The Tekoa School District has tentatively agreed to a $17,000 settlement after two students collided at an overnight school function last fall, leaving one boy with a knocked out tooth in need of replacement.
Superintendent Mark Heid explained via email the district held an all-night “lock-in” party last October that included a game of glow-stick tag, in which students play tag while carrying glow sticks in a darkened gymnasium.
“Students didn’t follow the rules of the activity and they got hurt,” Heid wrote. “We are sorry about that, we never want any kid to get injured.”
Two middle school boys reportedly collided face to face in the dark. One 14-year-old boy had a tooth broken off with additional mouth injuries, he wrote. The other student suffered a “nasty” cut on the forehead.
Heid stated the rules prohibited running while the lights were out. When the family of the boy with the broken tooth contacted the school, Heid referred them to the district’s insurance group, Clear Risk Solutions.
“Our insurance group was to work out a settlement to take care of the young man’s dental needs,” he wrote.
The boy’s father, Larry Pierce, told Whitman County Watch he felt the school had allowed the game to create a dangerous situation. In previous glow-stick tag games, his son told him students played with other lights on nearby, he argued, but at this event the school went for the “full effect” of complete darkness.
“I thought it was reckless,” Pierce said.
His son, Kenneth, told him he felt the tooth “fly out” during the collision. School officials sent it home with him in a baggie of milk. A dentist reattached the tooth temporarily with glue and wire, but recommended replacing it with an implant.
Pierce said his family does not have dental insurance. When he approached the school about the incident and compensation, he said, they provided few details and argued playing the game was voluntary. He said he had to threaten legal action before school officials would work with him.
“They kept messing around and messing around,” he said. “I want to do what’s fair for my son. … This is going to be a lifelong thing for him.”
Pierce said the $17,000 is based on dental estimates of $12,000 to insert a permanent fake tooth along with $5,000 for his son’s personal compensation or unforeseen costs. He said he proposed the figure in good faith.
“We’re waiting to see what happens,” he said. “We want this off our plate.”
An attorney on behalf of the district filed court documents last month outlining a tentative settlement of $17,050 and appointing a guardian ad litem to represent Kenneth’s interests in the proceedings.
Heid noted Clear Risk would pay the settlement, not the district. He stated he had not found any other instances of the district previously paying out compensation for a student’s injuries.
“This was an unfortunate accident that happened during an after hours event for our kids to enjoy themselves,” he wrote. “We will continue to try to make those types of things as safe as possible, but any time kids are involved things can happen.”