Halloween still going strong on 10th anniversary of controversy

By Eliza Ridgeway, Town Crier Staff Writer

Halloween is alive and well in town, 10 years after its brush with the chopping block. Across Los Altos, people still remember where they were when they heard on national media that the “city of Los Altos” might ban Halloween.

In October 1995, a quiet school board debate suddenly became the focus of national, and international attention. Media reports trumpeted an end to witches, jack-o’-lanterns and ghosts and a picketer marched in downtown Los Altos: “Let kids be kids,” his sign read.

The controversy began when a Christian parent objected to school celebrations of Halloween on the grounds that it was a pagan religious holiday.

“This was a time when the Supreme Court had pretty recently issued some rulings about having to accommodate religious beliefs,” said Phil Faillace, the president of the school board in 1995. “Good school board that we were, we thought that all we had to do was ask the schools to have their celebrations after school.”

But a concerned parent from the pro-Halloween camp faxed out a press release about the board’s decision, and within hours calls from media and outraged residents started to come in. Within a few days, Faillace found himself in a limousine, whisked to CNN’s studio to weigh in on the inflammatory story while sitting across from a Catholic priest.

“It was an interesting lesson in how things are distorted by the national press,” Faillace said. “It was really an eye-opening lesson for all of us about how much we believe about what we read and hear on the nightly news.

“This was all part of the culture wars,” Faillace said. “We could have said we were discontinuing reading and math and we wouldn’t have had as large a turnout.”

Current school board member Duane Roberts was in a hotel room in Washington, D.C., when he saw his town on the news. “By the time the news broadcast ended I was in hysterics, I was laughing so hard,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe it had gotten that far.”

Roberts said that in his six years on the board, no similar complaints have trickled up to them. “I think the principals handle it very well,” he said. “Halloween has a long history and goes way back, but we don’t celebrate it as a learning experience or a major holiday, just a fun time.”

This year, all of the elementary schools are holding costume parades or carnivals. Blach Intermediate School has scheduled a dance, and Egan Junior High School will continue its tradition of music-making at downtown’s Spooktacular.

Margot Harrigan, a current school board member who was PTA president at Loyola Elementary in 1995, said that parents in Los Altos love Halloween because of the small-town community it evokes.

Halloween is a uniquely American holiday, and local traditions like Santa Rita’s “Witch’s Brew” have existed for generations. School officials noted that Halloween is a favorite holiday for children and reminds adults of their own fond memories.

The creativity and horseplay of Halloween let children try something new. “It doesn’t matter whether you have been good or bad, whether your parents have a lot of money or how many friends you have,” Harrigan said. “You’re totally equal and you can pretend.”