Posted on 10/13/2005 10:53:27 AM PDT by HungarianGypsy
Merry-go-rounds, seesaws and tall metal slides are gone. East Valley schools also forbid tackle football, jumping off swings and hanging upside down from monkey bars. Students can still play tag — but they must "power walk" or skip at some schools because running is too dangerous. Pioneer Elementary School in Gilbert prohibits tag altogether.
And that’s just the beginning of the rules that principals, playground aides and lawmakers have created in recent years to keep schoolchildren safe.
Johnson Elementary School in Mesa banned flip-flops this semester to protect children from twisted ankles and stubbed toes. Sonoran Sky Elementary School in the Paradise Valley Unified School District requires children to wear hats when they go outdoors — a response to a new state law that requires public schools to teach about skin cancer. State lawmakers also passed a junk food ban this year to protect children from obesity.
And the Mesa Unified School District installed fences around its high schools this summer to keep students inside and protect them from lunchtime traffic crashes.
Gilbert parent Cindy Duffy said she agrees with some of the precautions, but she said many schools go too far in dictating what children can and cannot do.
"I think they’re taking away kids’ creativity," Duffy said. "Schools are telling them how to play, and that’s their creative time."
But Deb Pangrazi, program specialist for elementary physical education in the Mesa district, said educators have learned from all the broken bones and other injuries.
"I just think we’re much more responsible now," she said.
LETTING KIDS BE KIDS
Rhonda Clements, past president of the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, disagreed. She said too many safety rules rob children of a chance to explore their world and take healthy risks.
"We’re seeing way too much adult-structured activity, and children aren’t free to make their own decisions," said Clements, director of graduate physical education at Manhattanville College in New York. "Sometimes children have to learn through trial and error."
She said kids need a chance to be kids.
"When they lowered the height of slides, kids began to jump off the top of the slide," she said. "A child is naturally going to find a way for that risk taking, and if we don’t give them that chance, we’ll have a society of children that are totally sheltered."
Chandler Christian School fifth-grader Kenzie McGinnis, 10, said she would welcome more playground freedom. She said she misses games such as dodgeball, which her school prohibits.
"We also can’t play tag on the playground equipment, which is really fun," Kenzie said. "I wish I could because it’s fun."
MODERN PLAYGROUND
School maintenance workers in Mesa used to design and build their own playground gear for students.
But the wood splintered, pieces came loose and metal bars grew hot in the Arizona sun.
Susan Hudson, education director for the National Program for Playground Safety, said the first playground regulations emerged in 1981.
"You want to make sure that kids aren’t going to get their head entrapped in guardrails, that there is adequate surfacing under and around the playground equipment," she said. "That there aren’t pinch points or loose nuts or bolts, entrapment areas or entanglement areas."
She said the notion that height increases the fun factor is not always true.
"What you have done with height is only increase the risk, but you have done nothing to increase the challenge," Hudson said. "That’s why kids start to misuse the equipment. They will go down the slide backward or climb up the slide chute. What the child is trying to do is increase the complexity of the task. Rather than worrying about if fun has been taken out, (we should look at) what we are doing for the child. Maybe it means a different design of the playgrounds of the 21st century that don’t look like the playgrounds of the 19th century."
REVAMPING P.E.
T.J. Jackson, 47, has taught physical education in the Mesa district for more than two decades and has seen many changes.
He said teachers today not only protect children from injury but also from hurt feelings.
Students used to share one basketball and took turns shooting baskets. Now, he said, teachers give children their own balls so they can focus on their skills and not worry about classmates making fun of them if they don’t perform as well.
"We want to (teach) in a way that nobody’s going to walk out of here humiliated or hurt," said Jackson, a teacher at Hale Elementary School.
During a recent class, Jackson had his first-graders toss colorful yarn balls into the air. The balls are softer than the beanbags the school sometimes uses, he said, and the children feel comfortable tossing them because they know the balls won’t hurt if they fail to catch them.
"We’re looking out for the masses," Jackson said. "I don’t think we can be too safe."
‘LITIGATION HAPPY SOCIETY’
Jackson acknowledged that trip-and-fall lawsuits have also influenced safety rules.
"I don’t know what caused teeter-totters to go, but I bet it was litigation," he said. "It doesn’t take much for people to go that route."
Lawsuits have meant fewer swing sets in places such as Scottsdale.
"I think swings were the one piece of playground equipment that went by the wayside," said Scottsdale Unified School District governing board president Christine Schild, who also is an attorney. "Too many kids got killed or had brain damage as a result of falling off swings and hitting their heads on the ground."
Paradise Valley district spokeswoman Judi Willis said playgrounds in her district are reviewed for safety by the Valley Schools Insurance Trust, an intergovernmental risk retention pool that provides liability coverage to several Valley school districts.
The group also provides training for all Paradise Valley playground aides, said risk management supervisor Tom Bock.
"When I was a kid, we played on the swings and stuff and there was no sand underneath us, and no one cared," Bock said. "If you fell and got hurt, you went to the doctor and got it taken care of. Now there is more supervision — but there are still losses. We’re a litigation happy society."
Gilbert parent Chad McGinnis said he understands the influence of lawsuits on school safety rules.
"The way our society is with lawsuits and everything, I don’t blame them from doing it," said McGinnis, who has three children attending Chandler Christian School.
NO END TO INJURIES
But the precautions might not be working.
Bock said he has heard that students today have more serious playground injuries when they fall, as compared to 20 years ago.
"Now when a kid falls, they break something — whereas 20 years ago, they didn’t," he said. "The equipment and grounds were much worse than they are today, with sand and wood chips and that rubber stuff, yet the injuries are often worse."
He said perhaps childhood obesity and lack of exercise could mean that students today are less fit and, therefore, more likely to fall the wrong way and injure themselves.
Each year about 200,000 children age 15 and younger in the U.S. are taken to emergency rooms for playgroundrelated injuries. Forty-five percent of the injuries are fractures, concussions and dislocations, he said.
Safety sampler
PROTECTING KIDS: Here are some random policies and procedures from East Valley schools:
MESA: Children use beach balls when learning volleyball at Hale Elementary School. Children must not wear flip-flops at Johnson Elementary School.
CHANDLER: Impact-absorbing wood chips cover the ground under playground equipment at San Marcos Elementary School. Bike riders must wear helmets at Bologna Elementary School and outdoor drinking fountains have chilled water to encourage students to stay hydrated. No hanging upside down at the Traditional Academy-Liberty campus.
GILBERT: The Gilbert Unified School District has cut back on the purchase of swing sets.
QUEEN CREEK: Frances Brandon-Pickett Elementary School weighed children’s backpacks this semester as a deterrent against back injuries.
SCOTTSDALE: The Scottsdale Unified School District playground safety manual bans the following activities:
• Climbing up a slide.
• Hanging by your knees on a jungle gym.
• Twisting or twirling on swings.
• More than one child at a time on a playground ladder. Contact Hayley Ringle by email, or phone (480)-898-6301
And then they will have to march lock step in large circles for recess wearing uniforms that include hats.
Hey wait! That sounds familiar!
LOL. Truth.
And one other thing.
What in the world is a playground aide? I thought teachers just hung out with whistles at recess.
"What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a playground supervisor. I make sure kids don't play, or move around a whole lot during recess. We are thinking of scrapping recess all together, and just having meditation time. It's sooooo much safer."
Uh, Bob, if she complained, you missed a spot!
The monkey bars that I played on as a kid were on concrete. Anybody seen a chemistry set lately? Remember those little steam engines that ran on sterno? How about the miniature wood-burning stoves for girls or a woodburning set?
I guess I'm kinda glad I'm an old man and not a kid today.
Way too many and that goes for adults too.
Scrappin recess has been done here for elementary and middle schools. Kids leave home at 6:40 am get back around 4:15 and have heaps of homework when they get home. When do they get a chance to be children? Our kids homeschool for 5 hrs in the morning then have the afternoon to be children, run, play, get muddy, laugh and fight! LOL
I wish more people would let kids be kids and get a few bruises and scrapes....it's how we learn balance, ducking, how to perfect that huge jump.....: )
I'm so glad I was a 70s child - lots of stitches but oh, so much fun!!
They don't have silly rules about jumping off swingsets at schools here - they just banned swingsets completely, while installing a climbing wall for the elemenatary kids to use.
Always had fun with Estes rockets. We got in trouble thought for free launching the engines - who needed a rocket body? Just lay them on the ground, put in the igniter, and hide...
I was a Jet-X fan. Made a race car for one. It ran into a pile of leaves next to the curb. I miss the smell of burning leaves.
Yes -thank you ambulance chasers and safety nazis
I think it would be easier to tell the schools to BUTT OUT. Why replace one form of government control of the people with another?
In Israel, military service is required by all their young people for at least a year, but somehow I don't think it would work here when anti-military propaganda is taught in the same schools that wish to turn our young men into wussies and our young women into, well..young men.
Great idea for the southern climes. Here in Philly, we haven't seen the sun in a week!
We are the other freak family without video games! Glad to know there is another.
Our pediatrician looks for bruised shins. He says if they aren't, the kid is overprotected.
Yes I'm in the NE too (NY and PA), and we definitely don't have too much sun right now. But the covered playground would still come in handy, allowing kids to play outside without getting drenched.
Caution: You are entering a regulated Habitat and Fitness Center, please have your permission slips and medical clearance available at the next station; for your safety and that of others, including all natural fauna and flora, you must stay within the white lines unless directly supervised by a licensed Fitness and Habitat Center guide.
All guides must wear green shirts while on duty, no red colored garments are allowed for obvious reasons.
Enjoy your visit and remember, the life you save may be your own.
Don't forget to collect personal belongings as you leave, all non-collected items are subject to confiscation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.