Daily Local News Backs PASD Halloween Ban

In a rare defense of the Phoenixville Area School District’s move to discontinue Halloween celebrations in its elementary schools in favor of a “fall festival,” the Daily Local News called superintendent Alan Fegley’s decision “reasoned and reasonable.”

In an editorial the paper published on October 24, it expressed agreement with Fegley’s assertion that the costume competition between students does more harm than good and referenced approvingly his view that the absentee increase the holiday has influenced—Fegley said absenteeism jumps from 4 percent to 9 percent on Halloween—is unacceptable.

Its only disagreement with the controversial policy, the editorial went on, is that it allows for any party at all.

“At the risk of not sounding too harsh,” the editorial reads, “we have a feeling that celebrations can get in the way of the business of school, which is to learn. Perhaps the focus should be shifted away from this indoor recreation to more scholastic efforts.”