School Halloween parade changes in store
School officials cite security concerns; parents blast decision
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

METUCHEN - Parents are upset with school officials' plans to ban their attendance at the traditional Oct. 31 Halloween parade at the Campbell Elementary School and move the event indoors.

Superintendent of Schools Theresa Sinatra said the current climate in schools today is the reason she decided to move the parade indoors, without the parents walking next to their children.

"My administration and I have talked about this matter for many years," Sinatra said at the Oct. 17 Board of Education meeting. "We have 618 students at Campbell and one administrator. Now you add 300 more people that would come to the parade. It might attract a bad individual that is not invited ... and it causes too much risk."

But one parent said Sinatra is playing the fear card.

"We have lived in fear 40 to 60 years ago also," said Marianne Hagy, the secretary for the Moss and Campbell School Parent Teacher Organization. Hagy has a son in third grade. "We have lived through 9/11. We should not surround ourselves with fear."

Sinatra pointed to the three most recent school shootings across the nation.

Duane Morrison, 53, took six girls hostage at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colo., molesting them and holding them for hours before fatally shooting one girl and then himself on Sept. 27. Eric Hainstock, 15, took two guns into his Cazenovia, Wisc., school and fatally shot the principal before being captured and arrested on Sept. 29. Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, took 10 girls hostage in an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pa., and killed five of them before killing himself on Oct. 2.

Campbell School Principal Robert Gugliara said he was also concerned.

"Just last week, a 35-year-old Edison man was found carrying an unloaded 8 mm Mauser assault rifle, a bayonet and drug paraphernalia in a large duffel bag in the borough near the intersection Hanson Avenue and Kempson Place," he said. "We as educators have to react; it is warranted. For us to hold the Halloween parade outside will be an unnecessary risk. It's sad that we need to change things, but that is how it is these days."

Traditionally, students from Moss and Campbell come to school dressed up in their Halloween costumes and parade around the Campbell school with their teachers and parents.

More than 60 parents attended the board meeting to voice their objections to Sinatra's plan.

"I found out that the parade was moved indoors, and no parents were allowed on the playground that Friday [Oct. 13]," Hagy said. "Then I found out on Tuesday afternoon that they [the administration] had a meeting on Monday to discuss the issue and I thought I should have been invited. I as a parent am insulted that I was not advised of this and wasn't able to give my opinion."

Hagy and other parents are circulating a petition demanding the parade be held as it always has. They are also concerned about other school events, like the book fair, the talent show, and the spring extravaganza.

"Is the book fair going to be canceled also?" Hagy asked. "There's no security at the fair. This shows inconsistencies with the decision made. What about the spring extravaganza and talent show? I am concerned as a community that the administration is not working with the PTOs. The decision on the Halloween parade came out of nowhere. Recess is outside; why was that not brought up?"

Gugliara said there is a difference between the parade and the other school events.

"The parents who come during the day to the book fair work there," said Gugliara. "The other parents come in the evening when the kids are not in the school. The talent show is in Metuchen High School and the parents bring their child to the event. Though we take the security precautions, the parents are responsible for their own child."

Warren Brooks, who has a child in Campbell and a child in the Metuchen High School, said he was depressed when he heard about the change.

"I give the board a lot of credit for discussing this topic, but I think the board should think about what impact your decision will be on the child," said Brooks. "I have to tell my 7-year-old that he can't do what his brother did when he was in Campbell because of what some crazy gunman did in Pennsylvania and somehow permeated to Metuchen. I think the change of venue creates an aura of fear in these kids. The rule should have been parents shouldn't wear costumes or masks."

Metuchen High School Principal John Novak said if a community starts to think that something like the shootings can't happen in their community, it makes the community more vulnerable.

"What was said was that 80 percent of these shooters told someone what they were going to do," he said. "Our only defense that we [staff and students] share is to pass the information. We don't want something to happen before it's too late because it changes a community forever."

Evelyn Grant said her 9-year-old daughter Miranda, who is in fourth grade, found out that the Halloween parade was moved inside when she watched the board meeting on MEtv-22, the local cable television station.

"She is not happy," said Grant, who also has a daughter in first grade. "This is going to be Miranda's last parade at Campbell and her sister Serena's first parade. What's the point of having a parade now? Why are the parents excluded? Are the parents a real threat? This has been an annual event and parents take off from work."

Sinatra said school officials review the schools' safety and security procedures every year.

"Next year, the Halloween parade could be held outside again," she said. "Everything could be different."

Sinatra also made changes to American Education Week, which is the week of Nov. 12.

"Metuchen schools have always been known to have our open-door policy," said Sinatra. "We advertise for the event and invite the public into the schools. We still want to have the open-door policy, but again with the current climate, we're going to have parents preregister and make their appointments before they come to the school. This will be all year round."

Registration forms will be available on the school's Web site, http://www.metuchenschools.org. Forms will also be given to students and sent in the mail.