Some High Schools Ban Halloween Costumes at Football Games
Critics call strict dress code on Halloween ridiculous
By SCOTT GORDON
Updated 4:00 PM CST, Mon, Nov 3, 2008
Students dressed as Dracula, Batman and even Snow White were turned away at security checkpoints at high school football games Friday night.
Some North Texas school districts banned Halloween costumes at the football games.
"I think it's stupid," said one frustrated teenager stuck outside the Eastern Hills-Arlington Heights game in Fort Worth. "It's pointless. It's Halloween. You're supposed to dress up."
One girl was stopped when she arrived at Handley Field dressed as a New York Yankee.
"They told me to wipe my black eye off and take my hat off and put a jacket on and I could come in," she said. "We're not bad kids. I'm student body president. We're supporting our high school."
Another student, Nick Hayes, a sophomore at Eastern Hills, had to leave his Dracula outfit at the security gate.
"I was showing my spirit, and I thought I was having fun," he said.
The Fort Worth Independent School District enforces its everyday dress code at football games, said district spokesman Clint Bond. And on Halloween, that meant no costumes.
Policies vary from district to district.
In Weatherford, for example, Halloween costumes are also forbidden. In Arlington, the school district allows individual principals to make their own rules.
A few parents said they supported the strict dress code.
"I think it's a good idea for them not to have costumes because it would just be a lot of controversy," said one mother cheering on Eastern Hills.
But other parents said the real controversy was created by trying to ban Halloween.
"It's just stupid," one father said.
"All I have is this," said Hayes, pointing to his black Dracula cape. "I don't understand."
Shortly before halftime, Arlington Heights Principal Neta Alexander called a district administrator, who agreed to relax the dress code and allow students in costume to watch the game as long as they did not wear masks over their faces.
"I knew when we banned a 3-year-old Snow White, we were in trouble," Alexander said. "Common sense finally prevailed."
But it came too late for some fans -- many of those turned away at the gate had already gone home.
First Published: Oct 31, 2008 9:30 PM CST
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