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LAUSD Bans Series Of Halloween Costumes In Schools -- Needless Or Necessary?

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —  The LAUSD banned a number of costumes this Halloween -- from creepy killer clowns to outfits referring to ethnic stereotypes.

Some parents saw the move as necessary, others called it needless.

CBS2's Kristine Lazar talked to parents on both sides of the argument.

At the Spirit Halloween store in Canoga Park, Jill Kloster was one of the last minute shoppers. Her teenage son didn't have a costume and the costume she suggested this morning wasn't going to work.

"I said why don't you wear this little red nose and he said 'no mom, I can't. We can't wear a clown costume,'" Kloster said.

Many schools this year have banned all clown costumes  in response to the scary clown sightings across the country.
"I don't know how much paranoia we're putting on our kids," she said. You can't please everyone, she added.

But it seems LAUSD is sure trying. The district sent out a letter with guidelines for Halloween costumes worn on campus. It reads in part --
"Halloween costumes may not be demeaning to any person or group based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, nationality, race, religion, sex, (or) sexual orientation…"

Some schools- -- like Nobel Middle School in Northridge -- also told parents" no political costumes either.

But another mom told Lazar she is glad she home schools her son and he can dress as anyone or anything he wants.

"I think it's nuts. The world gets a little more crazy by the day and we are so focused on these little insignificant things that we don't see the big picture," says Helen Ladon.

This weekend actress Hilary Duff was skewered on Twitter after she was photographed dressed as a Pilgrim and her boyfriend as a Native American.

One person tweeted "No @HilaryDuff Traditional dress is not a costume and you being dressed as a pilgrim proves to me how insensitive and ignorant you are."

The day after the photo hit social media, Duff issued an apology tweeting "I am SO sorry to people I offended with my costume.It was not properly thought through and I am truly, from the bottom of my heart sorry."

"Look, I don't like PC either, but we have to be cognizant of what we are doing and how we make other people feel. We should do the right thing and be nice," said Dennis Franks, a grandfather.

 

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