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School Safety UpdateNational School Safety Center
Second, students were instructed in the proper use of all equipment. For example, records showed that several injuries resulted from the inappropriate use of the monkey bars. Two basic rules made a difference: Hands must be the last thing to leave the bars, and nothing but the chin is ever above the bars. Third, improperly compacted sand falling-surfaces were replaced with wood chips layered to safe depth specifications. "When I came here two years ago as assistant principal, I could see the difference immediately," says David Koltovich, now principal at E. Hale Curran Elementary. "I saw almost a total involvement in games. No groups of students were loitering about without anything to do." Although the games were unfamiliar to him, Koltovich soon discovered that they were variations of standard games. Rules were posted on the playground, and all the students knew them. "When kids go out on the playground, they know where they're going. They have favorite games, and they head right for them. Ninety-five percent of the students are engaged in play, while the few others take time under the shade to eat their snacks." Designed for K-6, the Peaceful Playgrounds Program distributes students evenly throughout the playing area and fields. With colorful markings and plenty of equipment, the objective is to engage the maximum number of students in healthy, often educational, purposeful play. "The instructional aides who monitor the program have had lots of training, years of experience and know the importance of consistency," says Koltovich. "They have reached the point where they mostly move around the play areas watching high quality play at structured games." "We make it look easy," says Geri McGuire, "but it takes time to train everyone (students, teachers and aides). The instructional aides review the rules on a regular basis and then meet once a week to go over playground and classroom instructional practices." All the aides, including substitutes, wear aprons that hold hall passes, tissues, behavior referrals, bandages, reward tokens, pencils, a pair of rubber gloves and a rule book. Consistency in disciplining or helping children settle disagreements, is the aides' main objective. In order to foster healthy competition, aides plan tournaments at the various game sites. There are different games for different skill level and rules that allow for increased challenging levels of play. Students have choices, but each choice has structure and limits. There are no limits to how many can play each game, but a child will go to a less preferred game rather than wait in a long line for a favorite. Across the nation in River Vale, New Jersey, physical education teacher Ron Van Buren is using the Peaceful Playgrounds Program at Roberge School. From coast to coast, 7,000 schools are at various stages of implementing the program. It was created to promote peace, cooperation and education. The dramatic changes in statistics regarding decreased injuries has proved to be an unexpected added bonus. Melinda Bossenmever, Ed.D., program manager for North County Professional Development Federation, is the author of Peaceful Playgrounds. Her web site address is www.peacefulplaygrounds.com. Karen Robertson, MS., instructional support coordinator for Murrieta Valley Unified School District, is author of Raising Kids Right.
National School Safety Center
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What
contributed to such a dramatic decrease in injuries? Bossenmeyer
attributes the decrease to three things. First, the game markings were laid out
so children were distributed evenly across play areas. Since there were no
congested areas, there was no unrest due to overcrowding.