Tag banned

ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- Tag, you're out! Officials at the Willett Elementary School in Attleboro have banned playground tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chasing games over concerns about the risk of injury and liability for the school.

"It's a time when accidents can happen," Principal Gaylene Heppe said. Heppe included the new rule as part of a standardized set of playground rules.

While no district-wide policies banning contact sports at recess appear to have been put in place locally, many principals are making up new rules in an atmosphere reflecting society's increasingly cautious and litigious nature.

A few years ago, school administrators in the Attleboro area about 40 miles south of Boston, as well as around the country, took aim at dodgeball, saying it was an exclusionary and dangerous game. Modified versions now include softer balls and ways for children to re-enter the action.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., banned tag at recess this year. A suburban Charleston, S.C., school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

Parents' reaction was mixed to the new rule at Willett.

"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. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

However, Celeste D'Elia, another Willett parent, said her son feels safer because of the rule.

"I've witnessed enough near collisions" in the playground area, D'Elia said. "I support anything that makes the playground safer and helps teacher to keep track of them."