Swings, once the emblem of school playgrounds, are slowly disappearing, with only two swing sets remaining in Washington’s second-largest school district. Students at Hamblen Elementary School frequently ask Shelley Redinger, superintendent of Spokane Public Schools: “We’re being good on our swings. You’re not going to take them away, are you?” she said. More than 200,000 children show up in hospital emergency rooms each year due to playground equipment injuries, according to the National Safety Council. Fewer than 20 of those accidents are fatal, but swing set danger has come to the forefront after a 7-year-old girl in Vancouver, Washington, died last week within days of falling off a swing during recess. Swings are becoming less common on school properties throughout the country for liability reasons and because school officials are looking for new ways to engage students in activities using safer equipment/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR. More here. (SR photo by Dan Pelle: First-grade students at Madison Elementary School swing on equipment in Franklin Park on Tuesday in Spokane)

Question: What's next? Tetherball? Four square? Are school districts over-reacting?