A school board member in Dover, N.H., made national waves recently when he proposed banning all his district’s students from playing football because of safety concerns.
Dr. Paul Butler, a retired physician, told his fellow board members that it was the “moral thing to do, the ethical thing to do to try to stop football at Dover High School and throughout all of Dover,” according to minutes from the Oct. 1 meeting. “The lawyers will probably stop it for us if we don’t do it,” Butler said.
Not surprisingly, the proposal generated immediate negative backlash from fellow board members and local school officials.
“Concussions happen in every sport,” said Rocky D’Andrea, chairman of the board and a youth-baseball coach, to the