When is too old to trick or treat?

Ell Franklin Opinion Editor

October 31 is approaching fast, meaning students will be wondering what they will be doing for Halloween.

Will they be dressing up to go to a party, hang out with friends, or will they be going trick or treating?

The problem here is, when is the appropriate age to stop trick or treating? When will confused people at the door start giving you dirty looks followed by fewer pieces of candy dropped into your bag?

In all my years of experience, I have yet to receive dirty looks. In my opinion, when you start looking like an adult, it may be time to stop trick or treating.

Science teacher Steve Hoffman feels that the late teen years are the time to stop trick or treating, until you become a parent.

“I had not thought about how you start trick or treating once you become a dad,” Hoffman said.

Linzi Chow, a junior, said that the age to stop trick or treating is “17 years old, but 18 if you can pass as a child. I think you should try to get candy as long as you can,” Chow said.

I fully agree with what she said, if you can get free candy, you should.

“Dressing up is fun, you are never too old to dress up, be what you want to be, be who you are,” Chow said.

Junior Hannah Harvey also feels that you are never too old to trick or treat.

“If you look older when you trick or treat, you’re not going to be re- ceived that kindly by the people’s door you knocked on, But you can go and get bulk candy, I get it because it is nostalgic. As long as you are being respectful to children, go out and trick or treat,” French teacher Davena Bagnall said.

“I say whenever it loses its joy,” junior Emalyth Manning commented.

While she has stopped trick or treating, she isn’t opposed to starting again and still finds fun things to do during Halloween.

“I feel like if you can drive you should stop trick or treating but I would encourage kids to stay kids, I want kids to do better,” history teacher Jeff Mielke said.

Mielke stopped going trick or treating in 6th grade but as a child he loved Halloween.

In my opinion, if you can get away with it, and if you still want to trick or treat then live your truth.

I found that if you trick or treat later when the houses that are still open are tired and more willing to give away the rest of their candy. If people really want candy they can just simply go to any store, buy candy, and spend the evening eating the mass amount of chocolate that will most likely lead to a regrettable wave of acne, unless you are lucky.

According to Macdonald, the reasoning behind the decision was that following the vote, there was not enough time to resolve the numerous conflicts that had arisen around the vote, and those conflicts would have made implementing the voted on schedule unstable.

“It was also getting very late in the school year and so in terms of planning for the following year, I think ultimatel, it came to a place where it was like ‘we’ve ran out of time’...In the meantime let’s go with what we know we have,” Collart said, speaking about Macdonald’s decision.

Macdonald felt that because the previous year’s schedule was voted for by teachers at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and the school had experience with it, it was the most democratic and stable choice he could’ve made.

“It was the only way to strike a compromise, deal with the grievance that others were pushing for and it would allow teachers and students to finally have the same schedule two years in a row after several yearly bell schedule changes,” Bullman said, explaining her understanding of Macdonald’s decision.

Collart elaborated further on the decision.

“It gave us the direction to go for this school year,” he said. “I think it was also stated very clearly that this conversation was not over, we also recognize that the current schedule we are utilizing is not what everybody feels like is the best schedule.”

Barielles felt that towards the end of the process especially, the administration just wanted to make a decision and move on.

“Several administrators were reeling from the whole COVID thing. Tthey were working day and night trying to just deal with the pandemic, let alone deal with the [complexities] of changing the bell schedule, and so they were tired, they could care less,” she said.

Both Bareilles and Holladay emphasized that administration did come into the process with the best intentions, with Bareilles saying she felt like a lot of effort was put in by the admin to hear and consider her and other teachers’ complaints.

“I think we went in and pursued it with integrity, recognizing though how frustrated people were I think it’s worth looking at what did we miss, what did we miss in terms of communicating the process, what did we miss in making sure people’s voices were heard,” Collart said, reflecting on the frustration of some teachers on the committee.

Macdonald denied issues around Covid or admin burnout as the rationale behind the decision at the end of last year.

“It wasn’t a matter of frustration, at the end of the year there just wasn’t enough time to reconvene the committee and start over…people were really upset and it would not have been a healthy environment to try and reset,” he said.

Holladay agreed with Bareilles that the urge to move on from the process had to do with admin’s executive decision.

“I think it was a bit out of laziness, and also by just wanting to create less problems. I don’t think they were looking for what schedule was really going to be best for our students,” she said.

Bareilles is not happy about the way the decision process was handled.

“Last year was so nasty I’m just trying to survive and forget,” she said. “It was a crappy, unorganized, in my opinion, method…many of us committee members, especially at this school, were really angry about the whole process.”

Collart shared his perspective on anger over the decision process.

“I imagine any schedule…proba- bly won’t be everybody’s favorite. I think the hope has to be that people felt like they were part of the process... I know that that is not how everybody felt at the end of last year,” he said.

Bullman defended the decision process.

“I do not feel like the decision making process was flawed. The union and admin had a clear process that was agreed upon by both sides. The fact that those that didn’t like the schedule that won is why the process devolved into chaos,” she said.

During the decision process, some students and parents were angry they didn’t have a vote or a voice on the schedule.

“The faculty felt that…we think we know what is best for our students, because that is what we do,” Bareilles explained, on why the committee was one of teachers and not of students and parents.

Macdonald elaborated on the ways feedback from the broader community was considered as part of the process.

“Every conversation we had with teachers and administration included their conversations with students and parents. Perhaps it wasn’t enough, but yes [those voices were included],” he said.

AHS students don’t seem to know much about the schedule decision process.

“I know a little bit about it, but I wouldn’t be able to say who exactly decided it,” sophomore Mason Blaire said, adding he doesn’t think that student input was heard.

Junior Melanie Luh felt the same way.

“I didn’t receive any forms or anything to fill out about what I wanted,” she said.

After the confusion of the last decision process, the Teaching Association is working with the district to potentially implement a new schedule next fall.

The Association has proposed that the district generate three to four potential schedules, then present them to the teaching association. Through meetings the schedules would be narrowed down until there was a vote for the final new schedule.

“Our proposal is that we only vote on one schedule, and we try to get it passed with a very high threshold, like seventy to eighty percent” Berube said.

The new decision process is in early stages, but Berube did have insight into what next year’s schedule may look like.

“I think the Association has shown that it wants block scheduling, but they did not expect the block schedule to be this long. However, there are many teachers that feel like a one through six schedule is beneficial, so we’re hoping the district finds something that has a little bit of both,” she said.

Berube also explained that surveys are planned to be sent out to both students and parents to get their input on a new schedule as part of the new process.

Macdonald has an optimistic outlook for the upcoming planning around the schedule.

“The biggest thing with me is that we are moving forward with a plan with a schedule that’s gonna work for everyone…I want it to be positive, I want people to trust in the process so that whatever we come up with works for everyone,” he said.

Collart discussed how the school can learn from last year’s schedule process going forward.

“I know in my heart that nothing was done subversively or behind closed doors, and I also recognize that people didn’t feel the same way…Any process we engage in in the future, we really have to reflect on where last year didn’t go well and consider what is it that we might change to be better.”

Christine McKnight, PT, CHP

Thursday, October 27th, 2022