87 of 91 tested ex-NFL players had brain disease linked to head trauma

(CNN) Eighty-seven of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science after death tested positive for a brain disease that is believed to be linked with repeated head trauma and concussions, researchers said.

The former players were found to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University...

 http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/health/nfl-brain-study-cte/

“There was a culture, an attitude about athletic safety that was sort of stuck in an old era,”

Like many Montgomery County high school football teams, Blair used to field a makeshift medical staff. Sometimes an assistant coach would tend to the injured player. Other times, a volunteer doctor would examine the athlete, according to third-year Coach Andrew Fields.

“It was kind of a free-for-all,” Fields said.

But the sideline dynamics at the Silver Spring school changed last season, with Montgomery County placing certified athletic trainers at each of its 25 public high schools. The health care professionals worked about 20-30 hours per week, patrolling the sidelines during home games of all sports and assisting the athletes before and during practices...

...“There was a culture, an attitude about athletic safety that was sort of stuck in an old era,” said Tom Hearn, a Montgomery County sports safety advocate. “The fact that they’re in it now is hopefully a sign of better attention.”...

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/montgomery-county-certified-athletic-trainers-program-is-met-with-approval/2015/08/13/94e5e5fa-41cc-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html

Congratulations to Tom Hearn! County puts athletic trainers in all schools

Years of advocacy at the local and state level by MCPS parent and Parents' Coalition member Tom Hearn have paid off!  

MCPS has finally agreed to put athletic trainers in all schools.  

Congratulations Tom and thank you for your extensive research and continued advocacy on this issue!

County puts athletic trainers in all schools

High school coaches within Montgomery County Public Schools no longer have to play doctor on the side. The county launched a pilot program for the 2014-15 school year that MCPS Athletics Specialist Jeff Sullivan said is an extension of last year’s addition of mandatory baseline concussion testing. All 25 high school athletic departments have their own nationally-certified trainer to help ensure student-athletes’ health and safety...

Annual Sports Physicals and Fundraisers—A Healthy Combination for Kids? A Malpractice Risk for Physicians and Nurses?

By Tom Hearn

Like most school systems, Montgomery County [Md] Public Schools (MCPS) requires a student to get an annual medical clearance to participate in school-organized athletics. 

The medical examination for the clearance is called the Pre-Participation Examination, or PPE for short, and is supposed to screen for health risks like those related to sudden cardiac arrest, head injuries, and health issues unique to female athletes.  (Here are a link to the PPE form in English and Spanish.  Here is a supplemental medical history form for students with special needs.)

In the coming weeks, MCPS high schools will host sessions where high school athletes can get their PPE and medical clearance.  Physicians and nurse practitioners in the community donate their time to perform these PPEs and school booster clubs charge students a donation of $40 or so.  For one MCPS high school, the PPE fundraiser nets about $6,000 in donations. 

While kids need PPEs and school sports programs need funds, combining the two may not be good for kids.

The American Academy of Pediatricians and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend that the PPE be conducted at what physicians call the student’s “medical home,” that is, the physician’s office.  

Conducting the PPE at a school gym or locker room may send a signal to both student and physician or nurse that the exam is merely a paperwork formality to go through for the student to be able to play sports.  This school setting may inhibit the student from being frank about a history of head injuries or other health risks that may jeopardize getting the clearance. 

Also, the annual PPE may be a student’s only encounter with the health care system.  Teen years are times when a student can first begin risky health behaviors, such as drug use, or find themselves in abusive relationships.  The teen years may also be when mental health issues begin.   The setting of a physician’s office is more conducive to an honest discussion about these issues than a school locker room.

Conducting PPEs at school fundraisers may also be bad for physicians and nurses who perform them.  One local physician told me that the health care provider he works for does not permit physicians they employ to perform PPEs at school fundraisers because of the liability issues.   Also, physicians and nurses should make sure medical malpractice coverage applies when they perform a PPE at a school fundraiser.

Some people say that what makes getting the PPE at the school fundraiser appealing is the difficulty of scheduling it at their physicians’ offices.  So maybe physicians can do a better job of making it less of a hassle to schedule.  

Funding school athletics programs is important so parents should still donate needed funds to their school’s booster club even if they don't participate in the PPE fundraiser.

Next blog post:  Are there some sports, like boxing, that a physician or nurse should not clear a student for, regardless of a student’s health history, because the health risk for kids is so serious?   

Tom Hearn is a parent in Montgomery County, Maryland.  He got interested in sports safety issues after his son sustained a concussion playing JV football. 

NFL Drafts Maryland State Dept of Ed to Help Stem Decline in Football Participation

Email sent to Maryland State Board of Education and State School Superintendent Lillian Lowery

Dear Dr. Lowery and Members of the State Board,

The press release (link) for today's press conference with the NFL's USA today indicates that Maryland Public Secondary School Athletic Association (MPSSAA) "officially supports and endorses" the NFL's Heads Up Program.  I think it is important that MSDE staff take control of the public relations message and narrow it to merely indicate that MPSSAA is requiring all football coaches to take an on-line course offered by an outside vendor that shows them proper tackling technique and how to instruct their players in it. 

Any message beyond this will likely immerse MPSSAA, MSDE, and Donna Hill Staton, who the press release indicates will attend, in an ongoing controversy related to whether the Heads Up program actually makes football safer or is merely an NFL's PR effort to keep kids playing football in the face declining participation due to concerns about concussions and other injuries in football (See the ESPN article (link).  (MPSSAA data indicates that football participation in Maryland declined 6 percent between 2010 and 2012.)

For the NFL, kids playing football at the youth and high school levels is essential to the business model of its $10 billion annual cash flow.  In the wake of concerns about concussions and the NFL's past efforts regarding concussions among its players, as detailed in League of Denial, the NFL has embarked on a PR campaign to convince parents that football is being made safer (link).  

Part of this effort has been to aggressively acquire endorsements from "trusted sources," including parent-oriented sports blogs (link), health care providers with financial relations with the NFL, even the national PTA (link).  (Going forward, MSDE should ask health care professionals who serve on MPSSAA's  Medical Advisory Committee to disclose all financial relationships with the NFL and related entities.)

So today's press conference needs to be seen in light of a very thought-out PR campaign on par with that seen for other issues with an industry's financial interest at stake such as global warming or tobacco use.  Some people say that there is an effort to "manufacture doubt," with a message of "the science is unclear," "football is getting safer, "get the right health information," "I believe it is so."

As you may recall, I raised concerns last August that Maryland football coaches were teaching students to tackle by initiating contact with their helmets, i.e., so-called facemask-on-the-football tackling.  So I was pleased to hear that MPSSAA would require all Maryland coaches to take an on-line course on the best practices way to tackle and how they should teach it to students. 

However, there is no way to know if coaches taking the course will make football safer.  One football coach in Montgomery County frankly told parents last year that teaching proper tackling doesn't work because in a game or practice a kid will just do whatever they think they need to to bring down an opponent. 

Unless coaches who ignore the new training are removed or disciplined, long-engrained dangerous techniques will likely continue. (Last year, I commented on the proposed concussion regulation, asking you to impose disciplinary measures if coaches did not follow the concussion procedures.  You did not do so, based on staff's analysis that such measures would be, in their words, "punitive.") 

Further, if referees do not imposes penalties when a player initiates contact with his helmet, the on-line course that coaches take this summer may not have much effect at all.

For the State Board, emerging research raises as least 3 issues about whether the public school system should continue to support high school football, even if current football coaches receive on-line training to use long-standing techniques that possibly make football less dangerous:

(1) Is Football Consistent With Academic Education Mission?  Given research showing high school football players experience altered brain function that can take months to resolve, even in players never diagnosed with a concussion (link), is promoting and subsidizing high school football consistent with a school system's sole public mission of academic education?

(2) Is Football More Dangerous When Operated By Public Schools Than by Private Sector?  Given the limited sovereign immunity for football coaches as school employees, is football more dangerous when sponsored by the school system than when it is conducted as a club sport, where it will have private sector discipline of having to obtain and maintain private liability insurance?  Football, like ice hockey, would likely survive as a club sport, but possibly safer if its organizers had to adhere to the market discipline of maintaining insurance.

(3) Does High School Football Create Higher Risk of Incarceration or Homelessness for Participants?  A recent report indicates that half of the teen prison population at NYC's Rikers Island prison facility have a history of brain trauma (link).  And Time magazine reports that a study found that nearly half of homeless people surveyed had a history of brain trauma (link Here is a link to the underlying study link ).  Given this, by promoting and subsidizing high school football and the repetitive head blows that its players sustain, is the public school system setting up some students who play football to life-long risks of incarceration and homelessness?

For all of the reasons above, MSDE's message at today's press conference should be limited to saying that football coaches are now required to take training in proper tackling. 

Thank you for your continuing attention to the issue of the safety of Maryland students who participate in high school athletics.

Sincerely,

Tom Hearn

Gazette Letter: Schools need to pay for athletic trainers

Sports safety experts say that if you can’t afford athletic trainers, you can’t afford to run a high school athletics program. We should not forget the death five years ago of Edwin “Dek” Miller from heat stroke during football practice at Northwest High School. Had an athletic trainer been present that day, Dek Miller might still be with us.
Surrounding school systems have found a way to fund athletic trainers in their budgets.
The Gazette reports that MCPS adopted a pilot program this year under which 11 of its 25 high schools are staffed with part-time athletic trainers [“Athletic trainers on the sidelines on Montgomery County,” March 12].
While the pilot program is a start, keep in mind that the athletic trainers’ services were donated by Medstar and other local health care providers, not funded through MCPS’s operating budget.
These health care providers are not charities, and if marketing and branding benefits do not materialize, they may discontinue their donations.
Having athletic trainers by donation at some high schools is better than no athletic trainers at all. But long term, Superintendent Joshua Starr and the school board need to make a grown-up decision to fund athletic trainers in the budget, rather than getting by on the kindness of strangers. After all, their primary mission is student safety. 

Tom Hearn, Bethesda

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20140416/OPINION/140419597/1014/schools-need-to-pay-for-athletic-trainers&template=gazette

Gazette: Athletic trainers on the sidelines in Montgomery County Public Schools

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140312/NEWS/140319807/1022/athletic-trainers-on-the-sidelines-in-montgomery-county-public-schools&template=gazette

Md. regents must wake up to the dangers of intercollegiate football

Two years after a Frostburg football players' death, the university system has failed to address the threat of concussions in sports

By Tom Hearn

11:54 a.m. EDT, September 19, 2013

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-frostburg-football-regents-20130919,0,5060120.story#ixzz2fMEPuxp8

Four Years After an MCPS High School Football Player’s Death From Heat Stroke, MCPS Athletics Still Has a Flawed Heat Illness Policy

Below is the text of an email sent to MCPS Athletics Director Beattie, Dr. Tillman, the Md Public Health Officer for MoCo, and Ms. Glick, the MoCo official in charge of health issues for MCPS students.

Today's forecasts for MCPS 25 high schools are for heat indices that would dictate that no outdoor activity be permitted.  Actual conditions at the time of practice may vary from forecasts and from school to school depending on unique conditions.  That is why best practices is to measure the heat index at the field any time the temperature is 84 or above.  Especially on a day like today with high humidity in the forecast.  

As shown on this Maryland map, 3 Md local school systems, including Baltimore City, have policies requiring that the heat index be checked at each school.  MCPS Athletics only requires that the regional air quality index be checked.  Today's AQI forecast is Yellow, which will require no heat restrictions according to MCPS Athletics Policy.

August 26, 2013

Director Beattie, Dr. Tillman, and Ms. Glick,

In July 2009, Edwin “Dek” Miller, a student at MCPS’s Northwest High School, died of heat stroke in a no-pads football practice.[1]  Four years later, MCPS still has a flawed policy for managing the risk of heat strokes in football and other athletics programs.

I testified to the Board of Education about this during public comment at its meeting on July 29, 2013.[2]  As of today, August 26, 2013, however, the flawed heat stroke policies remain unchanged at the MCPS Athletics Department website.[3] 

MCPS’s deviation from best practices may be putting some MCPS students who play football and other fall sports at risk today, August 26, 2013, based on today’s forecasted elevated heat index readings.[4]

Heat Stroke

Heat stroke is a serious and potential fatal condition where the body’s core temperature rises above a safe level.  In high school sports, the majority of heat stroke cases happen in football.  How many happen in MCPS we don’t know because MCPS does not keep such statistics.  In MCPS’s informal annual survey of football coaches, they did not report any heat illness cases in 2010 or 2011.[5]

In neighboring Howard County, however, the public school system keeps detailed records of all sports injuries and reported 22 and 14 heat illness cases in football in 2010 and 2011, respectively.[6]  Howard County only has 12 public high schools so for MCPS, with 25 high schools, a fair estimate is double those occurring in Howard County, or 28 to 44 heat illness cases in football per season.

            It’s the Heat Index, not the AQI Index

MCPS’s policy for managing heat stroke remains flawed in at least two ways.[7]

First, coaches are not required to follow best practices when assessing weather conditions for heat illness risk.  Heat illness risk doesn’t just correspond to the outside temperature.   Rather, it depends on both temperature and relative humidity, the combination of which is measured by what is called the heat index.  As you can see at the heat index chart at this footnote, dangerous conditions can exist with the outside temperature as low as 85 degrees if the relative humidity level is high enough.[8] 

And the heat index has to be measured at the field of practice or play because it can be influenced nearby heat islands, like a parking lot or a school roof.

Sometimes the field itself can be heat island if it is an artificial turf field where surface temperatures can soar to as high as 200 degrees.   So you can’t just look at the heat index for a region or a zip code area.  You have to measure it at the field.

An athletic trainer is trained to measure the heat index before every practice or game using a device called a psychrometer.  And the athletic trainer records the reading on a log chart like this one: http://www.scribd.com/doc/159612075/HS-Athletics-Heat-index-Daily-Log-Template

Howard County Public Schools Policy requires the Heat Index to be measured each day.

MCPS Athletics’ heat policy, however, doesn’t educate coaches about the heat index or require that they measure it to make decisions about play or practice. 

Instead, MCPS Athletics policy requires coaches and athletic directors to consult the air quality index readings for the particulates in the region.[9]

It is true that the Air Quality Index for particulates increases as the outside temperatures increase.  But using an index designed to help people with air quality related conditions, like asthma, to make decisions about heat illness is dangerous.

The danger of making heat activity restriction decisions based on the Air Quality Index readings instead of heat index readings was on display during the heat wave that the DC area experienced between July 12 and July 19 this year.  On many of those days, the heat index was well above 105, the level for which best practices say any outside activity is safe.  The Air Quality Index readings for those days, however, did not exceed a level that under MCPS’s policy would have only required coaches to watch carefully.

Attached are heat index estimates for each of MCPS’s 25 high schools for today, August 26, 2013, based on using the schools zip code in the calculator at the Oregon State Activities Association’s website. http://www.osaa.org/heat-index

The August 26, 2013 heat index estimates are also found at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/163163734/MCPS-25-High-Schools-Heat-Index-Estimates-and-Recommendations-for-08-26-2013-by-parent

So MCPS needs to change its policy to align with best practices.  And it needs to go out purchase 25 digital psychrometers and keep them properly calibrated.

            Emergency Plan for Heat Illness

When a heat illness emergency happens, seconds count.  The gold standard practice is to have a shaded cooling station, water, and ice and a tub that a student suffering from heat stroke can be immersed up to his or her shoulders.[10]   Cool first, then transfer.

A distant second best is to pack ice under a student’s armpits and groin and transfer to the school shower.  It’s a second best because the delay in getting the student immersed in ice water could reduce the changes of the student surviving a heat emergency.

MCPS Athletics’ heat policy allows a school to chose which of the two responses and at least one high school.[11]   At least one MCPS high school has chosen to go with the second best plan.[12]

Conclusion

To prevent another tragedy like Dek Miller’s death, please bring MCPS’s heat illness policy in line with best practices.

Sincerely,

Tom Hearn

At Today’s Maryland Board of Regents Meeting, the Governor, Treasurer, and Comptroller Should Attend and Discuss Derek Sheely’s Death and Safety in Maryland College Sports

Today, the Maryland Board of Regents, which oversees the State’s University System, will hold a meeting by conference call.  On the agenda for discussion are (1) topics for the upcoming Board retreat; (2) topics for education forums at future Board meetings; and (3) the Board’s process for reviewing the performance of the University presidents they supervise.  (The Board also has an undisclosed item to be decided in executive session.)

The Board needs to add to its agenda a discussion of Derek Sheely, the Frostburg State University student who died two years ago yesterday of head trauma sustained in football practice with the school’s team.  On August 22, 2013, Sheely’s family filed a complaint in which they allege that his death stemmed from misconduct by Frostburg ‘s football coaches and an athletic trainer.  

The Sheely family alleged last week that the football coaches conducted dangerous helmet-to-helmet “Oklahoma-style” tackling drills over three days that caused Sheely to sustain a bleeding gash on his forehead and that the two football coaches an athletic trainers named in the suit ignore concussion signs that he displayed before collapsing unconscious on the field.   Each of these staff currently serves in these positions at Frostburg.  

It is not clear that members of the Board of Regents are aware of Sheely’s death, of the suit his family has filed, or of the broader issues of concussions in college football and other sports.   A review of the minutes of the Board of Regents’ public meeting since August 2011 reflect no discussion of Sheely’s death.  The minutes also reflect no discussion of concussions in intercollegiate football. 

There is no discussion in the Board’s minutes of the long-term risk that repetitive head blows in football may lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) not only in retired NFL players but also in college football players, for example, Owen Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania football player who committed suicide in April 2010.

There is also no discussion in the Board’s minutes of the short term risks that repetitive head blows in football can lead to altered brain function, even in players who are not diagnosed to have sustained a concussion, and that such altered brain function can take months to return to baseline.

Further, on September 28, 2012, 13 months after Sheely’s death, the Board of Regents adopted Policy V 2.10, University System of Maryland Policy on Intercollegiate Athletics.  The Policy requires a University president to report to the Board of Regents information about a school’s intercollegiate athletics program such as student participants’ academic performance and financial aspects of the program.  

The Board of Regents’ Policy, however, requires no reporting on concussions or other injuries that students sustain from participating in intercollegiate athletics.   The report filed by Frostburg State University for the 2010-2011 school year contains no information about concussions or other injuries.  (No report by Frostburg State University is available at the Board of Regents website for the 2011-2012 school year, the year in which Sheely died.)

By law, the Board of Regents is required to invite Governor O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp, and Comptroller Peter Franchot to attend each of its meetings.  If you will recall, in 2011 Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett exercised a similar role to lead the Board of Trustees for Penn State University to address the child abuse scandal related to Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. 

I respectfully urge Governor O’Malley, Treasurer Kopp, and Comptroller Franchot to attend tomorrow’s Board of Regents meeting and play a similar leadership role on the issue of the safety of students when they participate in intercollegiate athletics within the University System of Maryland.  

At tomorrow’s meeting, the Board of Regents should discuss whether football at Frostburg is being conducted safely and whether football at other Maryland Schools is being conducted safely. 

The Board should also adopt limits on full contact football practicies similar to those adopted by the Ivy League, the PAC-12 Conference, and the NFL.  The NCAA has not adopted such limits and appears to be committed to studying the issue.   The Board of Regents’ deference to the NCAA amounts to an abdication of its responsibility to keep Maryland students safe when they participate in interscholastic sports. 

Finally, the Board of Regents needs to evaluate whether it is appropriate for football and other sports programs to be covered by the limited immunity from tort liability that Maryland law provides to State institutions and their personnel.   Under Maryland law, a state agency like the Board of Regents liable for tort damages up to $200,000. 

School personnel, that is, coaches, athletic directors, university presidents, the Chancellor, Board of Regents members are only liable for torts—like a student dying in a school-organized football practice—if their conduct is malicious or grossly negligent.  For negligence, these school personnel get a free pass.

The Board of Regents needs to ask whether the limited immunity has created perverse financial incentives for the universities it supervises.  Football and other sports programs represent significant revenue source and an opportunity to market a school’s “brand.”  If liability for a tragedy like Derek Sheely’s death is capped at $200,000, does this represent a small operating cost with no financial incentive for a University to correct dangerous conditions?

One private sector discipline that gets lost by intercollegiate athletics being conducted by state employees is the discipline of liability insurance.  If the University System of Maryland had to obtain insurance on the private market for the football program at Frostburg, would an insurer be willing to provide coverage?  If so, would the premiums be affordable? 

Would a private insurer condition coverage on the Board of Regents banning dangerous football tackling drills, Oklahoma drills, that the Sheely family allege caused their son’s death?

These serious issues may be beyond the Board of Regents willingness to address.  That is why Governor O’Malley needs to step in.  He is being talked about as a Presidential contender for 2016. 

If the Governor can’t protect Maryland students from what some call the Football Industrial Complex, how can Americans expect him to protect them from Al-Qaida and other national threats?

Tom Hearn is a parent from Montgomery.  Last year, after his son sustained a concussion playing JV football, he advocated to the Maryland State Board of Education that they take steps to address concussions in high school sports.

A link to the letter Hearn sent to the Board of Regents is at this link

  Md Bd of Regents: Please Discuss 2011 Frostburg U. Student Football Death at Today's Meeting. by Concussion_MCPS_Md

Bethesda Now: MCPS Starts Concussion Testing, But Is It Enough?

Last week, for the first time, all Montgomery County Public School high school athletes went through mandatory baseline concussion testing, designed to help coaches and parents recognize concussions in students throughout the upcoming fall sports season.
But one Bethesda parent who delved into the issue after his son sustained a serious concussion while playing JV football thinks baseline testing is not enough...

http://www.bethesdanow.com/2013/08/21/mcps-starts-concussion-testing-but-is-it-enough/

Breaking News: Starr puts Athletic Trainer at Whitman HS, but not Gaithersburg HS.

Another secret decision by Superintendent Joshua Starr.
In July, Superintendent Starr slipped out a memo that stated that Athletic Trainers were being put at "certain" schools for the 2013-2014 school year.  Did parents know that Athletic Trainers were even a possibility?  No.

Yet, here's the list of Superintendent Starr's surprise appointments of Athletic Trainers.  Did your high school get one?  Superintendent Starr's kids are in the Whitman Cluster.  Whitman HS got an Athletic Trainer.

  MCPS [Md] Athletic Trainers at 11 of 25 High Schools, 2013-2014-- the Haves and Have Nots by Concussion_MCPS_Md

MCPS Surplus Could Be Used to Fund Athletic Trainers at High Schools

April 8, 2013: Superintendent Starr at a Community Day at Walter Johnson High School.  At that event, Tom Hearn asked Superintendent Starr the following question:

Breaking News: State BOE Unanimously Adopts Concussion Regulations

...Thomas Hearn, the parent of a Montgomery County football player who sustained a concussion and has lobbied the state board to strengthen its regulations, called the new regulations "a positive step forward."
Hearn said that while he doesn't believe Montgomery County is as receptive to sports safety measures, he was happy the state took action.
"That puts them on a collision course with the state board of education, so we'll see," Hearn said. "But definitely a step forward."
Board members agreed and urged the state to now begin looking at preventive measures...

 The Baltimore Sun:  http://touch.baltimoresun.com/#section/822/article/p2p-76005736/

The Washington Post:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maryland-board-adopts-regulations-to-better-protect-student-athletes-from-concussions/2013/05/21/6677ad16-c258-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html

Examiner: Montgomery looks at new concussion tests for student athletes

Montgomery County Public Schools hopes to create a systemwide program to test for concussions in student athletes, following years of requests from concerned parents.Superintendent Joshua Starr told the school board Tuesday that he was convening a work group to create a request for proposal for vendors to run the program...http://washingtonexaminer.com/montgomery-explores-new-concussion-tests-for-student-athletes/article/2507661#.UFfXirJmQTY

New Concussion Guidelines in Maryland Schools

NBC 4:  Coaches must be trained to recognize injuries

MCPS Mom Endorses MCPS Dad's Proposal to State Board of Education on Concussions

Kristen Sheely, mother of Derek Sheely and former MCPS mom and employee, endorses MCPS parent Tom Hearn's proposal to the Maryland State Board of Education to improve concussion safety of Maryland school athletes.

The Maryland State Board of Education will respond to Mr. Hearn's request at their July 24, 2012 meeting.

MCPS Parent's Petition to State Board of Ed. Gets Action on Concussion Issue

On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, the Maryland State Board of Education will respond to MCPS parent Tom Hearn's Petition asking for the adoption of regulations concerning traumatic head injuries (concussions) during Maryland public school athletic events.

Action Items...10:45 a.m. 6. Traumatic Head Injuries and Options for Responding to Petition for Adoption of Regulations

MCPS Parent Gets State Board of Ed. Action!

The Baltimore Sun: State school board looking into head injuries

Board concerned that not enough focus is put on prevention

...Thomas Hearn, a Montgomery County parent whose son received a concussion playing football at Walt Whitman High School, has testified before the state school board and Montgomery County school board, asking members to consider requiring parents to get more training in recognizing the signs of concussions and limiting the number of contact practices. He said the new state law doesn't go far enough.
High school students can still have contact practices twice a day and five days a week, Hearn said. While there are no reliable statistics on how many of the 115,000 athletes in public schools in the state suffer concussions while playing sports, he suggested that if you extrapolate from the experience of Virginia school systems that have kept careful records, there may be as many as 6,000 a year in Maryland.
"Between now and the start of football season in August, you need to consider why you shouldn't at least adopt the NFL and Ivy League limits for Maryland high school football," Hearn said in his testimony before the board last month...
...State school board members said they found Hearn's testimony so compelling that they asked for a briefing on the subject...

READ FULL ARTICLE AT THIS LINK.

State Board to take up Concussion issue after public comment from MCPS parent

Tom Hearn, a parent advocate of Maryland provided initial testimony to the Montgomery County Board of Education earlier this spring.  He had a further opportunity to provide testimony/information to the State Board of Education back on May 22nd.  Due to that testimony (seen below) there has been a discussion item placed on the agenda for today’s regularly scheduled meeting.
I must say that Mr. Hearn has been working his tail off and I am very interested to see how his approach is handled, as most states have not involved the BoE.  Mr. Hearn does take up the contact limits in practices; making Maryland and Illinois as the only two states that have been given such a proposal.  Here is the testimony (minus the attachments)...

Read the full article and public comment from Mr. Hearn on The Concussion Blog.