Kids, parents are giddy after school agrees to celebrate Halloween

Raven-haired witches and blood-slurping vampires, rejoice: Your Halloween reign will continue at John F. Kennedy School in Oak Park.

On Friday, students have the option of wearing costumes to school -- appropriate ghoul garb only, please -- because teachers retracted a decree nixing costumes at the K-6 school.

Principal Barbara Stein said outcry was so intense, school officials decided it wasn't worth the battle to enforce the no-costume rule. She spread the word at a meeting with parentsMonday and is expected to send a letter home with students today.

Several kids who fought the system -- bringing a 160-plus-signature petition to the Ferndale Public School's Board of Educationlast week -- said the change of heart was a victory.

"It's really nice they would actually bend their decision and reconsider what they already said and listen to us," said Maggie Maiorana, 10, a fifth-grader.

Heather Cadilac, 11, said she jumped up and down when she heard the news Tuesday.

"I'm a sixth-grader, so this was my last year to dress up," she said.

Both Heather and Maggie plan to show up Friday dressed as witches -- Maggie as the traditional, black-haired type, and Heather as a blond spider witch covered in cobwebs.

The parents are almost as giddy about the news.

"School is all work sheets and discipline these days," said Cindy Goustin, whose 8-year-old daughter, Lydia, helped gather signatures on the petition and plans to dress up as an assassin.

"The idea of being a kid and enjoying life has gone right out of school, I think."

Lydia and several friends, including Heather, Maggie and Katie O'Rear -- who will be a princess Friday -- also wore buttons Katie made, reading "No Costumes No Fair" to school last week.

But Stein said it wasn't the student reaction that moved teachers to change their minds.

"There was more controversy generated from parents than the children," she said. "A very small group felt we were quashing fun."

That's how Katie and her mother, Mary Jo O'Rear, saw it.

But it's not unheard of, according to state school officials.

Bill Scharffe with the Michigan Association of School Boards said several districts in the state have opted to skip Halloween celebrations in recent years.

"It's been in response to parental concerns about Halloween being a pagan holiday with overtones of witchcraft and debauchery," he said.

That was one reason Kennedy teachers and aides voted 17-6 to skip dressing up this year, Stein said.

Among the other reasons: "How many Britney Spears do we need walking around here?" Stein asked with a laugh.