Attleboro School Bans Tag and Other Chase Games, From the Associated Press Options

[jonerik]

Mass. grade school bans tag, other chase games
‘Accidents can happen,’ principal says to mixed reviews by parents

Updated: 10:38 a.m. ET Oct 18, 2006

ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out!

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. Modified versions now include softer balls and ways for children to re-enter the action.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, S.C., 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.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[TheDanguardAce]

Mass. grade school bans tag, other chase games
‘Accidents can happen,’ principal says to mixed reviews by parents
Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.
Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

In a nutshell : "We're too stupid to stop kids from punching each others faces in so we'll just butter their assholes inside a plastic bubble."

[Borf]

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