Death of Innocence

So, I went to my son's curriculum night at school last night, where we parents get to hear from the teachers their overall plan for the school year. Note, I hate these types of events, because Edmonds is very yuppified, and my weird little self tends to stick out in the sea of Eddie Bauer clones like a bright red..er, thumb?
Everything from science kits to vocabulary studies were discussed. I dutifully wrote down all of the important info, since I will of course be researching all of the lesson plans at home. They've changed a lot of this stuff since I was a kid, but it seems like the ways they are teaching are definitely more improved, and designed to tap into all the alternate ways the kids learn. I filled out a parent volunteer pack, too, which apparently requires all parents going into classrooms to have a complete bacground check. Scary, but necessary.
Since my son is in special ed, I got to actually go to two different sessions, one with his general classroom (approximately 25 children in first grade), and one for the special ed group (12 kids total, ranging from 1st through 3rd grade). Since the second session was smaller and less formal, we got to ask about more of the extra curricular activites offered for our students. Ya know, fundraisers, feild trips, that sort of thing. I asked about donating books to the library, since I was hoping to secretly insert a few about alternative families.
Towards the end of the session, I asked, "So, what all do the kids get to do for Halloween? Did you need any donated mini pumpkins for decorating or anything?" .....dead silence in the room. The horrified looks on the other parents' and the teachers' faces made me shrink in my seat. You'd think I had just asked about sacraficing baby chickens in the lunch room.
"We are NOT allowed to acknowledge that holiday in any such fashion whatsoEVER!!" was the teacher's eventual stammered response. All the other parents nodded in unison. Apparently I was the last person to know about this.
Needless to say, I was quite incredidulous. I started listing off what I thought were seemingly innocuous activities...and then was firmly told the rules of the new regime.
I was then told if my son was dressed up, he would be sent HOME. There would be no trick or treating, no little ghost paper maches, no "spooky stories" read. Nothin. In the teacher's own words, "Halloween has been banned from public schools for a few years now". I am completely, utterly appalled. Halloween is a cultural afront? To WHO?!
Halloween time for the kiddies at school was friggin awesome when I was a kid. All our classmates would dress up, and there were pictures galore. One of the best parts was seeing what your friends whipped up in the ol' costume closet. after giggling over who had the best He-man costume, we'd read Casper-like stories, ya know, innocent enough not to scare the pants off a 7 year old, but still with a friendly "skeleton", or a vampire that was afraid of the dark. Hello, anyone remember Bunnicula?! Best Halloween story EVER. And of course, there were the decorated cookies, craft paper haunted houses, and mini pumkins with glitter. I even remember my elementary school would have a Halloween festival that night with all the teachers dressed up and little games the kids could play. It was a great way for the younger kids to have some innocent halloween fun in a safe environment, obligatory bobbing for apples included.
Now, granted, I will probably now just be doing all of this at home with kiddo. I always like to let him paint a small pumpkin, and I guess this year I'll have to get some sugar cookie dough together for him to get his decoratin' groove on. But now he'll miss what I considered to be one of the best parts, which is sharing the holiday with his peers. Halloween is fun, but it's a memory-making moment when it's surrounded by 12 other little ghosts and goblins giggling over a jackolantern cookie with M&Ms for eyes. It's the one holiday that isn't wrapped in religious sentiment or serious moral undertone. Yes, I know it is technically a pagan celebration of the harvest, and butts up next to the hispanic Dia De Los Muertos, but to most every modern individual, it's a day celebrating goofiness and all things "spooky". It's a day to laugh at the things that go bump in the night. It's one of the classic moments of childhood that I thought crossed all cultural lines, at least, when I was young it did.
But now, thanks to lord only knows what stick-up-the-ass group of lameo individuals, this priceless moment of childhood has been robbed from our offspring. People seem to be so DAMN eager to get upset and offended over every little thing, that we allow our children no exploration whatsoever.
Grrrr.....I have half a mind to dress up like a giant pumpkin on the friday preceding the day, stand outside of kiddo's school, and just start pelting kids with smarties.