East High School Board President Brenda Kimble.
A picture of Principal Denise Vaclav Danko was not provided.
East High School in Youngstown, Ohio will not respond to concerns about student-athlete safety and concussions.
Three phone calls were made to principal Denise Vaclav Danko and an answering machine answered each time. Follow-up emails were sent after the first and third phone call. The same results rang true for board president Brenda Kimble. Two phone calls were made, the first followed by an email.
Contacts were made to get the opinion of Principal Vaclav Danko on whether her students should be allowed to play football after the discoveries made
by Dr. Bennet Omalu.
Dr. Benett Omalu is the pathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalothopy in American Football players. He discovered that repeated blows to the head causes injury to the brain starting with dizziness, headaches and disorientation. CTE, Omalu discovered caused sudden death in Pro football players.Omalu found that repetitive blows to the head in high-impact contact sports like football, ice hockey, mixed martial arts and boxing place athletes at risk of permanent brain damage. He states that if we know permanent brain damage is a risk football athletes should play football less as the article Op-ed says
“we do not smoke in enclosed public spaces like airplanes; we have passed laws to keep children from smoking or drinking alcohol; and we do not use asbestos." We have all these other precautions yet we continue to allow our children to play football when it’s bad for their health."
Dr. Benett Omalu is the pathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalothopy in American Football players. He discovered that repeated blows to the head causes injury to the brain starting with dizziness, headaches and disorientation. CTE, Omalu discovered caused sudden death in Pro football players.Omalu found that repetitive blows to the head in high-impact contact sports like football, ice hockey, mixed martial arts and boxing place athletes at risk of permanent brain damage. He states that if we know permanent brain damage is a risk football athletes should play football less as the article Op-ed says
“we do not smoke in enclosed public spaces like airplanes; we have passed laws to keep children from smoking or drinking alcohol; and we do not use asbestos." We have all these other precautions yet we continue to allow our children to play football when it’s bad for their health."
The article
Don’t Let Kids play Football by Doctor Bennett Omalu says “If a child who plays
football is subjected to advanced radiological and neurocognitive studies
during the season and several months after the season, there can be evidence of
brain damage at the cellular level of brain functioning, even if there were no
documented concussions or reported symptoms. If that child continues to play
over many seasons, these cellular injuries accumulate to cause irreversible
brain damage, which we know now by the name Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy,
or C.T.E., a disease that I first diagnosed in 2002.”
In Youngstown parents must sign a waiver stating, “I
understand concussions and other head injuries have serious and possible
long-lasting effects." Parents willingly sign these forms practically giving
their kids over to head trauma. Dr.
Omalu can’t quite seem to understand this as he states, “As we become more
intellectually sophisticated and advanced, with greater and broader access to
information and knowledge, we have given up old practices in the name of safety
and progress. That is, except when it comes to sports."Traumatic head injuries lead to things we don’t allow or
want children to do yet we do allow them
to get hit repeatedly possibly driving them into alcoholism and drug
addiction.
In
wondering how High school principals and board president’s feel on this matter
Youngstown's principal nor board president answered a
phone call from student journalists. East High School’s concussion records show
that they follow concussion policies set by the Ohio Board of Health and the athletic director told public records holder Mary Carter that
Youngstown State University provides the district with concussion testing.
From this project I have learned that not everyone wants to talk to me. I've been in roles in which people know who I am and want to speak with me. This project has taught me to stand up for myself and demand without being rude the answers that I need. I still didn't get a hold of everyone I had hoped, but I tried my best. I called three different times and got a voicemail every time for the principal. At one point the secretary Mrs. Stephens said there wasn't a good time to call because the principal was busy with meetings. I couldn't report that because I couldn't get her back on the phone to confirm.
slough@kent.edu
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