UPDATE 5/31/11 @ 10:30 a.m.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Swings are coming back to Cabell County school playgrounds.

Cabell removed swing sets from 17 elementary schools nearly 10 months ago after determining many of them were unsafe.

The Associated Press reports that a Hamlin company started replacing swings in March. So far, just four schools have complete sets because wet weather has hampered the $260,000 project.

Buildings and grounds director James Colegrove says the rainy spring has the project way behind schedule. The work was supposed to be done by the end of June. Now Colegrove says the work should be finished before school starts in August.

Last September, school officials announced a plan to remove swings because of lawsuits and cost concerns over maintaining protective barriers around them. The plan was dropped because it went against state policy.

The Associated Press reports that the board accepted a bid Tuesday night from G.L. Stone Inc. of Hamlin to do the work at 18 schools.

Last September, school officials announced a plan to remove swing sets from elementary schools because of recent lawsuits and cost concerns over properly maintaining the protective barriers around them. The plan was dropped after school officials discovered it went against state policy.

Treasurer Jody Lucas says the renovation and replacement work will cost $260,769.

Cabell County schools are in the process of making their playgrounds safe and up to par with the national standards.

Jedd Flowers with Cabell County Schools tells WSAZ.com that the swings are not being removed permanently from the schools, but the chains and seats are being stored while work is being done.

There is no timeline on when all of the playgrounds will be finished, but Flowers says they are working on them as they find the funds and time.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

Jedd Flowers is Cabell County Schools' public information officer.
"We got to make a decision what to do until we can come up with a plan to meet the new national standards," Flowers says. "We believe our playgrounds are safe places to play. As of 2007, we met all the national standards. But when the new standards came in 2008 the bar was raised and now we have to find a way to meet the new standards."

The West Virginia State Insurance risk manager and state Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell County, met on a conference call with school authorities. Any changes in the law will come from the Legislature, which isn't scheduled to meet until January.

Late this afternoon, we received a press release stating Cabell County Schools has halted its move after discovering a state law that says swings are required at elementary schools. Now, the question of how to comply safely and in a cost-effective manner.

From statewide Metronews talk radio to national headlines, talk of Cabell County Schools removing swings has dominated talk. Here on wsaz.com, it’s remained a top story since we first reported it on Tuesday with more 20,000 hits and numerous comments--almost all protesting the proposal saying, "Too many lawyers... Kids broke their arms when I was in school" and "This is ridiculous. Kids can't be kids anymore. This is shameful." We found only one comment in support of the removal saying, "I am glad they are gone. They are very dangerous. Maybe now they will run around the playground. That's better exercise."

“We have to increase the safety zones and that can be very expensive. We can’t cut into instruction so we have to balance that with student safety,” said Bill Smith, Cabell County Schools Superintendent.

Two recent lawsuits filed in Cabell County Court ended with hefty settlements with Cabell County Schools. They were filed by the same parent, but for different children--one for a son that fell off the swings and broke his arm and another for a daughter that fell off the monkey bars and fractured her nose on a school playground. So the easy fix seemed to be to remove the swings.

“Not so fast. We need to sit down and look at alternatives,” said WV State Senator, Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell County.

Senator Jenkins is spearheading an effort to perhaps re-write the law to offer some liability protection to schools.

“We’re not trying to shield schools from all negligence, we’re just saying if something happens that’s a total accident, the school shouldn't be responsible for paying,” said Sen. Jenkins.

That state law says any elementary school housing a kindergarten program must have swings--which includes all of the county's elementary schools. But, the district says their experience sheds light on the need for liability reform and plan to sit down with Senator Jenkins and figure out how to do that.
The district will set to work immediately to figure out how to get into compliance with the new safety standards.
Those safety standards include a wider landing zone around the swing sets in case of a fall.

After consulting with the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of School Facilities, the district has discovered that, according to section 205 of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 6200, swings are required at its elementary schools.

The policy states: “All schools housing early childhood education programs contain an adequate blacktopped play area and a field game area large enough to accommodate physical education activities. All centers housing kindergarten programs contain a segregated blacktopped area and a large grassy area with climbing equipment and swings. The playground may be segregated by either time or space allocation. The playground must meet the standards of the Handbook of Playground Safety and be ADA compliant. All middle, junior high, and high school sites contain a blacktopped play area with a minimum size of 4800 sq. ft. and a field game area, space and/or facilities large enough to accommodate physical education activities such as soccer, touch football, softball, tennis, and track.”

All elementary schools in Cabell County offer Kindergarten programs, therefore the swings must remain.

“We are taking immediate action to make sure we are in compliance with this policy,” says William A. Smith, Superintendent of Cabell County Schools. “Even though we have found the swings must remain at our schools, the issue of unlimited liability in legal actions against school systems statewide still exists. I believe our experience has shed a light on a question of law that must be addressed by our state’s legislative bodies. We still plan to meet with Senator Evan Jenkins and state Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM) officials to see what can be done to limit exposure to frivolous lawsuits.”

Wile swings will remain, there are some standards established by the Handbook of Playground Safety which must be addressed including swing shape and form.

Safety issues and the threat of lawsuits have one school system removing some equipment that's been a playtime staple for generations. Swing sets are being removed from playgrounds of Cabell County Schools, along with some other playground equipment.

Tim Stewart, safety manager for Cabell County Schools, says after some injuries led to lawsuits and settlements, it was decided to eliminate the hazards.

"We've had two lawsuits in the last year where it involved a student jumping out of a swing and then once a student actually let go and flew out backwards."

Another issue is the mulch surrounding play areas. The standard now is rubber shavings around each swing set. Stewart says, however, that it doesn't eliminate the school system's liability.

"The merry-go-round, which was my favorite piece of playground equipment, and our tallest metal slides have both been removed," he says."I often wondered what happened to those pieces of equipment. Now I realize it's based over lawsuits and risk control."

"The teachers have expressed concern to me about the way the children use the swing," Guyandotte Elementary Principal Martha Evans says. "Kids want to get on swings and jump off and shove their friends."

In other words, kids will be kids. And manufacturers of this equipment are focusing on that.

"It's very difficult for any playground manufacturer to create a device where it's 100 percent security," Evans says. "No child is ever going to be hurt because children are children, and they play rough."

But the cost of litigating lawsuits comes out of education budgets, which are tax dollars. And that leads to another issue.

"The school belongs to the community," Evans says. "Taxpayers paid for these schools. So would it be right to put a lock on it and say, Yeah, you paid for it, but you can't use it?' I don't think that's right. We're willing to accept the liability because it's the people that paid for it."

Work is already underway to remove all swing sets from all Cabell County schools.