West Hartford Town Council in Connecticut unanimously voted to approve a $20 million settlement to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a child who died on a school playground. After extensive litigation, the lawsuit was settled via mediation for $20 million, funded through the town's insurance.

The five-year-old child suffered a cardiac emergency while on the playground during recess at Charter Oak International Academy in April 2022. According to surveillance video, the kindergartener was lying motionless for roughly nine minutes before school staff came to help him.

The child's parents alleged that school staff failed to properly supervise the child by not maintaining proper visual coverage of the entire playground during recess; ignored warning messages from other children on the playground; and delayed calling 911.

Source: https://hartfordbusiness.com/article/west-hartford-council-oks-20m-settlement-in-lawsuit-over-5-year-olds-playground-death/

Commentary

According to the allegations in the above case, school staff were present on the playground but did not have the appropriate level of visual coverage, which led to a collapsed child being undetected for nearly ten minutes.

Adequate staffing numbers does not guarantee adequate supervision. Having the correct number of staff members present is crucial; however, if those staffers are not paying attention or have inadequate sightlines on the playground, proper and safe supervision is lacking.

Variables to consider for proper supervision include, but are not limited to, natural sightlines, staff physical positioning, access to known blind spots, mobile elements that may block view, and staff attentiveness.

Large or irregularly shaped play areas may create known blind spots that staff must be trained to regularly monitor during play time. A single supervisor may not be able to adequately view those blind spots and see the entire play area at once. Child safe organizations must evaluate play spaces for blind spots and other foreseeable hazards and adjust supervision accordingly.

To help improve supervision, child safe organizations should:

· Map the entire play area to identify blind spots and sightline blockages, including any mobile elements in the area that may temporarily block sight while in motion

· Train supervisory staff to address those blind spots and sightline blocks by altering positioning, rather than clustering around one area

· Set supervisor-to-child ratios that are appropriate for the age group and size of the play area, not just based on generic guidelines

· Rotate the physical positions of supervisory staff so that no blind spot or blocked sightline goes unmonitored for an extended period of time

· Train all staff to be eyes on the entire time children are in the play area. Prohibiting clustering, phone use, paperwork, and any other activity that takes attention away from monitoring

· Ensure that all staff are trained to treat any motionless child as a priority check, regardless of what game may be in progress

· Audit compliance with staff supervisory training to ensure policies are being followed properly and safely

The final takeaway is a child safe environment depends on physically-safe play spaces and adequate, trained supervision.