Connecticut Town Backtracks on Halloween Parade Cancellation

The school board for a town in Connecticut has reversed its decision to cancel a Halloween parade after outraged parents turned a national spotlight on the community over what critics denounced as political correctness trumping a harmless American tradition.

In a letter released Monday, Milford Superintendent Elizabeth Feser said the district decided to reinstate the Halloween parade because the controversy “is detracting from what we are truly about, and our time with our children around teaching and learning is most important,” but denied that the parade cancellation had been motivated by political correctness.

Milford made national news after a reconfiguration of its school system led administrators to rethink Halloween celebrations. Officials decided that instead of the traditional costume parade, an after-school event “centered on fun and games, and not one’s costume” would be more inclusive for all children. Those “who for religious or cultural reasons would not take part, could easily, and without stigmatization, not attend the event,” Feser wrote in the letter republished by the local news site Milford Patch.

[Milford Patch]