On Sept. 21, [Riverside Elementary Principal Ebony] Lattimer informed parents that the traditional Halloween parade and celebration and the annual Valentine’s Day celebration would be replaced to make the school more inclusive. Lattimer’s plan was to replace the Halloween celebration with a book bonanza day that would include a parade where students would be asked to dress up as their favorite book character and celebrate why this character is their favorite. Valentine’s Day would be replaced with an “Upstander Day” in February that would “highlight our students and the Riverside normative culture, as they display the upstander codes of respect, responsibility, safety, and positivity.”
