CANORA - The School Community Council of the Canora Junior Elementary School held a meeting with a number of parents in attendance, many of whom were interested in finding out more about the school鈥檚 decision to host a different type of event for Halloween this year.
SCC president Roxilana Roberts called the Nov. 9 meeting to order and welcomed everyone in attendance. She then shared her name and the name and age of her child, and asked all in attendance to do the same, going around the room.
In the principal鈥檚 report, Shawna Stangel provided the results of a survey from school families regarding the Harvest Celebration held on Oct. 31, in place of a more traditional Halloween event and/or costume parade.
She said the Harvest Celebration was 鈥渁 wonderful success,鈥� paying tribute to the importance of agriculture across the Canora region. The decision to hold the event was not made lightly; in fact, discussions on this topic had been taking place at the school over the past two years. To that, one of the parents replied, 鈥淭here was no engagement with parents regarding this big decision over that two-year timeframe. Being included in that process would have been appreciated.鈥�
Another parent criticized the lack of clarity regarding information sent out prior to the Harvest Celebration. 鈥淢y nine-year-old didn鈥檛 know whether to dress up as a farmer or for Halloween.鈥�
Stangel continued, 鈥淎 lot of things have been said over the last couple of weeks that have fostered misconceptions. The reasons for this decision included affordability of costumes for some, staff had noticed fewer children had been participating in Halloween events in recent years, and privacy and security were also a major concern.鈥� Stangel explained that a number of CJES students, 鈥渕ore than enough to fill one of our classrooms,鈥� do not have permission to be in photos or videos that are published, which is very difficult to control in the environment of a Halloween parade.
In the survey, Stangel said they were looking for constructive suggestions going forward, and was quite pleased with some of the comments, including 鈥淧arents should start a costume closet or a collection of costumes for students to access if they otherwise don鈥檛 have access to costumes,鈥� and 鈥淔or the event, add stations on other customs or cultures.鈥�
A parent in attendance at the meeting added, 鈥淪ome kids don鈥檛 like all the attention of being in a parade in their costume.鈥�
Stangel said all of the feedback was much appreciated, and added, 鈥淭he conversation continues. We鈥檙e learning. We said from the start that we wanted feedback. We wanted to achieve a day where everyone can come. Halloween doesn鈥檛 accomplish this.
鈥淣ow this feedback gives us something to move forward with, keeping the focus on what鈥檚 most important: your kids.鈥�
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