Page One story in Friday’s New York Times: “Drop the Mask! It’s Halloween, Kids, You Might Scare Somebody.”
Guns, daggers and other toy weapons have long been excised from costumes at many school celebrations on Halloween. But in some classrooms across the country, the interpretation of what is too scary — or offensive, gross or saddening — is now also leading to an abundance of caution and some prohibitions.
That’s appalling enough. But then there’s this:
Even at a public school named after the man who practically invented cloak and daggers for children, there are restrictions.
“Children are not allowed to bring any weapons or masks to the costume parade, no swords, and they can wear moderate face makeup — nothing extreme,” explained Addys Gonzalez, the office assistant at the Walt Disney Elementary School in Burbank, Calif.
Walt Disney “practically invented cloak and daggers for children?”
Really? I don’t think so.
