BY CARLEY SORRENT

Wadsworth High School has always been very strict on the matter of Halloween costumes, and this year there are no plans to change that.

“I guess this rule [banning costumes] has been placed long ago,” said Dr. Suber, WHS principal. “The general consensus is that it will be a huge class disruption.”

Suber thinks that the high school is, first and foremost, just that— a high school. It is a place to learn, and students might get too distracted in a different environment.

That is not to say that Suber disagrees with the fun spirit that Halloween can bring; in fact, he was not too excited to learn about the ban.

“I’m a little upset because Halloween is my favorite holiday,” Suber said. “It was kind of disheartening when I learned about the rule.”

Despite the fun aspects of allowing costumes, Suber thinks that it is important to value the boundaries of what is appropriate in school and what is not.

“Our school leaders stepped in, and I’m a team player,” Suber said. “I respect their reasons.”

As for school leaders, Mr. Yaggi, government teacher at Wadsworth High School, thinks that the ban is staying in place for a reason.

“This is my twentieth year teaching at WHS, and it [the ban] has been around for as long as I can remember,” said Mr. Yaggi. “It’s been around even longer than that.”

Because of the longstanding limit on costumes, teachers and administrators have no idea how things will go if they suddenly allow students to dress up.

“Some kids aren’t complicit with the dress code now, so what will it be like when they’re in costumes?” Suber said.

This Halloween, Central Intermediate School and Wadsworth Middle School are going to allow costumes for the first time.

“CIS and the middle school haven’t done it in years past, but they are going to try it this year,” said Suber. “The principals will see how it goes.”

CIS and the middle school are going to try out having costumes this year is because they are much smaller than the high school. This first year can be used as a sort of experiment, something that teachers and administrators can view as a prototype for future years.

“I think the administration, they are always willing to talk about it, and that’s really important,” Yaggi said.

Yaggi thinks that there is some fear of the unknown when it comes to completely changing the rule for Wadsworth High School.

“It’s not like we’re trying to cut out the fun,” Yaggi said. “We’re just trying to make things feel as normal as possible.”

Lifting the Halloween costume ban is not unlikely in the future.

“I’d like to come back and revisit it,” Suber said.

Simply having discourse around it and seeing what works is making great progress— more progress than years worth of silence.