Worst President Ever now ruining children's holiday

Posted: 10/31/07 at 12:20pm

At West Elementary School in north suburban Glencoe IL, princesses and superheroes will walk the halls. But school officials have officially prohibited what would otherwise be protected as free speech by banning George Bush costumes. The children will be unable to exercise their first amendment rights to protect the feelings of the notoriously thin-skinned "war president."

School administrators claim no political agenda saying they have banned costumes depicting all political figures, calling them inappropriate for 8- to 10-year-olds. The ACLU knows better, citing "Count" Dracula as one office holder who is allowed to be ridiculed.

One eight year old boy, clearly mocking Hilary Clinton with his fake "Hillbilly Teeth" and overly padded bottom claimed to be dressed only as a "Trailer trash housewife." School officials would not comment.

CBS TV Chicago

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/31/07 at 3:05pm

doesn't surprise me, after all it IS Glencoe

this surprises me though:

At Naperville Central High School, latex is a no-no. There is a student and a custodian at the school with a life-threatening latex allergy.

So are peanuts banned from campus, due to those with peanut allergies? Or wool....what about wool?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/31/07 at 3:09pm

One would think that people with compromised immune systems would be a bit more sensitive to the special needs of others.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 10/31/07 at 3:11pm

At Naperville Central High School, latex is a no-no. There is a student and a custodian at the school with a life-threatening latex allergy.

So are peanuts banned from campus, due to those with peanut allergies? Or wool....what about wool?

Actually, in cases where the allergy is life-threatening, that does occasionally happen. Not generally at the entire school, but often in the classrooms that the child may be occupying. Especially in the case of peanuts/peanut butter. I've seen that situation in more than one school now.

The whole political costume thing seems a bit absurd though. How many children in an elementary school would even choose a costume such as that? We don't have a ban on such costumes, and of nearly 700 K-5 students there was not a single politically based costume in the bunch.

Posted: 10/31/07 at 3:12pm

Snotty rich people make me sick; Glencoe refuses to ban them for me.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/31/07 at 3:20pm

oh Colleen, pass me the damn peanut butter! ;oP

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/31/07 at 4:20pm

At my school we couldn't allow the kids to dress up, there could be no "scary" (read things as simple as jack o'lanterns) Halloween stuff and our party today had to be called a "Fall party". I get that I am teaching at a Christian school and I can totally buy not allowing kids to come dressed as vampires, witches, ghosts, etc...but what about pirates, princesses, famous literary characters, etc...

I had to send a kid's treats that he sent into share with the class back home because they were Halloween themed. While I will enforce the school's rules as a teacher, as a sane minded individual I will also be looking for a new position for next year. This is just one of the many small, but quickly growing issues that is making me realize that this is not the place for me to be teaching. At least the kids make the job worth while.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/31/07 at 5:03pm

"I can totally buy not allowing kids to come dressed as vampires, witches, ghosts, etc..."

Why? Does it really take an East Coast intellectual snob to remind people that none of those things exist?