‘Sexually suggestive’ Halloween display near Pierce County school stirs controversy
Halloween decorations in a yard across from Idlewild Elementary in Lakewood caused quite a stir recently, prompting the school district to get involved after a homeowner refused to take down several skeletons positioned in a “sexually suggestive” manner.
The home, which is across the street from the elementary school parking lot, had several large signs on its lawn as of Tuesday morning. It appeared that the skeletons had been recently removed by someone other than the homeowner, who The News Tribune could not immediately reach for comment.
A pink sign in the yard said, “Skellies stolen, October is anti-bullying month.” A neon-green sign sat beside it with the words, “Principal + Staff thanks for demonstrating bullying!!! Harassment, intimidation, protect your 1st Amendment.” The note covered up a previous sign in red that read, “Dear Karen, challenge accepted!! Next year try polite.”
Two skeletons were seen hanging in a nearby tree, and the homeowner had other ghosts, spiderwebs and scarecrow decor in their yard.
Leanna Albrecht is executive director of marketing and community relations for the Clover Park School District.
“Last week the school was alerted to a lewd Halloween display located on a property directly across the street from the school, that faces the playground of the school,” Albrecht told The News Tribune. “The school contacted the homeowner to ask them if they would remove the display based on the content of what was being portrayed. The homeowner did refuse.”
Albrecht said upon receiving several parent complaints, the school district contacted the city of Lakewood and the police to see if they could resolve the situation.
“In the meantime, as a safety measure for students, we parked a school bus on our side of the street and put up some privacy fencing on our fencing so it wasn’t an impact to our students,” Albrecht said. “Our focus is on the normalcy of a productive school day.”
Albrecht said the Halloween display was “sexually suggestive and inappropriate.”
“It was obscene the way that the skeletons were placed there,” she said. “I can assure you that no one from the school district had anything to do with the skeletons, if they are no longer there. We have been very respectful of the individual’s property rights.”
Brynn Grimley, the city of Lakewood’s communications manager, said the city had been contacted by the school district to see if there was anything that could be done. A Lakewood police officer and the community development director drove by and determined no laws were broken, she said.
“There’s really no action the city could take to request that they come down,” Grimley said. “From our review, it’s private property and people are protected to do what they want on their property as long as there’s no danger to the public.”
Grimley said the city has had other instances where people have put up signs with offensive language, but ultimately, “That’s protected free speech, so there’s really not a lot we can do.”
Any speculation that the city made or asked the homeowner to take the skeletons down is not true, she said.
This story was originally published October 31, 2023 at 5:15 AM.
