Halloween, the time of the year when people are able to fulfill their dreams of being any person or thing they want to be for an entire night, or for some an entire month. The costumes, however, can sometimes arise controversial issues in others, due to the fact that they could be too scary, too scandalous or too negative, especially with students at school.

“I don’t like the fact that when I go to school I’ll sometimes see costumes on campus that are a lot more terrifying than others, I feel like I have to hide behind people to get to my class, said Brooke-lynn Santos.

Certain rules are placed for students that are participating in dressing up in Halloween costumes at school, mainly for the protection of students who may be offended or frightened.  Rules such as, no masks or face paint that cover the face, no weapons (including fake) of any sort, no overly revealing costumes and no costumes demeaning race, religion and nationality are prohibited on campus.

“The dress code is in place to protect the students.  If students were allowed to wear masks and bring fake weapons, we wouldn’t be able to identify who they are and an intruder could easily show up on campus without us knowing,” said Mr. Bursch.

Some students believe school teachers and officials take the dress code on Halloween to harshly on a day where everyone just wants to have fun and celebrate.

“The school district should cut some slack for Halloween costumes, with the exceptions of weapons because of safety concerns.  As for clothing, it would be nice if they loosened up for one day and allowed slightly shorter outfits or mask that had to be taken off when in class,” said Jazmyne Duran (12).

Getting all dressed up, participating in Halloween spirit days at school, having Halloween class parties loaded with food and treats all add to the excitement and fun of this unusual holiday and getting dress coded would definitely be a damper on your day.

“Students shouldn’t have to question their costume just because it may scare someone else or it may have the slightest chance of offending another student.  If there is truly a problem with a student costume then they should be asked to change, but just like people have a type of style in their everyday wardrobe, people also have a style expressing their personality when it comes to dressing up for Halloween and shouldn’t have to censor it,” said Jaylon Pettis (12).

Opinions vary from person to person and it’s hard to find a happy medium that everyone is content with.  For future Halloween’s, students should take in account other people’s feelings and whether or not their costume is school appropriate, while schools should consider letting a few things slide for the sake of free expression and having fun.