Walk past any elementary school during recess and you can hear the sound of kids playing in the yard.
Typically, you'll see games of basketball, soccer and football as they burn off some pent-up energy before heading back to class.
However, that’s not necessarily the case for at least one Barrie school after administrators instituted a new system where any balls children bring to the school must be approved.
Anne Zarecky, whose granddaughter attends Hewitt’s Creek Public School in the city’s south end, told BarrieToday she's heard there may have been some injuries from hard balls — specifically footballs and soccer balls.
However, neither Zarecky nor her son, who lives with her, have received any communication directly from the school on the ball matter.
"So, that's where this is coming from. They instituted a ball ban ... to lessen the risk of injury," she said.
BarrieToday contacted the Simcoe County District School Board to see what was happening at the Sandringham Drive school.
"Hewitt’s Creek Public School has invested in new outdoor resources to promote and encourage safe physical activity at school — such as basketballs, volleyballs, tennis balls, dodge balls, etc. — based on recommendations from the Simcoe County District School Board’s health and safety department," Jamie Campbell, the board's assistant manager of communications, wrote in an email to BarrieToday.
Campbell said new balls were purchased in early April as part of the school’s Ophea program to encourage active and safe play.
"The balls are made of many materials, not just foam," she added.
Students are also encouraged to bring their own balls to school, Campbell said, adding "use of the balls will be pending approval by school administration."
She confirmed there have been injuries reported due to ball strikes, but the purchase of the balls is "not directly related to the injuries."
"The school has created designated play zones throughout the school yard for specific types of play and different activities," she added. "As a result, the school has seen increased student participation in outdoor play and physical activities."
Play zones in the school yard have "always been in place," she said.
BarrieToday also reached out to school board trustee Lisa-Marie Wilson — as well as the school's principal and vice-principal — for comment, but did not receive responses prior to publication of this story.
Zarecky acknowledged the need to keep staff and students safe from getting hurt, adding the last thing she wanted to do was minimize any injury that had occurred, but said the whole idea felt “ridiculous.”
“To have to go and sign out a ball, or have it approved by the principal, that’s ludicrous," she said.
“One of the problems that stems from this — and it’s not unique to Barrie; I guess it’s happened in other cities — is you have small school yards, teachers out on duty, lots of kids and there just isn’t sufficient space for them to play with their balls. That’s one of the problems at Hewitt’s Creek ... that there is a space problem.”
Next to the school, which is located near Big Bay Point Road and Prince William Way, is a city-owned park, which Zarecky said is largely unused during the day.
“They didn’t give this school enough outdoor space. I am sure that would lessen the chance of these things happening by 100 per cent if children had enough space. The bigger picture is, if you’re sitting at that (planning) table, I’d say maybe we need to move the parking lots and give these kids more space," she said.
“There’s not enough space for the children to play and … we all want to have our kids have a good, healthy outlet for their energy.”
In the short term, the solution is that kids can play with the safer balls, but Zarecky is hopeful a long-term solution can be found.
“It’s just a slippery slope. The next thing is the kids will have nothing to do,” she said, adding she has reached out to both the principal and the trustee but has yet to receive a response. “In the big scheme of things, it’s probably relatively unimportant to them, but it did concern me that, yes, we need to keep teachers safe, but taking balls away from kids seemed pretty heavy-handed.”
