School District 57 is nixing clown costumes in schools this Halloween.
A ban on clown costumes was agreed to at a recent district principal’s meeting but the details will be up to individual schools.
“There was agreement within the room that of course all schools would say ‘We’re not doing clown costumes this year,’ but some schools may be going even further,” says Marilyn Marquis-Forster, superintendent of School District 57. “Some of our secondary schools may not be doing costuming at all. We’ve left that decision to our principals. Halloween is done differently in different schools and so it is up to each individual school to communicate with their school community regarding their expectations for upcoming Halloween celebrations,”
The precaution comes after an incident earlier this month placed schools in Prince George under a code yellow alert – in some cases for more than a day.
A post on Instagram, featuring creepy clowns with weapons, threatened Prince George schools. The RCMP deemed the threat non-credible but were forced to respond as a precaution.
School District 91, which experienced a similar incident on October 7, has also banned clown costumes at schools this year. Local superintendent Charlene Seguin is suggesting that parents keep their kids from wearing clown costumes entirely.
Marquis-Forster says the district remains vigilant and participated in a debrief on the incident with the RCMP this afternoon.
“We’re absolutely open to listening to recommendations from the RCMP. We are doing a full review of all our protocols and practices and we have a public invitation to contribute, if you have comments that you want to make and that concludes at the end of October.”
If you have feedback on how the incident was handled, you can contact the school district directly.
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