take up Christian beliefs. The Celtic celebration in this case was one to celebrate the end of summer. It’s amazing how much factual information is found on the Internet, if you know where to look.
Sarchasm: the deep divide between those able to detect sarcasm and those who are unable.
I knew Anton LeVay and his daughter Karla. They were Satan worshippers. They exist and if you talk like one and act like one, you are one. Sarcasm does not come thru in every written comment, and certainly not in Pied’s. I understand the meaning of your comment, however, and would discuss the issue with you any time, any place.
Disagree. I found Pied’s comment comically sarcastic. Satan worshipers and white supremacists around every corner.
Guys, we need to stop talking about this because the People’s Republic of California will not be out lib’ed!
Foolish people offended by happy little kids dressing up in costume for one day, but NOT offended about those who want to or think they can change their DNA, depending on whether they feel like a girl or boy that morning….sheesh!
Look at her Facebook page – Miriam Ehtesham-Cating
She’s a white lesbian with a black adopted child with her lesbian partner.
Her child is dressed up for Halloween in a wedding dress & veil as a Child Bride.
That’s going to be one child that becomes an adult that doesn’t know what it’s identity is.
In some homes, everyday is Halloween.
Jellyfinger, Yes, her household is Halloween everyday! How the heck does this wack have any clout in deciding what should be acceptable for society?
Shouldn’t we stop using English as it’s not fully inclusive? We may be a Русское марионеточное государство or a 中國人偶狀態, or have we been anexado por México.
Keep the Halloween celebration but give all attendees a trophy for best costume!
This alleged educator is suggesting a Halloween celebration at school is “inappropriate behavior”. Then the drama class better not put on that Easter pageant either, some folks might find the manger scene quite upsetting.
When does this sort of thing stop? Perhaps when every kid comes to school with a support counselor at their side a light bulb might go on……..maybe.
Vermont, home of Bernie Sanders. Ban all holidays as they offend someone. Country is over run with Snowflakes.
This is thee most ridiculous and quite frightening things I’ve ever heard. Why stop at Halloween?
Hey, a number of us DON’T want to get another year older …if I ask nicely, can we please cancel New Years Day.
I’m not African American (did I say it right?) so I’d like to see Martin Luther King Day cancelled as well. Can we do away with Valentines Day, since so many don’t have anyone to celebrate this with?
Never knew George or Abe, so Presidents’ Day needs to go away. Plus, it’s NOT FAIR to ALL of the other Presidents that their birthdays aren’t celebrated!!
I’m not too fond of a life sized bunny rabbit hopping around with baskets of colored eggs, cheap chocolate and jellybeans.. so I guess Easter is . . . outta here!
For all you women who can’t or haven’t had the chance to conceive, or for anyone whose Mother has passed… NO MORE MOTHER’s DAY (the same can also go for Fathers Day. I personally want them BOTH erased from the calendars)…. and since I’m This is thee most ridiculous thing I’ve heard.
Hey, a number of us DON’T want to get old…if I ask nicely, can we please cancel New Years Day.
I’m not African American (did I say it right?) so I’d like to see Martin Luther King Day cancelled as well. Can we do away with Valentines Day, since so many don’t have anyone to celebrate this with?
Never knew George or Abe, so Presidents’ Day needs to go away. Plus, it’s NOT FAIR to ALL of the other Presidents that their birthdays aren’t celebrated!!
I’m not too fond of a life sized bunny rabbit hopping around with baskets of colored eggs, cheap chocolate and jellybeans.. so I guess Easter is . . . outta here!
For all you women who can’t or haven’t had the chance to conceive, or for anyone whose Mother has passed… NO MORE MOTHER’s DAY (the same can also go for Fathers Day. I personally want them BOTH erased from the calendars)…. and since I’m not a Latina…. I’m sorry to say there can’t be Cinco de Mayo. Not sure if anyone actually celebrates Memorial Day the way it was I tended, so…..that 3 day weekend? Let’s scrap that one right off the calendar!
I can’t believe we are STILL celebrating Independence Day…after all that was 243 years ago….(yawn)….take it off the calendar, please.
Years ago we celebrated Admissions Day, but that got swept under the carpet.
I don’t know what to do with Labor Day, I no longer work and I think my feelings would get hurt if everybody got a day off..NO WAY! that has to be Cancelled… along with all of the Jewish holidays.
So let’s see… Thank you for changing Columbus Day, since I wasn’t sure ‘why’ we were celebrating this guy for sailing a ship to America in the first place …then to find out…he wasn’t the first!
Okay, we’ve taken care of Halloween, I don’t need to tell you how grateful we all are. Since I was never in the Military. we really need to Scrub Veterans Day.
I watched a lot of Westerns growing up and was always afraid of Indians, so I’m gonna say, that takes care of Thanksgiving… please yank that from our calendars. As for Kwanza, Hanukkah and Christmas…do I really need to say how unfair it is to celebrate these when some are not the religious types?
So there… ABSOLUTELY NOBODY will EVER be insulted, hurt, scared, or just pissed off from ALL of these Bizarre holidays we’ve been celebrating for hundreds of years! Now ALL of your calendars should be clear, perhaps you can schedule days of the week that have you up in arms!
PS…I am, however, VERY Irish; I d like to maybe keep St. Patrick’s Day…yes?
not a Latina…. I’m sorry to say there can’t be Cinco de Mayo. Not sure if anyone actually celebrates Memorial Day the way it was I tended, so…..that 3 day weekend? it’s got go as well.
I can’t believe we are STILL celebrating Independence Day…after all that was 243 years ago….yawn….take it off the calendar, please. Years ago we celebrated Admissions Day, but that got swept under the carpet.
I don’t know what to do with Labor Day, I no longer work and I think my feelings would get hurt if everybody got a day off..NO WAY! that has to be Cancelled… along with the Jewish holidays. So let’s see… Thank you for changing Columbus Day, since I wasn’t sure ‘why’ we were celebrating this guy for sailing a ship to America…then found out…he wasn’t the first! So we’ve taken care of Halloween, I don’t need to tell you how grateful we all are that we no longer have nor celebrate Halloween.
Oh, and since I was never in the Military. we most definitely need to Scrub Veterans Day. Take it off now.
I watched a lot of Westerns growing up and was always afraid of Indians, so I’m gonna say, that takes care of Thanksgiving… I would have been afraid to eat with them, so I am begging you to please yank that from our calendars. As for Kwanza, Hanukkah and Christmas…do I really need to say how unfair it is to celebrate these when some are not the religious types?
So there… ABSOLUTELY NOBODY will EVER be insulted, hurt, scared, or just pissed off from ALL of these Bizarre holidays we’ve been celebrating for hundreds of years! Now ALL of your calendars should be clear, perhaps you can schedule days of the week that have you are afraid of or days you can find something else that is personally bothering you. I’m sure there are words that need to be changed or omitted from our language… hmmmmm here’s a word…’crazy’. I’d like to get rid of that because I had a family member who was such fun, but was called ‘crazy’. That hurts my feelings, I’d like that word to vanish!
How can we make everybody happy? By taking things away that children for years and years have lived? Take away anything good and replace with air? What a boring boring world we’re getting closer to live in.
I know Mormons who don’t drink, or eat certain things… however they don’t go on a rampage to get rid of all bars and certain foods… they live around it. I know Jehovah Witness’ that don’t celebrate holidays… they haven’t asked to rip them from the colander… instead they just DON’T choose to celebrate these days. Why some people think they are above the norm and want to rearrange life as we know it, amazes me… they’re the ones who should get eradicated.
PS…I am, however, VERY Irish; I d like to maybe keep St. Patrick’s Day…yes?
This person wants to rearrange the lives of others because like any good sociopath, they see themselves at the center of the universe. In contrast, they were also the kid nobody would play with in school, and still can’t understand why.
Put in a position of power, they get to be the dictator and find that soothing.
I was always rooting for the Indians in those Westerns.
TL;DR
Now it’s time to cancel the Day of the Dead “celebration”. It’s creepy seeing people dressed as skeletons and having their faces painted like skulls. It’s not only cultural appropriation but also a so called religious celebration. So WHY do people who do not care for said celebration should be made to be part of it or be around it when they don’t want to!!?? But I imagine that if that holiday stops being celebrated people will take to the streets to complain about oppression.
First of all, can we please stop the “liberals are behind this” comments. It’s not true and it’s a generalization.
Second, my children attended a public school where after Kindergarten, students were not allowed to dress up. I did not agree and many years later, still do not agree. Let’s lighten up! Dressing up was/is just plain fun, and kids routinely pretend to take on the persona of others. It’s normal, it’s human, and it’s okay. Those of us in earlier generations did it, and we all survived.
Right. Liberals understand that freedom is sometimes a little messy, but there aren’t many liberals left, or they’re not making their voices heard. This is the work of authoritarian leftists.
@TeacherMom “… can we please stop the ‘liberals are behind this’ comments. It’s not true …” Check the woman’s Facebook page. I’m told for all intents and purposes, she is living the liberal lifestyle in full regalia, “out and proud” as they say. But, apparently so insecure about it that she needs the validation of everyone she’s trying to convert to her way of thinking with this proposal.
Lmao
This is ridiculous. Absolutely nobody says that Halloween means CHANGING YOUR IDENTITY. You stay you, you’re just… you wearing different clothes, because one day out of the year means you get to do something different. FFS, this reads like a bad joke.
I’m so tired of all this “cultural misappropriation” b.s. People get butt hurt so quickly these days. I am from a minority group and do not, in the slightest, feel offended if someone dresses in the garb that represents my ethnicity.
There is so much mixing of the races these days that hardly anyone is pure this or that. It’s time for people to just lighten up. There are more important issues facing the human race.
People are so empty these days that they think the only way they can get love is to be a victim,and get lots of hugs and support.They are now part of a group.
That’s sad.
Guessing then that this school district doesn’t acknowledge the new gender identity issues, as that has people changing their identities from the one they were born with. Or is that different, cause that’s the flavor of the decade and oh so politically correct…..
Vermont is for lovers and morons.
This comes from the state that keeps electing Bernie Sanders. Need I say more?
Seriously? This is too much.
It’s called restricting the costumes. Just restrict the costumes to make sure no one is partaking in cultural appropriation. Send them to the office if they break the rule. Why would you cancel a whole celebration of a day like this for something that could potentially happen?
Look at the woman’s Facebook page who canceled it. Miriam Ehtesham-Cating
You’ll understand why it was canceled.
Vermont is full of Socialists idiots.
What else would you expect ?
This whole PC thing is just going insane. You can start to extend this thought even further….say, school lunches too. A “fully inclusive” school lunch couldn’t contain dairy products (to not lactose-shame those with that condition), beef, pork, fully vegetarian meals, etc. etc. and could reach a point where you cannot serve anything. No matter what you do anymore, someone could find offense in it as they will look very hard to find a reason to be offended. This is just ridiculousness run rampant. It is beyond me how so many people play into this garbage.
Brides should also stop wearing bridal gowns because they look like a beautiful princess or queen. It offends!!!!
I went out and read some of the actual reporting done on this school from the newspapers local to the community.
The reasoning never mentioned anybody being “offended” by the celebrations as reasoning for the cancellation. So any comments about “lol snowflakes” aren’t really accurate to the situation.
It does sound like the administration and teachers, who work with students as a group have a much better understanding of the student community. And from what I gather it seems like the Halloween celebrations haven’t been really fun for a lot of students. Seeing how a party SHOULD be fun, if people are doing it “just because” it loses the importance.
Could this happen here? I would imagine it depends on the community of the schools. If it feels like just another thing they have to do the maybe energies are better spend creating new traditions that reflect the interests of the student community.
After all, what is tradition than just peer pressure from dead people?
Go back to your safe space Margaret and leave the rest of us alone. If you snowflakes don’t like Halloween, just ignore it.
America has become an extremely overly sensitive country! From the Always pad company taking the female symbol off to this, this is rediculous!
That’s amazing C&H….. why I was just saying the exact same thing last night! ( I was boozed to the gills )…. but tell me now, what does it mean?
@Jellyfinger I thought you said last week that the doctor told you not to drink for a couple of weeks.
Doctors…… what the hell do they know?
And now my low-grade headache has morphed into a full blown migraine. Thanks, nitwits!
Good luck to the party poopers who want take away the Halloween fun from the kids! If the schools want to avoid school closures, they better think twice about cancelling Halloween celebration. I know there are a lot of parents here who grew up celebrating Halloween at their preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Surely, these parents would love it if their kids got experience the same fun they had when they were kids.
Vermont is more liberal than California. I used to go skiing there in the 80s and back then, people were just “hippies”, not stupid people. Apparently Vermont-ers are dumb enough to re-elect Bernie Sanders, for reasons that boggle.
In California in the 2000s, Silverwood’s Principal did not allow Halloween. No replacement party event either (aka “Harvest Celebration”). I believe it was her religious convictions that led her to cancel the event. HOWEVER, where is the rule that says everyone has to be EQUAL? We are not equal, we will never be equal, and that is by design and culture.
This bullsh*t falls under the category of “Life Is Not FAIR”. Sorry to disappoint y’all.