Halloween an official holiday

[Pumpkin_Man]

Hi Folks: I was thinking about it, and I think it would be nice if schools and public places were closed for Halloween and it were to be made an official holiday. After all, it is widely celebrated by many. A lot of schools and even churches sponser Halloween costume parties and pumpkin carving contests. So what do you all think. Should we get the day off from school and work every October 31st/

Mike

[theicewitch]

The sad fact is that schools are required to attend a set number of days in a school year, in Indiana it 180 days. It would be great if you could have Halloween be an off day from school unfortunately it is not feasible anymore.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's true of most school systems. We're required to have a certain number of days, and make-up days for "snow" days. If they decided to make Halloween a holiday, however, they could either add one more day at the beginning of the Fall simester, or at the end of the Spring simester to make up for it. The college where I work, we don't observe Columbus Day. But we are closed on Veterans day, which is a day many other schoold are opened.

What we could do, if we wanted to have Halloween as a day off from school, is do away with a less observed holiday, such as Columbus Day, or Lincoln's or Washington's Birthday. There's two days off in February, which are in the dead of winter, and nothing really to do. The school system can sacrofice one of those two days, and have Halloween off that way.

Mike

[Andybev01]

Umm...we could be a little biased here...

[theicewitch]

My eldest starts school in the middle of august, they don't get lesser known holidays off and still are not out of school until the first or second week of June.... it is crazy.

[Kyu]

I always wanted Halloween off.
My other schools did not allow costumes or anything of the sort, so YES.
GOD YES.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I am not familiar with your area, icewitch, but in most schools that I know, including Catholic schools, are closed on Columbus day, Washington's Birthday, Lincolns Birthday, Veterand Day, Martin Luthor King Day, Good Friday, and in addition they get a week and a helf for Christmas. Some colleges get spring break right after the Easter weekend, as the one where I work does. Our school year begins in August, and ends in May. We don't get Columbus day off, but the employees are given a "floater" holiday.

That's what I do for Halloween. I use my "floater" every October 31st, and a vacation day for All Saints Day, unless one or both of those days fall on a weekend day. This year, Halloween is on Friday, and All Saints Day is on Saturday, so I will be taking my 'floater' on Friday Oct 31, but I won't take any extra time for All Saints Day.

But without looking at your school system's schedule, I really don't know how you would handle that situation. I think it would be worth sacroficing Lincolns Birthday or Washington's Birthday to have Halloween off, but that's just me. Andy does make a good point about us being a little "prejudiced" in favor of our favorite holiday of the year, but let's face facts. In October, people spend billions on candy. They spend billions on costumes, pumpkins and parties. According to some of the statistics I've read, Halloween is 2nd only to Christmas, beating out both Thanksgiving and Easter for people observing it. How many people are that passionate about Lincoln's Birthday? When was the last time you saw Washington's Birthday plates, napkins, or merchandise for sale at the local grocery store? What traditions are associated with those two days?

Just a thought.

Mike

Mike

[vampiress]

Well here's how my school is.. We start at the end of August and get out one of the first days of June and sometimes May 31.. But we dont get Columbus day off or Valentines or like any of those other holidays.. So I say we should get off halloween since most people are out partying that night and it would benefit the schools to give us the day off so we can be more attentive when we come back

[Pumpkin_Man]

I never heard of any school being closed on Valentines day, unless it was a snow day. What I was saying is that in the college where I work, we get both Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday off, and both of those days are in February.

I don't know about you, but I've never been invited, nor did I ever attend or give a "Washington's Birthday paty" or a "Lincoln's Birthday party."

Mike

[Haunt Master]

Well, some schools always open on Halloween, even at night too for halloween parties and costume contests. Yeah, that sounds strange when some other schools won't allow to have Halloween party at all. I've never seen any schools close for Halloween!

And, for jobs, depend on boss and up to the bosses' decisions whether or not to get off the work such as only one day off for Halloween. BUT all cops, firefighters, and rescues are required to work 24 hours on halloween! I already talked to my boss about not coming to work on Halloween night because I have things to take care of my house and yard displays. My boss let me a night off! Yay!

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's great to hear, Haunt Master. I'm pretty lucky, too. I have a wonderful benifit packagte, which includes a 'floater' holiday and 20 paid vacation days per year. So I have it pretty good. I have to give advanced notice to the boss, but it works out great. There have been a few years that I had an important photo shoot or video taping and could not get the day off on Halloween, but usualy it's not a problem.

Police and fire departments have to have some one on duty every day of the year, including Christmas and Easter, and there are many times that a cop or fireman might get off for one holiday, but will have to work another, and then when his turn comes, he works on other holidays and so forth and so on.

And schools being closed for Halloween is unheard of. Halloween is not a "leagal" holiday like Veteran's Day, or Memorial Day, which is why most people have to work. My proposal was that we take away one of the official holidays that is not being enthusiasticaly celebrated, like Washington's Birthday, and replace it with Halloween as an official "legal" holiday. That would make sense, seeing that there are a lot more people who observe Halloween as an actual day of celebration. All I ever did on Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays was sleep late, house clean, maybe go to a movie if the snow isn't six feet deep. But other then that, it's the dead of winter, and there's not very much to do.

Mike

[Haunt Master]

That's very cool to hear about this, PM! I know some people are being stuck with their jobs on holidays all year round!

For some cops and fighfighters who need a day off, they must ask their police chief and fire chief the permission first.

[Halloween_crazyy]

I don't mean to sound like a party pooper to the people who are going to school, but don't think it should be a holiday. I don't know about other peoples schools, but in my old school, we had barely any work and we had a huuge celebration. We got to wear our costumes to schoola dn for grade 7-9 there was a dance and a seperate dance for 10-12. I think it would be a shame for those people.

[Desdemona]

Up until 2000 we in Nevada were lucky enough to get Halloween as a state holiday - admissions day. Unfortunately in 2000 it was decided to attach it to the last Friday of the month which still works out pretty well because roughly 3 years out of 7 Halloween falls on a 3 day weekend.

[ilovemichaelmyers]

I think there should still be school on Halloween. They dress up and have parades to show off their costumes-how fun is that!? Itso cute seeing all the little kids running around in their costumes and taking pictures. They also have a Halloween party in all of the classes on Oct. 30. and a Fall Festival after school, so they do have alot of fun and I wouldn't want them to miss it.
I'm in Nevada too Desdemona : )