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ENLARGE
Special to the LVN
Northside Early Learning Center's “Family Fall Festival” featured teachers having craft booths whereby families were able to make and take home projects to celebrate the season. Students also had an opportunity to enjoy the pumpkin patch and corn maze like Kaitlynn, left, and Lillian Kranzler.
Parents and students may have noticed Churchill County schools do not celebrate a Halloween event the last day of school before the holiday, but what most do not know is that tradition began with a tragedy.
Jane Anderson, Churchill County Junior High School principal, pointed out the district-wide moved away from Halloween occurred in October 2001, one month after 9/11 when planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing almost 3,000 people.
“We had a lot of kids who were upset about that and thinking scary things about that,” Anderson said.
Anderson said principals felt costumes related to gore and death could add to the fear. Many administrators have come to the district after that decision, but she said the tradition continued for multiple reasons.
Anderson, along with Northside Elementary Principal Gregg Malkovich, Numa Elementary Principal Robert Freeman and Lahontan Elementary Principal Mike Hogan, said Halloween has always been problematic because costumes are a distraction.
“At the elementary level it was a day lost,” Anderson said. “They could learn nothing during that time.”
Plus, the principals said there were always students whose family values or religion restricted their participation in Halloween festivities.
“We did have kids who couldn't participate,” Anderson said. “This allows everybody to participate.”
Nevada Day is a popular substitute for Halloween because of the proximity of the holidays. Nevada Day celebrates the admission of the state into the Union, and most Churchill County schools celebrate by teaching Nevada history and culture, which can include dress-up and candy, but the details are generally left to individual classes.
CCJHS, for example, had a Wild Wild West day, Anderson said, which the student council chose not only to include cowboy themes but also anything from Western culture.
“We have a very rich West,” Anderson said. “I am going to be wearing my mountain gear because I'm a big backpacker.”
Anderson said costumes connected to an educational topic like Nevada Day allow teachers to relate the excitement back to education. Nevertheless, Malkovich and Freeman said many schools still find costumes too much of a distraction, so some do not encourage dressing up.
Other schools have different events instead of a Halloween event. West End Elementary and E.C. Best Elementary Schools hold storybook character events, said West End Elementary Principal Kimi Melendy. Malkovich said Northside Elementary holds a Family Fall Festival, where students pick pumpkins and do fall activities at Lattin Farms. Freeman said Numa Elementary does a Pirate Math Night, where students and parents do math activities and enjoy “trunk-or-treating,” which involves teachers giving out candy from the trunks of their cars.
Anderson said local schools originally stopped doing Halloween to prevent further fear after a national tragedy, and school officials prefer alternatives that prevent distraction and do not leave anyone out.
Jane Anderson, Churchill County Junior High School principal, pointed out the district-wide moved away from Halloween occurred in October 2001, one month after 9/11 when planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing almost 3,000 people.
“We had a lot of kids who were upset about that and thinking scary things about that,” Anderson said.
Anderson said principals felt costumes related to gore and death could add to the fear. Many administrators have come to the district after that decision, but she said the tradition continued for multiple reasons.
Anderson, along with Northside Elementary Principal Gregg Malkovich, Numa Elementary Principal Robert Freeman and Lahontan Elementary Principal Mike Hogan, said Halloween has always been problematic because costumes are a distraction.
“At the elementary level it was a day lost,” Anderson said. “They could learn nothing during that time.”
Plus, the principals said there were always students whose family values or religion restricted their participation in Halloween festivities.
“We did have kids who couldn't participate,” Anderson said. “This allows everybody to participate.”
Nevada Day is a popular substitute for Halloween because of the proximity of the holidays. Nevada Day celebrates the admission of the state into the Union, and most Churchill County schools celebrate by teaching Nevada history and culture, which can include dress-up and candy, but the details are generally left to individual classes.
CCJHS, for example, had a Wild Wild West day, Anderson said, which the student council chose not only to include cowboy themes but also anything from Western culture.
“We have a very rich West,” Anderson said. “I am going to be wearing my mountain gear because I'm a big backpacker.”
Anderson said costumes connected to an educational topic like Nevada Day allow teachers to relate the excitement back to education. Nevertheless, Malkovich and Freeman said many schools still find costumes too much of a distraction, so some do not encourage dressing up.
Other schools have different events instead of a Halloween event. West End Elementary and E.C. Best Elementary Schools hold storybook character events, said West End Elementary Principal Kimi Melendy. Malkovich said Northside Elementary holds a Family Fall Festival, where students pick pumpkins and do fall activities at Lattin Farms. Freeman said Numa Elementary does a Pirate Math Night, where students and parents do math activities and enjoy “trunk-or-treating,” which involves teachers giving out candy from the trunks of their cars.
Anderson said local schools originally stopped doing Halloween to prevent further fear after a national tragedy, and school officials prefer alternatives that prevent distraction and do not leave anyone out.
