It’s clear Nashua’s Charlotte Avenue School Principal Patricia Beaulieu didn’t expect the broad backlash she received from her decision to ban the game of tag on the school’s playground. After The Telegraph published the original story, it was picked up by several big-name organizations, including Fox, Reuters and the Associated Press. Read by thousands of people from around the county, the story generated a range of comments, including many negative sentiments directed toward the school.

What started as essentially an issue of student safety has blossomed into something more because of Beaulieu’s refusal to discuss the issue in a public forum, as some parents have requested. One such meeting was scheduled, but then quietly canceled in favor of by-request-only private meetings between school officials and parents. Again, with no explanation why. At this point, school officials are maintaining their silence on the topic. That’s unfortunate.

Even though many felt strongly about it and despite the widespread adverse reaction, banning tag is really not that big a deal. Many schools have done it based on sound and logical reasons. What is unsettling, though, is a school administration that is reticent to participate in an open and honest discussion of that decision – especially when parents wanted such a discourse.

We understand school officials don’t want an open, unscripted meeting with members of the press in attendance, but that’s not a valid excuse. They made a decision and they should be willing to stand by it and explain it in public. Offering to meet with parents one-on-one strikes us as akin to letting kids out for recess one at a time, just to make sure they can’t play tag.

What kind of lesson does it teach students when school administrators refuse to stand up and defend their actions in public? Perhaps it’s that hide-and-seek is the game preferred by some grownups.

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