WAG Would You Say Something? Gymnast In (Potentially) Unsafe PE Class

[Deleted member 15064]

I would appreciate some opinions on whether or not to pursue a situation at DD's charter school.

Background:

DD attends a coveted lottery charter school. We've been with this small school for 13 years total. Recently they built a state-of-the-art wood suspension floor "dance room" for PE. This school does lots of yoga/dance and almost zero competitive sports in physical education class.

Prior to this new addition, PE was held either outside on a large grassy area, or in the basement of the building, on concrete floors, complete with pillars. Thus the need for a dedicated PE space...

Well, it appears that PE is still held in the basement on rainy days. Yesterday was one of them. Apparently not all physical activities can be accommodated in the newly built dance studio. So jump roping and some type of relay race was going on and DD slipped on her shoe lace and cracked her knee on the concrete floor.

L5 states are 2 weeks away. Yes, accidents happen anywhere at any time. But I am finding it a bit difficult to swallow the fact that the brand new PE facility with relatively safe flooring sits unused during some classes while the kids work their bodies on concrete instead.

My initial reaction was no more PE for DD when it's held in the basement. I can't imagine this is a frequent event now that they have the brand new room, but regardless. I see it as an unnecessary risk. We've never asked for accommodations for any of our kids that have worked there way through this school before.

Should I take a stand? Leave it? Is the concrete floor just fine considering that's what the kids have been using for years? Now that there is an alternative, does that make a whit of difference?

 

[gymdog]

I would try to get more information first. Was your daughter hurt? What does "cracked her knee" mean? Concrete isn't good for activity but kids run around on it all the time so I don't know. Not sure why they would use it. So I would try to get more info before making any decisions.

 

[gymmomtoo]

What was she doing when she got her injury? There are some things that it wouldn't be unsafe to do on concrete--and she could slip on a shoe lace running at home and hurt herself. Without knowing more, I can't say it's unsafe

 

[Deleted member 15064]

She limped off the bus.
Said the front of her knee hurt. It happened while running during PE in the basement and falling. Thinks she slipped on her shoe lace. No bruising. Went to practice.

I guess the extent of the injury is irrelevant to me. Though I am thrilled for her that it appears to be minor. We had one of our kids get a broken clavicle in this same school PE class years ago (someone cartwheeled into her) and I didn't dream of making an issue of that. I know accidents happen.

It's something about the flooring that is killing me. If there is a slip, a push, a fumble, the floor offers a greatly heightened risk of bone injury to me. But I admit I am going completely on intuition right now, don't know if science backs that up. And knowing they have a new state of the art answer to this sub par gym room is probably stoking me up a bit.

When I say take a stand, I don't want to tell them how to run their PE classes, or where. I am certainly not telling them that they were doing a risky activity for the space they were in. I just want my kid to sit out because of the situation she is in - dedicating 16 hours a week to a sport she loves and knowing if she makes a mistake and falls in PE, in the basement - her chance of missing out on competition is elevated.

Ok, I'm crazy. That's why I asked here first.

 

[profmom]

My DS's high school soccer team last fall lost a couple of kids for part or most of the season to injuries incurred in gym class. They were all kind of freak things, but with active kids, these things are going to happen. On the other hand, DS's teammate who narrowly avoided killing himself in a little flyaway competition off the monkey bars with his best buddy from the girls' team . . . the playground monitors were WHERE? at the time???

I think you have to pick your battles. This strikes me as not one of them unless you get more information suggesting that the activity was unreasonably unsafe. If your DD gets a pass on gym class, it opens a can of worms for the school -- who else should be exempt and for what reasons?

 

[Sasha]

Hmm, our PE is often on the concrete (outdoor) playground, as there are games like kickball, four-square, outdoor basketball, etc. A lot of running is also done partially on concrete (sidewalks are concrete) as part of these games, or just running drills. We also have an indoor wooden-floored room and an outdoor grassy area, but activities are different places different days.

I personally wouldn't panic about the concrete space unless they truly were doing activities that are mis-matched to the space like leap-frog or climbing a rope with no matting or something. General sports like basketball, jump-rope, games, most of those are played outside on concrete playgrounds across the US, so I don't see much difference. Just my initial reaction.

Glad your DD wasn't hurt, though! Mine fell on grass the other day and worried me for a couple minutes (!). So I know that little panic with our dear gymmies.

 

[Quadqueen]

Eh....it's hard to say. Kids run around on concrete for recess all the time, and accidents happen.

 

[MaryA]

Other than the pillars, I don't know how running in a concrete basement would be different than running on concrete on the playground. It does seems a shame that, when building a school gym, it wasn't constructed with more active play in mind.

 

[Deleted member 15064]

This charter school was built on a science museum campus in the city. One of their outbuildings was converted into classrooms. No dedicated music room, gymnasium etc... but nice access to the planetarium, main museum, a ballroom, a multi purpose room with a stage & bleacher seating. Not a bad deal.
But getting this new PE dance room built specifically (along with a dedicated art room with large, natural light windows) was exciting. Knowing they will still do some PE down in the basement kinda deflated me a little. Sorry for the whining.

I guess playgrounds have concrete.

I'll buy her some Velcro sneakers (that she won't wear) and keep my mouth shut...

 

[profmom]

Hey, look on the bright side. DD was helping to move desks around in her classroom this winter and someone dropped a desk leg right on her big toe. We thought at first it was broken. Thank goodness it wasn't, but she still has a black toenail to remind us all of the event.

 

[MaryA]

My girls go to a charter school. I know there are definitely trade-offs in terms of stuff they miss out on by not going to the regular public school, but it's so totally worth it!

 

[gymdog]

I think you should just try to get more info. For example, could the kids wear knee pads?

 

[MaryA]

I think you should just try to get more info. For example, could the kids wear knee pads?

Wearing knee pads is probably the surest way to insure that they fall on their elbows. Or their heads!

 

[Deleted member 15064]

I think you should just try to get more info. For example, could the kids wear knee pads?

Ha! I kinda wanna say something sarcastic to the school leader ( I know her pretty well after all these years). Maybe that's the approach - try to point out the silliness of still using that rank space when they have a million dollar alternative sitting empty upstairs!

 

[MaryA]

I predict that when the space feels a little less "new", they'll drop some of the rules about using it. When we bought our Prius new 2 years ago, we had very strict "no eating in the car" rules. For about a month. If that long. Now it's as much as a disaster as our old car ever was.

 

[Deleted member 15064]

Hey, look on the bright side. DD was helping to move desks around in her classroom this winter and someone dropped a desk leg right on her big toe. We thought at first it was broken. Thank goodness it wasn't, but she still has a black toenail to remind us all of the event.

Ugh! Yes, DD's toe nail already fell off earlier this season when she smashed her big toe in someone's attic. (Like you - we were thrilled it wasn't broken). Maybe she is just a klutz outside the gym?

 

[Deleted member 15064]

I predict that when the space feels a little less "new", they'll drop some of the rules about using it. When we bought our Prius new 2 years ago, we had very strict "no eating in the car" rules. For about a month. If that long. Now it's as much as a disaster as our old car ever was.

Hahaha. That crossed my mind in my irritated state yesterday. Keeping that damn dance space pristine is NOT the priority here. At least you still drove the Prius and didn't leave it home in the driveway for fear of dinging it.

 

[mommyof1]

Ha! I kinda wanna say something sarcastic to the school leader ( I know her pretty well after all these years). Maybe that's the approach - try to point out the silliness of still using that rank space when they have a million dollar alternative sitting empty upstairs!

It is pretty standard to ban street shoes on dance floors. If they are actually using the dance studio for formal dance instruction, it makes sense not to use it for other activities unless the kids take their shoes off.

If you feel very strongly about the concrete floor and want to bring it up with the administration, I would make it about the broader safety issue instead of your daughter's gymnastics. Nobody wants their child injured, whether or not she has a gymnastics competition coming up. If it's truly unsafe for your gymmie, then it's unsafe for everyone.

 

[shelovestoflip]

I guess I'm not exactly sure what a 'state of the art wood suspension floor' is??

Many school gyms have beautifully shiny (in September) wood floors. I work in a school that is just 2 years old. Our gym floor is new and shiny. But is is wood. And honestly, a fall the wrong way on a nice new gym floor is the same as a fall on concrete.

It's a hard floor and sometimes accidents happen. Kids fall off monkey bars (happened here), kids fall on grass when running (happened here, too), kids bump into each other and get concussions (yup, seen that too).

Teachers are watching/paying attention. But if you have 100 kids at recess, you can't see them all at once.

They are accidents.

If you are concerned about the new gym being unused, I'd ask about that. But I wouldn't say kids can't run on a concrete floor.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Wait, she tripped on her shoelace correct??? She could be equally as hurt in the grass by tripping on her shoelace, could of caught her knee on a rock, could of punctured the skin, caused an infection, etc..... Accidents happen and tripping on your shoelace is a pretty common one. I personally would not go to the school and complain.