WA School Bans Playground Tag to ‘Ensure Emotional Safety of Students’

Earlier this month, administrators at Mercer Island School District in Washington State felt compelled to do something for their children this year by banning the playground game of tag, because it just might make some kids feel bad, they said. In a letter home to parents, Mercer Island School District communications director Mary Grady insisted that, from now on, kids would be ordered to “keep their hands to themselves,” and tag would be banned “to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students.” “School staffs are working with students in the classroom to ensure that there are many alternative games available at recess and during unsupervised play, so that our kids can still have fun, be with their friends, move their bodies and give their brains a break,” Grady concluded. Needless to say, many parents were flabbergasted by the extreme response to the venerable schoolyard game...more