Haunting the school yard

Marisa O’Neil

The day started out dreary, dark and drizzly -- perfect weather for

vampires to venture outside.

And princesses, pirates and Spongebob Squarepants.

All made appearances on the Sonora Elementary School playground

Thursday for the school’s Halloween parade. Miss Understood, complete

with a beauty-pageant sash, tiara and scepter, led the way as the

kindergarteners and first-, second- and third-graders wended their

way across the blacktop.

“I saw it and thought it was funny,” Principal Christine Anderson,

a.k.a. Miss Understood, said of her costume. “I was going to go as a

queen because I’m always teasing the kids that I’m the queen of the

school.”

Sam Swanson, 5, wore an elaborate vampire costume with a flowing

black cape, white gloves, a black pompadour wig and white face paint.

A set of novelty fangs, which he had to take out to talk, completed

the look.

Nearby, 4-year-old Emily Vu stood patiently waiting for the parade

to start, her tiny face barely visible inside her

orange-and-black-striped Tigger costume with a tiger head.

“I’m Captain Hook,” said 5-year-old Julian Jackson, who wore a

long velvet coat, a black wig and an eye patch. “I like pirates.”

Some old standbys were in the crowd, such as Wonder Woman and

Spider Man. Tyler Shores, 4, stayed in character so well that he

would only identify himself as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Michelangelo. Only his classmate, 6-year-old Alyssa Castilleja,

revealed his secret identity.

This is the first year for a full-scale parade at the school,

Anderson said. Kindergarteners had one before, but this is the first

year that all four grades got into the act with Halloween songs,

dancing and showing off costumes.

“It’s fun for the kids,” she said. “So many people have fears

about Halloween these days, letting them go trick-or-treat. We tried

to keep everybody’s costumes on the fun and happy side. And they like

to see that the teachers and I can have fun and be silly.”

Some teachers dressed as Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse

and Grumpy. Kindergarten teacher Peggy Phan-Nguyen wore a Snow White

costume, which was popular with lots of little girls at Sonora.

“We like Snow White because she’s pretty,” 7-year-old Claudia

Anaya, in a Snow White costume, said as she walked around the school

yard with another Snow White, 7-year-old Megan Gomez.

Then, just as the parade started, the sun started to break through

the clouds.

And the vampire was nowhere to be found.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.