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School bans tag

36 replies · 5,840 views · Started 18 October 2006

ZTC 18 Oct 2006, 18:59

Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina, school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Source

So a kid might get roughed up playing a contact game during recess, what's the real problem? o_0

Aegix Drakan 18 Oct 2006, 19:16

the problem is, that these days, if a kid gets hurt at school, the parents can (and probably will) say: "OH NOES! MY KID GOT HURT! IT'S THE SCHOOL'S FAULT! LAWSUIT!!!"

-_- What are the little kids supposed to do now? Sit on the floor and stare at each other? How are kids supposed to get tougher bodies, if they can't use them?

Tygore 18 Oct 2006, 19:25

I once ran into the basketball goal at recess in fourth grade, playing tag. This was a metal pole cemented into the ground, mind you. Had a huge bruise that lasted for about 2 weeks. As you can see, I lived to tell the tale with no permanent damage. These people are paranoid beyond belief.

Yoshiman 18 Oct 2006, 19:35

Aegix Drakan wrote:-_- What are the little kids supposed to do now? Sit on the floor and stare at each other?

Once they ban jungle gyms, hopscotch, jacks, and House, that's probably all they'll be able to do.

I had my share of falls and collisions during gym and recess, and there was no permanent damage done. If I fell and got hurt, I'd usually sit out for the rest of recess and I was fine by the time we had to go back in.

As a matter of fact, I hit my head on an open locker door in PE last week, which caused some blood to run down my forhead. OMG, LAWSUIT AGAINST LOCKERS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS MY OWN FAULT.

AtmaWeapon 18 Oct 2006, 19:39

Yeah the big problem here is that schools have little defense against frivolous lawsuits because playgrounds are actually quite dangerous places. I mean, unless you force kids to wear harnesses and pads so they don't fall off of swings and get hurt, all it takes is a parent to point out that 3 teachers watching 100 kids wasn't sufficient supervision for their retarded little crotchling who thought it might be a good idea to jump off the slide head first.

Until schools have defenses against these suits, the logical course of action is to pretty much restrict the behavior of the children such that they don't have the chance to injure themselves. Of course, this hinders their social development but hey at least they aren't getting hurt right?

Revfan9 18 Oct 2006, 19:54

If you ask me, the issue being addressed here is not wether or not the kids get hurt; it's obvious that the school systems don't care about that. The issue being addressed by the ban is that schools don't have any protection against those kinds of lawsuits, as AtmaWeapon stated, and that Judges nowadays are stupid enough to let the parents win the case. In fact, most suburban parents really don't give a fuck as to what their kids do, but just want the money from the lawsuits so daddy can support his little prostitution habit.

MottZilla 18 Oct 2006, 20:01

I'm sure most of us as kids played on playgrounds constructed or heavy metals and wood. There were plenty of places to get hurt, and it happens. You learn to deal with it and avoid getting hurt in the future. But without that experience (which also is a social experience) you are just an idiot. You learn certain motor skills and such by jumping and running around like little hell spawn on the playground. It's important to do so. It's also the time for you to socialize with your peers some. But without the playing on a playground, what the hell are these kids going to do, honestly have a civilized discussion? Sure they could talk about things, but they are just gonna end up unhealthy slobs because they weren't allowed to move during their free time.

Injury at schools needs to be handled on a case by case basis. While the school needs to watch your kids while they are in their care, there's a limit to what can be done. Scrapes and bruises, even a broken bone isn't THAT bad.

It's a sad thing our country is becoming so wussy.

Beldaran 18 Oct 2006, 20:18

In other news, kids will now be sedated with drugs, held down by pillowed straps and forced to repeat "I am an insignificant cog in the glorious machinery of society" over and over again for eight hours a day from age 2 - 18. Learning, happiness, fun, and joy have been ruled "dangerous" and "exlusionary" by the government.

Fuck the god damned school. School fucking sucks and it ruins your brain. Almost everything I learned prior to university was with an internet connection and a library card. School is just a contest to see who can handle the most bullshit without going crazy.

Rainman 18 Oct 2006, 22:25

Jeez, why even have recess if the only play allowed has no physical contact? I guess I don't really care about this though because there's no way I'm sending my future kids to public school.

phattonez 18 Oct 2006, 23:45

I fell over while I was playing baseball on the street and messed up my elbow pretty bad. You can still see where I skinned my elbow. According to this, can I sue the MLB because I saw them do it on TV?

Lawyers have really ruined courts by allowing stupid people to get on juries.

MottZilla 18 Oct 2006, 23:45

Kids can't have phsyical contact, but you can fuck the teacher.

I agree with school is a big BS contest. So I guess you lose when you come back to school with guns and shoot people?

zeldafan500 19 Oct 2006, 00:12

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

You just did, LOL.
Tho banning tag is just retarded, current society is getting too overprotective with anyonr under 18. I blame bush.

MacWeirdo42 19 Oct 2006, 06:01

Have you seen those Tag commercials? Do you really want our children being exposed to that? Oh, you mean the game, not the body spray.

Seriously though, if we keep up with this, kids will never learn to take chances. Kids will never learn that falling down isn't the end of the world. Or maybe I'm just bitter about my indecisive roommate who's terrified of ever making a decision because he may be held responsible for that decision.

There's nothing wrong with getting a little banged up. If anything, I really wish I had been more willing to take chances as a kid. Anyway, I don't ever remember being injured from a game of tag.

koopa 19 Oct 2006, 15:48

THIS IS RETARDED. I suppose if fights in the playground are banned kids won't hit each other anymore? While we're at it, let's ban "being mean to others" too as I'm sure that will work.

What are the little kids supposed to do now? Sit on the floor and stare at each other?

I suppose they could just sit in front of computer screens and visit internet forums during recess, as that's both safe and helps their development ... or play computer games, that's a much more sensible thing to do than physical activity.[/sarcasm]

Archibaldo 19 Oct 2006, 19:30

Schools are starting to develop these retarded Nazi regime. For example. My old elementary school. The school was split in two. And each half had their "eating time" during the lunch reccess. This is the time you had to eat. After everyone was done eating, in order to leave the cafeteria to go back out side you had to be dismissed. And for some fucked up reason, only tables that were quiet were allowed to be dismissed.

It's fucked up I tell ya.

Yoshiman 19 Oct 2006, 19:44

koopa wrote:I suppose they could just sit in front of computer screens and visit internet forums during recess, as that's both safe and helps their development ... or play computer games, that's a much more sensible thing to do than physical activity.[/sarcasm]

Nope, we can't have that. Everyone else on the internet is a 50 year old pedophile. :tongue:

Breaker 19 Oct 2006, 22:53

This is new? I didn't even have recess in Elementary School. They've "banned" unsupervised outdoor activities in Florida for quite some time now. It's to protect the school's ass from getting sued by stupid parents. Such is life.

biggiy05 20 Oct 2006, 01:18

punkonjunk1024 wrote:Yeah so uh, SWINGS ARE DANGEROUS TOO! BAN THOSE!
Seriously I broke my nose on a horse-swing. That fucker. I should SUE.

First you want a lawsuit against your mom now you want to sue an inanimate object. Have you ever looked into counseling?

Let's take out something that is making kids exercise and burn some of that fat. Kids today are filling out and turning into chunks so let him play tag.

Breaker 20 Oct 2006, 04:28

touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

tag, touch football, etc isn't "banned". the keyword here is unsupervised activities, and if any of you bothered to learn how to read instead of jumping to bitch like idiots, then you'd have noticed that.

koopa 20 Oct 2006, 14:37

It makes me wonder why they let kids be "unsupervised" at all then. I mean, someone could trip over his shoelaces. (Or get punched by another kid)

jessethe2nd 20 Oct 2006, 23:49

Breaker wrote:tag, touch football, etc isn't "banned". the keyword here is unsupervised activities, and if any of you bothered to learn how to read instead of jumping to bitch like idiots, then you'd have noticed that.

Me wrote:NO WAY! They banned tag here? I knew about dodge ball but jesus... Tag?


On the off chance that was directed at me in particular... and I mean no offense by this.




wrote:Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess.


I live in the bolded location... hence "here"

wrote:Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.


Not the place I was reffering to... and either way the ban on "contact sports" seems to vary significantly from place to place.


Oh and I payed a visit to my old school today and it seems they have recently eliminated baseball and basketball.

beefster09 21 Oct 2006, 00:38

Revfan9 wrote:If you ask me, the issue being addressed here is not wether or not the kids get hurt; it's obvious that the school systems don't care about that. The issue being addressed by the ban is that schools don't have any protection against those kinds of lawsuits, as AtmaWeapon stated, and that Judges nowadays are stupid enough to let the parents win the case. In fact, most suburban parents really don't give a fuck as to what their kids do, but just want the money from the lawsuits so daddy can support his little prostitution habit.


The bold is the problem. Death should be the only ligit reason to win a lawsuit due to no supervision. Not only that, but you should need like 5 witnesses, or a video proving that it was the school's fault. People should also use their common sense, instead of suing to get money

[motherly shriek]Oh my child got a scratch![/motherly shriek]... MUST SUE THE SCHOOL!!!! They file a lawsuit. They win. They shouldn't.

I mean, sure my mom freaks out if I get a rather large bruise, but she never sued anybody for it.

likesallusions 21 Oct 2006, 00:47

Much of the human race is turning into greedy apathetic buttheads, and stupid to boot. This is part of the reason, and it's probably just going to get worse. Sad, so sad. I'm not talking about everyone, mind you.

*b* 21 Oct 2006, 00:56

Why not just ductape kids to their seats, and bolt their chairs and desks down? That way, they don't even get to move, so nothing at all can happen to them

*sigh* People these days...

beefster09 22 Oct 2006, 15:10

Why not just have liability contracts? They would say that everything the student does to hurt himself is his own stupid self's fault, Therefore meaning you can't sue. And hey, if you don't sign one, your kid will become a brainless hobo.

Breaker 22 Oct 2006, 16:43

beefster09 wrote:Why not just have liability contracts? They would say that everything the student does to hurt himself is his own stupid self's fault, Therefore meaning you can't sue. And hey, if you don't sign one, your kid will become a brainless hobo.

wrong. liability contracts don't mean shit when you're sueing for negligence, which parents would be in any incident involving their child getting hurt on school property. they most certainly can sue.

i love it how almost all of you are criticizing the public school system for this when actually it's the fault of your stupid ass pussy sue crazy parents.