Yes, dressing as a beloved book character seems like a good idea.
Our teachers dress up too. This year one group of twelve were the months of the year. The fifth grade team were dominos- black outfits with white spots. One can be very creative without being offensive. Politics has no place in a public school unless it is being taught as a lesson or in debate class.
Some are crying out “I don’t see/understand” why this is “wrong” - to them I say “how about this…just don’t do it.”
Impressive deflection going on on some posts lately. Throw in some whattaboutism, a little sealioning, and you can derail anything, instead of participating in substantive, good-faith discussion.
Or maybe, garland, it is the case that when clear evidence of racial animus exists, reasonable people are of course horrified and expect action, but in more ambiguous situations, we expect a more nuanced approach. And we don’t even drag poor little marine mammals into the fray.
When I lived in Minn, the kids came home with a list of things they couldn’t be - no Indians, nothing scary, no clowns, nothing ethnic. Really, not much was left they could be. Race car drivers and non-ethnic princesses.
I want to know where the principal was in all of this.
In 2001, my kindergarten son wanted to be Aaron Carter, the singer. Don’t ask why because I couldn’t answer that. Anyway, I am not particularly creative but I took paper cake plates and covered them with tin foil and then pinned them to my son’s jacket. They were supposed to be his CD’s. Imagine my shock when I was called over and called out politicizing the Halloween parade at the school. Apparently, some holier than thou moms decided that my son was portraying Rudy Giuliani - adorned with medals! - and this was wrong so soon after 9/11. When I stopped laughing, I told them to go ask my son who he was… After that, I was down on the whole parade thing but I still had to do it for a few more years.
Are you sure it was not because he wore one of those foil plates as a hat? 
Thanks to ucbalumnus for posting this. Thanks from the bottom of my heart to everyone who is outraged by these stories and speaks up.
Thank you a million times for trying to make this country a better place for my grandchildren to grow up.
We’ve been having the same conversation over and over for many, many years in this country. There is really no excuse at all for the ignorance at this point. The school district itself should have had policies and training in place and you really do wonder where the administration was in this.
When I think back to some of the horrifying depictions I grew up on in children’s books, film, TV and more it is amazing both to see the progress and at the same time the lack of it.
Who knows? That they typically conform to a template - indefensible behavior performed by someone, that within a dozen or so posts is smeared over to a larger group - probably means nothing.
What is a non-ethnic princess?
No Pocahontas, Mulan, Jasmine, but Snow White and Cinderella are fine.
It should most certainly be a non-gendered royalty. Princess is sexist.
Thanks for the laugh. No, he wasn’t wearing a tin foil hat, but I think the principal was. I had the plates pinned to both the front and back of his jacket - who wears actual medals on their back?
Build the wall? They didn’t think that might be controversial?
^^ There were reports the costumes were deliberately stereotypical, and perhaps satirical. How do you explain this type of joke to elementary school students? What ideas or whom is it supposedly teaching them to ridicule? Those who support a wall or think these sorts of costumes okay? It’s unkind whatever the intent. Even though children this age aren’t good at subtlety, these sorts of reports can be used as teaching tools for them. We can use the stories to discuss how to best interact with those with whom we disagree; how social pressure, including media outrage and individual righteous indignation, impact community norms. And unfortunately they will have to deal with this type situation as they go out into the world. I’m kind of at a loss myself as to what’s the best behavior to model these days for children. I want to throw my hands up and hide under the covers. Still, I tend to favor a talking their ears off parenting style.
Perhaps it would have been very helpful to these teachers if someone, somewhere, had talked their ears off about Halloween costumes, and maybe peer pressure as well, so they wouldn’t now be in danger of losing their jobs and also having this incident out there on the internet the rest of their lives.
If the reports keep other teachers and students from finding themselves in similar situations, at least something positive will have come out of it all.