Superintendent's Handling Of Halloween Decision Criticized By School Committee

MELROSE, MA — School Committee members criticized how Superintendent Julie Kukenberger went about essentially cutting Halloween out of the district's celebrations, lamenting the communication, transparency and timing of the decision.

After a barrage of parent correspondence and media requests following her decision, Kukenberger sat in her usual spot for Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, to the right of Chair Jen McAndrew. Despite the topic not being on the agenda, it couldn't be ignored.

"For some people it was the subject itself, but for a lot of people it was the communication and the lack of involvement of those schools where it was impacted," School Committee member John Obremski said. "I think that's really what the administration has to focus on is the transparency and the inclusion of families in these decisions."

Obremski said that while families can't and shouldn't be involved in every decision, "When you have traditions and rituals and routines and those are suddenly removed, I think that's what upset families."

McAndrew echoed Obremski's feelings, adding that Kukenberger's review with school leadership of other events and celebrations on the school calendar needs to be done differently.

"I think it's important that that review is very transparent, that the entire community gets to provide input and thought around that," McAndrew said. She also said the move coming just over a week before the holiday did not help.

McAndrew, who offered strong support of Kukenberger at the very end of meeting, agreed with Kukenberger's decision to "broaden fall celebrations," a point she emphasized Wednesday morning with Patch.

"The superintendent is not 'cancelling' Halloween in Melrose, as she said last night," McAndrew said. "She’s not getting in the way of fun classroom activities and celebrations. Instead, Dr. Kukenberger and her leadership team are broadening fall celebrations beyond Halloween, and de-emphasizing it as the focus, which I support. She’s also allowing principals and educators to adapt the celebrations (like moving away from a costume parade) in ways that work best for their whole school community, as they should as school leaders."

The two school parents in public comment spoke against Kukenberger's decision, referencing other things kids do that wouldn't be de-emphasized based on a small handful of complaints, such as eating meat at lunch or soccer at recess.

Kukenberger sought to clarify what it is the district is doing.

"We're not canceling Halloween," she said. "We're not saying that Halloween's not a valid celebration for families. I myself celebrate Halloween outside of school with my family, as do many of our educators. Our intent here is just to make sure we're not centering everything that we do during the fall season around Halloween alone."

Kukenberger sparked an overwhelming backlash Friday when she confirmed in a letter to parents the district was no longer celebrating Halloween. Kukenberger told Patch on Saturday her primary reasoning was to keep kids who may not participate in Halloween activities in school while cultivating inclusion for other kids.

Parents immediately made their voices heard. A petition to "keep Halloween for our kids" has more than 2,200 signatures. A costumed standout is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the high school parking lot. Several news outlets came in from out of town to cover the story as community outrage grew.

Meanwhile, apoplectic parents took to social media to air their grievances, some believing Halloween was not allowed in class at all. Students are in fact still allowed to dress up and more or less celebrate Halloween in class, but the school's fall celebrations will no longer be centered around the holiday.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi and Instagram at Melrose Happening. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook