A New Jersey elementary school is canceling Halloween festivities, not because of scary costumes or fear of hundreds of sugar-hyped kids, but because of “diversity reasons.”

Seth Boyden Elementary School is canceling all in-school celebrations for Friday. The school had problems last year pertaining to Halloween, but a last-minute protest forced the school to still hold whatever celebrations they had planned. School principal Mark Quiles issued a letter to parents, which contained the following statement, according to maplewoodian.com.

“As we all know, one of the strengths of Seth Boyden is that we are such a diverse community, with many cultures represented, and that we truly value each one. In the past, in-school celebrations of Halloween have made many of our students feel left out — last year 120 students did not participate in the celebrations, and many other families kept their children home on that day. In total, 20 percent of our students did not participate,” Quiles said.

The community will still have its weekend fall festival, but nothing about the holiday will be publicly celebrated by the school.

Apparently 20 percent is considered the majority in New Jersey.

I kept looking online for sources who would explain what the “diversity reasons” were, but I could not find anything. Was it about race? Religion? Personal preference? It seems no source, including the school itself, would come out with a direct answer besides the fact that the Jersey neighborhood has many cultures represented in it.

I do not know why these children did not want to celebrate Halloween, but apparently the 120 who did not like it (and I am assuming their parents, also) were enough to override the 80 percent of children who actually enjoyed Halloween.

What kind of kid does not like getting free candy?

This whole situation does not really make that much sense. Last year, the families who did not want their child to celebrate Halloween at school simply kept them at home. The school does not want this to happen again, as they do not want to deny the students the opportunity to learn.

What kind of kid wants to learn on Halloween?

In all seriousness, though, Halloween should not have been canceled at the school. An overwhelming majority of parents and students were in favor of Halloween at the school. The one article I read had a poll asking readers their opinion on the actions of the school and more than 80 percent of them said the school should not have canceled their annual festivities in its situation.

Why can the families who were apparently offended by Halloween not just tell their children to go to school and not worry about actually celebrating? They could have just went to school and had a normal day and not participated in any games or whatever the school had planned.

Things should not be canceled because a few people do not approve of it or partake in it. They can simply choose not to celebrate. It is that easy. I understand respecting different cultures, but in that case, the argument could be made that Halloween is a central part of American culture and since New Jersey is a part of America (whether people like it or not), they should let the people eat candy and dress like a superhero if they want.

If I was a student at Seth Boyden Elementary School, I would be pretty upset that I do not get any candy because firstly, I like candy, and secondly, I do not get any candy because a few other students and their parents do not want any candy. It just makes no logical sense. Halloween is one of the more controversial holidays, but nobody was forcing the students to participate. This should have simply been a “majority rules” case instead of trying to please a select few. Long live Halloween and long live free candy.

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