Tia Fore loves that Halloween at her son’s school will be an inclusive, welcoming event this year with clear rules ensuring that problematic costumes are left at home.
“I would never want to offend someone’s culture, their character, or their family values. That is something I would never want to offend,” said Fore, whose 7-year-old son, Parker, attends Federal Hill Prep in Federal Hill.
Fore, who is a kindergarten teacher at Southwest Baltimore Charter School, said her workplace has a similar approach to dressing up for Halloween. This year, teachers and students are dressing up as characters from books.
As Halloween approaches, so does the need for schools to make sure that students dress in costumes that are culturally and ethnically respectful of others, educators and experts agree.
A number of schools avoid Halloween celebrations — and the problematic costumes that it can bring — altogether. Of those schools that allow celebrations, many have rules prohibiting masks and weapons with Halloween costumes. In recent years, some schools have expanded their list of prohibited items to include racially and culturally offensive costumes.
Last year, offensive Halloween costumes in one Utah high school led to two students being sent home and county-wide discussions about race, diversity, and inclusion. Also last year, three elementary schools in central New York banned costumes inspired by the Netflix hit “Squid Game” due to the violent content of the show.
Just this month, Olympic medalist and gymnast Simone Biles urged her followers not to dress up like Jeffrey Dahmer following the success of the Netflix series about the American serial killer and sex offender.
“I’m definitely OK with it,” Fore said of school guidelines. “I agree with what they say. It’s all about diversity.”
While Fore thinks that parents should dress young children the way they want, she also believes they should think about how those costumes could negatively affect other children.
“It may just be your child, but it may be offensive to someone’s culture, religion and background,” she said.
Zoey Washington of Woodbrook said she’s seen schools become “way more direct and open and not tolerating anything hateful” in messages to parents leading up to Halloween. She thinks people are overall more aware of how costumes can be offensive, but the former fashion editor of Essence, Elle and People magazines offered a few tips for those who are unclear.
“Using common sense is the best way to go about it,” she said.
Avoid dressing kids up in “blanket identities,” Washington said, because wearing a sombrero and mustache isn’t appropriate. When she was younger, she said, she once saw people dressed as hobos while they cosplayed being homeless.
While she urges parents to exercise caution, she said it doesn’t mean kids cannot dress up as characters from a different ethnicity. She referenced a 2019 USA Today story that suggested parents be careful when dressing up their kids as Disney characters like Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, Princess Tiana, Mulan and Black Panther.
“I don’t see any problem with a little redhead running around in a Black Panther costume,” said Washington, the vice president of content at Jellyfish, a global creative agency, adding that those characters can still be celebrated by kids with different racial identities.
Washington said it is dangerous to steer children away from characters of color after Disney went so long without having that representation. Putting them on a “be careful” list can be just as harmful.
Finding the appropriate approach can be tough, Washington said. There is a line between celebrating and lampooning. So she suggests avoiding wearing what you cannot explain, citing hijabs and bindis as an example.
“If you don’t know the significance of the thing that you’re putting the child in, then they shouldn’t be wearing it,” the mother of two said.
She also warned against mimicking hair texture and, of course, changing your skin color. She saw a white child wear a Bob Marley costume. He didn’t change his hair but wore a Rastafarian-inspired hat and tie-dyed shirt while carrying a boombox blasting the Jamaican singer’s music.
“If that’s what it takes to get a white kid from wearing dreads, then so be it,” she said.
Towanda Cofield, principal at Federal Hill Prep, sent out reminders to parents this fall — for the second year in a row — delineating what represents appropriate costumes for students. She said the reminder was needed to make sure that students “weren’t being scared during a time when we are celebrating or having a great time. We don’t want the costumes to impact students in a negative way.”
The school, which has about 330 students and ranges from pre-K to the fifth grade, has never had a problem with insensitive costumes — and Cofield wants to keep it that way.
”We are an international baccalaureate candidate school. And we want to make sure that we are respecting everybody’s cultures and not using somebody’s culture as a way to dress up and make fun. Some kids, their intention is not to make fun. But we still have to be responsible for teaching them what is appropriate,” she said. “If a child is dressing up as Moana, we know the child is doing that because of a Disney movie that they have seen. Not because they are trying to be that person or represent that culture.”
There have been a number of students who want to dress up as Black Panther and wear African garb, according to Cofield.
”But it is still our responsibility to make sure they represent it with pride and not to make fun of,” she said. “It’s just a matter of teaching kids the right things because once they leave us, they are on their own and they are in middle and high school. We want to be responsible for helping them to make good decisions.”
Kristen Brown, who leads the community, life and inclusion committee of the parent association at Garrison Forest School, a private girls school in Baltimore County, said she believes children who dress up in insensitive costumes are often reflecting the behavior of adults.
In the past five years, she said, media outlets have reported on politicians wearing Blackface in past or current photos; celebrities having worn culturally inappropriate costumes; or college fraternities facing criticism for hosting Halloween-themed parties where attendees worse costumes mocking other cultures.
“All of those three will trickle down to typical K-12 schools,” said the Woodstock resident, who has two children, ages 4 and 8, who attend Garrison Forest School.
Brown, who is a finance and program manager and alum of Garrison Forest, said insensitive Halloween costumes have never been a problem at the school.
“I think that Garrison has always stood by their tolerance,” she said. “They begin these discussions very early. The sense of community all starts so young that by the time you get to middle and upper levels, those core values and sense of community are ingrained at that point.”
School officials underscored those values in a recent email to parents stressing that children’s costumes should “align with our Statement of Respect and Core Values.”
In addition to warning against wearing masks that “make it impossible to see a child’s face, weapons, or ‘creepy clown’ costumes,” it said students should refrain from choosing any costume that mocks or appropriates cultural or religious symbols; promotes a stereotype of a culture, ethnicity, or gender; or represents current political figures or comments on current political debates.
“We will ask any student who arrives in a costume that seems inappropriate in any way to remove it. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please contact your Division Head,” the letter states.
Here’s a look at what school systems in the Baltimore region are doing to ensure costumes are appropriate and respectful:
Anne Arundel
While the school system does not have a specific Halloween costume policy, it has policies that cover student attire, bias behavior and language, and bullying, according to Bob Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
“Costumes would still have to comply with those,” said Mosier, who added that insensitive costumes have “generally not been an issue for us.”
Baltimore County, City
Most public schools in Baltimore County do not have Halloween celebrations, according to Gboyinde Onijala, director of communications and community outreach for the school system.
“If there was an opportunity for students to dress up for a fall celebration as an example, students would need to adhere to our dress code and our Board policy that addresses hate symbols,” Onijala said.
That policy prohibits “the use of language and/or the display of images and symbols which promote hate, racial or ethnic violence or intimidation and can be reasonably expected to cause a material and substantial disruption to school activities. Such images and symbols include, but will not be limited to, swastikas, the Confederate flag and nooses.”
Baltimore City Public Schools did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Carroll County
Although the school system does not have a Halloween policy, it has abandoned Halloween celebrations in schools altogether.
Instead schools have “fall celebrations” where students may dress up as storybook characters relating to books they are reading, according to Carey Gaddis, communications officer for Carroll County Public Schools.
Gaddis said the shift away from Halloween celebrations has “been this way for as long as I can remember and that would be for over 30 years.”
Howard County
“We don’t have a specific policy or rules on Halloween costumes. However, all clothing worn by students and staff (whether Halloween costumes or not) must align to all HCPSS policies and dress code,” said Brian W. Bassett, director of communication and engagement for Howard County Public School System.
Insensitive costumes have not been a “systemic issue,” according to Bassett.
“Any isolated incidents would have been handled at the school level,” Bassett said.
Harford County
The school system does not “support initiatives around Halloween,” according to Jillian V. Lader, manager of communications from the Office of Communications and Family Outreach for Harford County Public Schools. “While we do not support costumes on this date, if a parent/guardian chooses to send a student in costume, HCPS utilizes our existing dress code guidance to ensure that any clothing, including costumes, are not culturally insensitive.”
The school system’s dress code policy states: “Students have the responsibility to choose their attire and to arrange their personal appearance in a manner that is safe, healthy, inoffensive, and not disruptive to the educational process. The student dress code is intended to create and preserve a positive climate for teaching and learning, reduce the possibility of discipline problems, and preserve school order and safety.”
