Will Windham Schools Bring Back Dodgeball?

The 11-member committee tasked with reviewing "human target" games will recommend that those games be reconsidered tonight, according to the Eagle Tribune.

The Windham School Board will meet at 7 p.m. at the Community Development Department.

The board voted 4-1 in March to remove the games from the curriculum, with those voting against the 10 games citing safety and bullying concerns. The recommendation to remove the games was first made by a professional panel headed up by Golden Brook School Vice Principal Rory O'Connor.

The original study was coordinated alongside GBS physical education teacher Lauri Putnam, Windham Center School physical education teacher Marge Leahy, Windham Middle School physical education teacher Erin Shirley and Windham High School human performance teacher Brian Fillion.

The decision was made based on the position taken by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), which does not support human target games in a K-12 curriculum.

School Board member Dennis Senibaldi was the lone dissenter in the original vote.

After the 4-1 vote, the School Board and the town received local and national attention.

The School Board's decision was talked about around the country after the story was picked up by the Associated Press.

Windham was thrust into the spotlight as the town that banned dodgeball, although board members insisted that the game was never banned.

"My understanding is that we took these games out of the curriculum," said board member Stephanie Wimmer during an April meeting. "We're not going to grade you on them but they were not in any way, shape or form – banned."

The April meeting, held in the Windham Middle School cafeteria, was to address several petitions signed by hundreds of students in the district asking that the games be reinstated.

The board voted 5-0 during the meeting to create a larger panel and review the games again.

With the panels findings to be presented tonight, the district is on target with its time line set in May.

A further review of the entire physical education curriculum is also planned. That is scheduled to take place in the fall.