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The Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia has placed a ban on the school yard game of tag—alleging that it “sends the wrong message.” “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to comfort a weeping child who didn’t want to be ‘it,’” said Vice-Principal Pat Keister. “The game is too stressful and competitive. This contradicts the message of love and affection we are trying to convey through the free condom distribution program for our fifth-graders.”

A playground pastime is getting a timeout this spring at a McLean elementary school. Robyn Hooker, principal of Kent Gardens Elementary School, has told students they may no longer play tag during recess after determining that the game of chasing, dodging and yelling "You're it!" had gotten out of hand. Hooker explained to parents in a letter this month that tag had become a game "of intense aggression." The principal said that her goal is to keep students safe and that she hopes to restore tag (as well as touch football, also now on hold) after teachers and administrators review...

ERIE, Pa. - Two young girls accused of brutally attacking another girl on a playground are too emotionally immature to understand the criminal charges against them and the charges should be dismissed, their attorneys said. The girls, ages 10 and 11, face aggravated assault and other charges for the attack on another 10-year-old girl at an elementary school playground the evening of April 3. The girls are accused of stomping on the victim and breaking her hip, police said. Erie County Public Defender Tony Logue says he will ask a Juvenile Court judge to dismiss criminal charges against the 10-year-old...

EVERETT, Wash. — A 10-year-old Everett area boy is listed in critical condition at Children's Hospital in Seattle after being buried in a sandbox by his playmates. The boy has been identified by his family as Cody Porter. His half brother, 30-year-old Joshua Quantrille, says Cody was playing with Quantrille's three sons and several other children on Saturday in the back yard of a home belonging to a family friend. There is a sandbox in the back yard, and Quantrille says his children told him Cody came up with the idea that they should bury him, head first, in the...

EVERETT, Wash. -- A 10-year-old Everett boy has died in a Seattle hospital after an accident in a sandbox. A spokeswoman for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center confirms that Codey Porter died Monday. In a statement, the boy's relatives say they appreciate "all the support and prayers" they have received and have decided to honor his memory by donating his organs. Codey's family said earlier that the TV cartoon "Narutu" gave him and his friends the idea of burying him head first in a sandbox. They thought he was joking Saturday when he struggled. Sheriff's deputies questioned the five...

Children at Oakdale School here in southeastern Connecticut returned this fall to learn that their traditional recess had gone the way of the peanut butter sandwich and the Gumby lunchbox. No longer could they let off youthful energy — pent up from hours of long division — by cavorting outside for 22 minutes of unstructured play, or perhaps a vigorous game of tag or dodgeball. Such games had been virtually banned by the principal, Mark S. Johnson, along with kickball, soccer and other “body-banging” activities, as he put it, where knees — and feelings — might get bruised. Instead, children...

Springs elementary gives tag a timeout By BRIAN NEWSOME THE GAZETTE On the playground of a northern Colorado Springs elementary school, tag is not “it.” The touch-and-run game and any other form of chasing was banned this year at Discovery Canyon Campus’ elementary school by administrators who say it fuels schoolyard disputes. “It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen. In the first days of school, before tag was banned, she said students would complain to her about being chased or harassed. Fesgen said she would hear: “Well, I don’t want to be chased,...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A Colorado Springs elementary school is banning the game of tag on its playground -- after some children complained that they'd been chased or harassed against their will.Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen of the Discovery Canyon Campus school said running games will be allowed, as long as students don't chase each other.Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban, but most parents and children didn't object. Two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in 2005 in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. Officials at Evans...

JOSEPH GALLO, 10, of Santa Cruz, Calif., is well armed in the battle against childhood boredom, with a bedroom arsenal that includes a computer hooked to the Internet, a DVD player, two Game Boys, as well as an Xbox and GameCube. But in recent weeks, the hum of that war room of machinery has quieted because Joseph has acquired a new playtime obsession that would have seemed quaint even in his parents’ day: marbles. But lately, a number of educators like Mr. Cohill, as well as parents and child-development specialists are trying to spur a revival of traditional outdoor pastimes,...

Only in America in 2006 would a game of tag be considered dangerous. In the name of safety, a number of schools are prohibiting their students at recess from playing traditional games like tag or soccer, claiming that too many children were getting hurt by aggressive play. The New Jersey School Boards Association doesn't keep statistics on school recess games. Anecdotally, the trend exists. Dodge ball has been out at some schools for years, but banning games such as tag and soccer is a newer development. And some experts say such bans are bad for children. "We're really overprotecting our...

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME PROVIDED FINANCIAL support to Abu Sayyaf, the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the Philippines in the late 1990s, according to documents captured in postwar Iraq. An eight-page fax dated June 6, 2001, and sent from the Iraqi ambassador in Manila to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, provides an update on Abu Sayyaf kidnappings and indicates that the Iraqi regime was providing the group with money to purchase weapons. The Iraqi regime suspended its support--temporarily, it seems--after high-profile kidnappings, including of Americans, focused international attention on the terrorist group. The...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 – Community members welcomed a new playground for the children of the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school in Taji, Iraq, April 19. Iraqi children from the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school, in Taji, Iraq, help disperse gravel April 19 at the new playground donated by Iraqi and U.S. companies. Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, along with children at the school, pitched in to help make the school a better place. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, USA   The playground was a result of hard work and determination by a combined...

What's the largest fast junk food chain in the country? Wrong. It's not McDonald's. It's Subway. Subway overtook McDonald's last year in the United States and now has 15,874 locations in the U.S. compared to 11,533 for McDonald's. Worldwide, Subway has 21,528 restaurants in 75 countries. McDonald's has more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries. Subway founder Fred DeLuca says he wants 30,000 outlets worldwide by 2010. Of course, Subway would not want you to think that it is not a fast junk food chain. In fact, the privately held firm has overtaken McDonald's by riding a wave of publicity...

Principals Cut Recess Time Schools Want More Time For Instruction POSTED: 5:52 pm EST March 23, 2006 UPDATED: 11:15 pm EST March 23, 2006 FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Two elementary schools in Fall River have decided to eliminate morning recess to give kids more time to study. NBC 10's Larry Estepa talked to parents who call that decision a mistake. "I absolutely believe they should have recess. I'm a liaison for the school, and I'm the one who's advocating for recess," said Kathy King, a parent of a third-grader. Fall River Superintendent Nicholas Fischer said some of his principals decided...

New Zealand Lance Corporal Josh Whitehead puts the finishing touches to the swing set he built for Markaz Girls' High School in Bamyan, Afghanistan. Standing in front is U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brian Curtis. New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team photo Kiwis Build Playground For Afghan Children The playground equipment was built in three weeks with scrap metal from around the compound. By Staff Sergeant Tim RoweNew Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team BAMYAN, Afghanistan, Nov. 18, 2005 — The New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan recently built a swing set and basketball court at Markaz Girls' High School near...

BURLINGAME, Calif. - The city of Burlingame has paid $1,600 to obscure a design at the newly opened Pershing Park playground that a resident felt resembled the Star of David. The park was closed on Thursday of last week while a contractor filled in a pattern in the playground's surface that consisted of six yellow stars laid out in the shape of the Star of David. Residents had complained it was disrespectful for children to step on the design. The pattern was changed to an arch shape that more closely resembles a sun. The original contractor made a mistake in...

Innovative troops turn scrap metal into playground swings and slides for the children of a Kirkuk orphanage. FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Iraq, Sept. 1, 2005 — Children at one Kirkuk orphanage now have a playground full of new equipment, thanks to the efforts of the headquarters company of the 116th Brigade Combat Team’s Task Force 2-116 Armor who installed a custom-built playground set Aug. 19. While doing an assessment of a Kirkuk orphanage back in March, the unit noticed run-down playground equipment that was inadequate for the number of children. One metalworker in the group, U.S. Army Sgt. Fenton Doyle,...

FOB WARRIOR, Iraq— Children at one Kirkuk orphanage now have a playground full of new equipment, thanks to the efforts of the headquarters company of the 116th Brigade Combat Team’s Task Force 2-116 Armor who installed a custom-built playground set August 19. While doing an assessment of a Kirkuk orphanage back in March, the unit noticed run-down playground equipment that was inadequate for the number of children. One metalworker in the group, Sgt. Fenton Doyle, decided to use his talent to build new equipment. “Sgt. Doyle spent his spare time gathering and welding scrap metal constructing several toys for the...

Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like overkill. "I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run." Broward's "Rules of the Playground" signs, bought from an equipment catalogue and displayed at all 137 elementary schools in the district, are just one of several steps taken to...

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS Bibles banned on playgrounds Legal group challenges restriction on student activity during recess Posted: May 12, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com     An elemenatary school principal who barred students from reading the Bible during recess after a complaint from parents is violating the Constitution, according to a public-interest law firm challenging his actions. In a letter to the Knox County School District in Tennesee, the Alliance Defense Fund declared the principal of Karns Elementary School is on "shaky constitutional ground."   "The Constitution does not prohibit Bibles during recess; it prohibits the wholesale banning of...