New Hampshire school reminds students that playing tag is banned for safety reasons
Charlotte Avenue Elementary in Nashua, New Hampshire has banned the game of “tag” from the playground
“We want them running, we want them jumping and releasing the energy, but just in a safe way,” Principal Patricia Beaulieu said.
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“The traditional recess game ‘tag,’ involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to ‘tag’ or touch them, usually with their hand,” Beaulieu wrote in the letter posted on the school’s website and school Facebook group.
“Seems innocent enough, however the force with which students ‘tag’ varies greatly, and this game, in particular, has been banned in many schools in the United States due primarily to concerns about injuries.”
Beaulieu said the school rule for recess has always been “no contact,” and the game of tag violates that policy.
The letter was posted in an effort to re-emphasize recess rules, she said.
“Tag is one of the oldest playground games anywhere. To ban tag is just ridiculous; it’s a simple game. They say the kids are overly aggressive – take the overly aggressive kids out of the game,” wrote Bill Chisholm on the Facebook group wall.
Beaulieu said nothing has changed with the school’s policy.
“It was my understanding that people felt like the rules had changed and they weren’t notified, whereas the rules hadn’t changed,” she said. “We were reviewing the rules.”
To maintain physical fitness, Beaulieu said, students are encouraged to participate in other activities apart from tag during recess.
“They’re allowed to play soccer … they can do basketball, there’s jump ropes, there’s different balls they can play with, different four square games out there,” Beaulieu said. “It’s really about them being healthy and their well-being.”
Playground policies are determined primarily by school principals and can vary from school to school, said Nashua Superintendent Mark Conrad.
“I think for something like playground games, it’s really up to the discretion of the principal at each school to determine the rules that are appropriate,” he said. “For something like tag, you’re looking at the size of the classes, the physical layout of the school grounds.”
