School bans balls, tag during recess


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PORT WASHINGTON, NY (CBSNewYork) ? Worries about injuries at a Long Island school have led to a surprising ban.

As CBS 2?s Jennifer McLogan reported Monday, officials at Weber Middle School in Port Washington are worried that students are getting hurt during recess. Thus, they have instituted a ban on footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls, or anything that might hurt someone on school grounds.

Tossing a football during recess has long seemed to be a rite of passage for kids in the school community.

?I think we need the soccer balls, the footballs and everything, so we can have some fun,? one student said.

But the students will have no such option anymore. They were just informed that during recess, football is out and Nerf ball is in. Hard soccer balls have been banned, along with baseballs and lacrosse balls, rough games of tag, or cartwheels unless supervised by a coach.

Students were not thrilled about the news.

?Cartwheels and tag ? I think it?s ridiculous they are banning that,? one said.

?You go for recess ? that?s your free time to go let loose and recharge,? another said.

?That?s all we want to do,? a third student said. ?We?re in school all day sitting behind the desk learning.?

But Port Washington schools Supt. Kathleen Maloney said the change in policy is warranted due to a rash of playground injuries.

?Some of these injuries can unintentionally become very serious, so we want to make sure our children have fun, but are also protected,? Maloney said.

Without helmets and pads, children are much more susceptible to getting hurt, experts said.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center emergency room director Dr. Salvatore Pardo said he has been seeing ?head injuries, bumps, scrapes; worried about concussions.?

But some parents said it is really about liability and lawsuits.

?Children?s safety is paramount, but at the same time, you have to let them live life,? said Port Washington parent Ellen Cohen.

Several districts from outside Long Island are already contacting Nassau County educators. Soon, additional schools may be jumping on the banning balls bandwagon.

The Port Washington district said the softer foam balls put students in the best situation to cut down the chance of getting injured.

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You want the 90's back?  Because it was different and better back then?

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I know that my school and a number of others banned certain schoolyard games (British Bulldog, Off-Ground Tag) because kids were getting hurt.  The likelihood is one kid got hurt in one game at one school, and so others reacted.

 

The world's not got worse, it's got more reported.

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Tag? Really? So little kids can't even run around anymore?

 

And people wonder why "ADD" and ADHD" are getting worse. They just need to run around a bit.

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Meh, I'd just move my Children to a different School; nothing worth making a fuss about. I think that's taking safety a little too far, but it's their School and they can do what they like. It definitely seems to be more about liabilities than Child safety, though.

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You want the 90's back?  Because it was different and better back then?

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I know that my school and a number of others banned certain schoolyard games (British Bulldog, Off-Ground Tag) because kids were getting hurt.  The likelihood is one kid got hurt in one game at one school, and so others reacted.

 

The world's not got worse, it's got more reported.

 

Precisely.  Games like British Bulldog and Brandy (which involved chasing someone down and throwing a ball at them so hard that it left a mark) were regularly banned when I was at school in the '70s and '80s.

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OMG... me getting hurt all the time was normal as most kids at school doing dares on the playground, playing hardcore dodgeball, jumping from jungle jim to the next, running up a slide with gravel poured on it, etc... 

 

If these yuppie parents would see the stuff I did as a kid they would have a heart attack! Geez they need to realize thier little babies aren't gonna grow up if you don't let em!

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Meh, I'd just move my Children to a different School; nothing worth making a fuss about. I think that's taking safety a little too far, but it's their School and they can do what they like. It definitely seems to be more about liabilities than Child safety, though.

 

Unless you can afford a private school you have no choice in where your kid goes to school, school choice was killed by the Unions and other vested parties in the mediocrity that school has become, I'm glad I was lucky and my kids went to schools where the staff had a dose of common sense, I hold no hope for their children 

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so what are they gonna do during recess? standing still and smoke?

 

Some parents obviously would rather have thier children smoke and have sex then get a lil bruise on the playground and play video games. SMH -_-

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this is dumb. if i ever have kids i want them to be able to go out and do what ever they want . getting scrapes and cuts and hit with a ball in the head is what being a kid is all about, i remember playing a game of  red rover and litterally clothes lining a kid and she got up and went right back to playing. 

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Ahh fond memories of giving another kid a mild concussion during a game of Bombardment.  /s

 

That's just absurd.  May as well ban pencils too just to make sure nobody gets impaled on one.

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The parents who are complaining about the bans would probably be the same parents taking the school to court if their kid was hurt. This is the result of creating a litigious culture. If you think every time something goes wrong in life you can flip that into a potential pay-off you'll have to get used to bans like these being enforced.

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"Without helmets and pads, children are much more susceptible to getting hurt, experts said."

 

We needed experts to figure that one out?

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The parents who are complaining about the bans would probably be the same parents taking the school to court if their kid was hurt. This is the result of creating a litigious culture. If you think every time something goes wrong in life you can flip that into a potential pay-off you'll have to get used to bans like these being enforced.

Permission slips instead of a ban.  "By signing this you waive your right to sue." Over-coddling is probably pretty harmful in the long run too.

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