The Playground Liability Panic
When a legal ruling turned the simple joy of school swings into a site of municipal fear, the school board in North Yakima moved to tear it all down.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A recent decision of the Supreme Court holding a district responsible for an accident to a child due to defective playground apparatus has caused the newly-elected school board in North Yakima to decide to remove all playground apparatus installed on the school grounds. The question is of local interest in White Bluffs, in view of the fact that the local school board has recently installed apparatus consisting of swings, teeter boards, and a trapeze. Two minor accidents have already occurred, due it is said to the enthusiasm of the pupils. A suit is now pending, or rather has just been instituted at North Yakima, for damages for injuries received by a child on a teeter board. The youngster on the opposite end of the board jumped off, causing a fracture of one of the other youngster's legs, his feet being curled under the heavy board. A report from Olympia states that the decision in question only held the school district liable where the apparatus was defective through the negligence of the directors or those responsible for its construction.
“A suit is now pending... for damage for injuries received by a child on a teeter board. The youngster on the opposite end of the board jumped off, causing a fracture of one of the other youngster's legs.”
Today, debates about risk management in public parks often lead to sterile, 'safe' equipment at the cost of traditional play. The tension between institutional liability and the need for communal activity remains a defining feature of modern Washington school administration.
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