Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

From Newsday:

They're cute, rubbery and come in all shapes and colors from penguins to baseball bats. But some educators on Long Island are telling students to keep their Silly Bandz bracelets out of the classroom.

"Silly Bandz are here!" Lisa Farrell, principal of Duffield Elementary School in Ronkonkoma, wrote in a recent letter sent home to parents. "They are very cute and the kids love them. I like them too. At times they are distracting and teachers have asked that students not play with them, trade them or show them during class time."

They've become so distracting, in fact, that some schools have prohibited them from the classroom, and others have outright banned them from buildings. Silly Bandz are one brand, but the popular rubber bracelets are also sold under other brand names.

PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of some hot types of Silly Bandz

Their appeal appears universal. They're popular with boys and girls of a wide variety of ages, said Lisa Hodes, owner of Sweeties Candy Cottage in Huntington, which started selling them earlier this year. A typical pack contains 12 bands and sells for between $2.50 and $2.99 at her store.

"It's unbelievable, I never had this much traffic in my five years of owning this store," Hodes said.

Quinn Blackburn, 9, a fourth-grader at Jack Abrams Intermediate School in Huntington, has at least 80 bracelets. "I like how the bracelets go back into shape when you take them off," he said.

The bands are not banned at his school, but his brother, Cole, who goes to the same school and is in sixth grade, said there are restrictions on when you can play with them.

Bandz fan Jeremy King, 9, of Huntington, said he thinks it's unfair some schools are banning the bracelets. "I wouldn't like that to be in our school because I really like them," he said.

His mother, Donna King, said the Bandz appeal to her children, ages 15, 12 and 9. "They really are harmless," she said.

A representative for Brainchild Productions, the maker of Silly Bandz, did not return a request for comment.

The principal at Birch Lane Elementary in Massapequa recently sent a letter to parents recommending they refrain from allowing their children to wear the bands to school because they were becoming a distraction.

The Deer Park School District has banned Silly Bandz at the John F. Kennedy Intermediate School, which serves grades three to five, Superintendent Eva Demyen said in a recent statement.

"These popular rubber bracelets are being prohibited because they are a distraction to instruction and a safety concern. This decision enforces our goal to provide and maintain a safe atmosphere of academic integrity," she said.

Several schools in the Commack district have banned the bands, with educators saying they can be a distraction in class where students want to trade them and sometimes they flick them at one another.

"Anything with trading becomes an issue and an area of concern," said Katherine M. Rihm, principal of North Ridge Primary School in Commack. She sent a note home to parents last month asking them to not send children to school with the bands.Parents and students had complied.

Farrell, whose school is in the Connetquot district, wrote in her letter to parents that students were wearing too many of the bracelets and complaining of finger cramping when showing up at the school nurse and "often their fingers are white due to poor circulation."

She asked parents to speak to children about not sharing or trading the bands and to monitor how many they wear. "Beyond the wrist is causing a problem," she wrote.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I think I recall them banning snap/slap bracelets when I was in school .

Message edited 5/6/2010 11:52:29 AM.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I feel horrible because I just got them for my daughter & her friend yesterday. Last thing my kid's teachers need is another thing to distract the kids. I never even considered it.

I do have to say that some of the bands she has are too tight in my opinion. I had her take them all off until we can go through them together.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

As a teacher I can tell you they have become a HUGE distraction. They lay them out on their desks, trade them, even fling them at each other. I told my kids my goal is to confiscate as many as I can for my collection before the year is over

I do have to say that once I said this, the kids have been pretty good about not taking them off of their wrists. I don't mind them as long as the kids keep them on.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

DS and all his friends have them and I do not let him wear them to school. I see how he is CONSTANTLY playing with them, switching them around, its distracting at HOME, I cannot imagine at school.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I had never even heard of these until yesterday when a co-worker mentioned them, he said they're all the rage with kids today. I had no clue!!

DD has never mentioned them, doesn't wear them to our house if she does have any. I'll have to ask her about them!!

I heard the story on News12 this morning and also made the connection between these and snap bracelets when we were kids.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

My sister is obsssed with these things!!! I actually took the dolphin one from her b/c it is my fav animal

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

As a teacher, these things drive me CRAZY! I'm hoping my school follows suit with the banning. They're such a distraction.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

My son has 79...and counting.

They are the biggest thing here...since I had Cabbage Patch kids...lol.

However, the children have to keep them in a ziploc for after school. Then they trade them on the playground after school when their parents are with them.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

This is the first I'm hearing of these things....reminds me of the snap bracelets too...although my mom would never buy me one. So deprived!

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Its the neon rubber band madonna bracelets all over...onlys shaped this time

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Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

They remind me of the jelly bracelets I had as a kid-I would loop them together to make them look even cooler.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

My kids have a ton of these darn things. They just love them. They know the rules about classroom time and I've had no reports from the teachers that either of them are breaking those rules. They DO trade them on the bus and during recess.

If I were to hear that my kids were causing challenges in school because of these, I'd take them away. Most things have the potential to be distracting - it's up to the parents and the teachers to communicate when they see an issue and address it immediately.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

my school banned them immediately. they were such a distraction and kids were losing them and stealing them left and right.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Ehh, besides them cutting off circulation, I guess in some circumstances, they're harmless. I just tell my kids anyone playing with them during class must hand them all over to me and I will not give them back. That has stopped the problem of them playing with them. And I haven't even had to take any from anyone. I told them once and they listened, so they're harmless to me.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

The funniest part is, my husband, who is an adult lol has like 80+ of them!!! His students give them to him and he's all about them lol lol.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Posted by Renee615

As a teacher I can tell you they have become a HUGE distraction. They lay them out on their desks, trade them, even fling them at each other. I told my kids my goal is to confiscate as many as I can for my collection before the year is over

I do have to say that once I said this, the kids have been pretty good about not taking them off of their wrists. I don't mind them as long as the kids keep them on.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I have started a nice collection of them after taking them from my students. THey were given fair warning...if you play with them I take them.
I heard they were causing ring worm bc kids wear so many of them and they trade them and they get so dirty

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Yup, just banned these in my classroom today! Beside being a huge distraction, kids were trading them and getting in fights about them and also, the kids who don't have them were feeling sad. Kids were even stealing them from eachother. Craziness. I feel like literally overnight they became a craze.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I am so ready for this fad to be over

Total distraction and waste of $$, IMO

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I bet my life that those of you that are appalled by the Silly Bandz do not have children aged 7+.

Listen...I was a teacher too. I taught second grade. I taught BEFORE I was a parent myself.

When I taught, Pokemon cards were ALL the rage. I can't tell you how many kids had them, fought with them, traded them, stole them, etc...Talk about distraction!!

I SWORE that no child of mine would EVER have such items that cause them any sort of "distraction" or anything deemed a "fad".

Well ladies...mark my WORDS...it happens. My son is 8. He loves all the fads. Some I give in to (like the Silly Bandz). Some I don't (the obsession with the WWE). You pick your battles and choose what you deem appropriate for your child.

And as far as distractions...a fly coming through the classroom window, someone with hiccups, an untied shoelace, etc...allllll are potential distractions to most 7 - 12 year old student.

This fad will be over soon enough, then the next will begin.

But teachers...wait and see...there will ALWAYS be another distraction, and another fad.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Posted by MrsA714

I think I recall them banning snap/slap bracelets when I was in school .

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

I'm all for the ban on these bracelets, the students are so distracted by them!
Its hard enough keeping their attention.

Re: Schools want to ban Silly Bandz

Oh dear I had no idea... They havent said anything at the school yet.

I have 2 pink elephants myself