School administrators at West Seattle’s Lafayette Elementary School have just banned Halloween. Staff have made a decision to not allow any Halloween costumes this year.

“This year there won’t be any Halloween costumes allowed,” Teresa Wippel, a spokesperson for the school reiterated. The school decided that Halloween would take away from valuable “learning time”, as the holiday falls on a Wednesday this year. In addition, the school also added that costumes are simply a distraction during class time.

“There’s a lot of pressure on teachers and principals to make sure the kids are academically competent, and we prioritize that here,” Wippel added.

Despite backlash from both students and parents, the school is keeping their decision, at least for this year.

“It lifts their spirits so it’s kind of sad that they don’t have that opportunity,” one parent Carl Nitkey said.

“It seems like another one of those things where kids are no longer allowed to be kids,” another added.

First, it was the Cheetos ban, and now it’s Halloween! What’s next for these kids?