Some parents in New Ulm are venting their frustration at the school district after an inappropriate playground game comes to light.
It's called "rape tag."
When you hear the name "rape tag," it's alarming to think it's something some kids would call a game.
Washington Elementary Principal Bill Sprung said, "This age level of kids—10, 11, 12—is a time when kids start to mature; start to experiment. Part of that experimentation is that they do things we wish they wouldn't have done."
But here at Washington Elementary School in New Ulm almost two–dozen fifth graders were playing the game.
It's described as similar to freeze tag... except to unfreeze the person, you have to make sexually suggestive contact.
When a parent told school principal Bill Sprung about it, he immediately took action... but didn't tell other parents.
Sprung said, "I contacted fifth grade teachers, they all spoke to their classes and at that point I also notified all the recess supervisors."
This letter was discussed in class and kids took it home to their parents yesterday. 20 days after a parent first called the principal alerting him to the game.
The reason officials responded with a letter: Facebook.
They say parents were hearing a distorted version of what was happening and getting pretty upset.
Sprung said, "Facebook is like a big rumor page and we needed to deal with those rumors at that point."
New Ulm Public Schools Superintendent Harold Remme said, "I feel comfortable with the way things were handled. It's always important for us to do some investigation before we overreact."
School supervisors say they haven't seen any "rape tag" since the initial conversation with students... and they hope they can move forward.
Remme said, "We would want our students again to use this as a lesson in what's right and what's wrong and appropriate behavior and learn from that."
"Rape tag" may have been unheard of a few weeks ago but now both teachers and parents are working together to stop it.
The school did not put extra teachers on the playground to supervise, but says they'll continue to watch closely for signs of inappropriate games.
