The act(s) of being a kid banned in MA schools!

[Andrew Blair]

Dogdeball was removed from our school in it's entirety a few years ago. That ticked me off...

The problem is, Americans are sue-happy. Not all, but, the cliche holds true, and schools counter to avoid risk. In other communities, westerly and in more remote regions, this isn't nearly as much of a problem. Life in general is riskier, and parents are willing to take a bit more risk as their own responsibility.

Unfortunately, especially in the NE, parents believe that when they send their kids away in the glistening cheese that first day of school, that they have, for aeven a short time, relinquished all control and responsibility for them. Whoohoo! Tax dollars doing something useful for once! However, as responsible adults know, this simply isn't the case. There are some legitimate reasons to sue a school district, but far too aften it's about pointing fingers, feel good vindication, and even cash.

Ex: My brother in elementary school was running up a pipe ladder in a school playground during recess, slipped, bashed his face in, and had to go to the emergency room for stitches, concussion test, etc. Could've claimed negligence, or other things, but thats absurd.

More serious... My friend has a brother that is seizure prone. He was playing on pull up bars, also during recess, fell off, on his head, began seizing. Negligence, imprper equipment, etc., but again, a frivilous lawsuit.

At a local elementary school, kids in my grade tell stories about how cool it was to go back and play at the "pit". Which happened to be a waste dumping area, complete with rusting barrels. Parents found out, but they didn't sue the school, they just took responsiblity and told their kids not to play there anymore!


Everyone knows a million examples of instances where there is an opportunity for a liability suit, but isn't action on it. It's the few, absurd people who feel the need to be an arse and sue for little reason. Districts need to cover their backsides, and the culture seems to permit this behavior.
* Sorry, that was an exceptionally long rant...