Fearing their students would get hurt and hold the school liable, officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase games during recess.

Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe approved the ban and told the AP recess sports could prove to be lawsuits waiting to happen.

"Recess is a time when accidents can happen," says Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While there is no existing district-wide policy against contact sports in schools especially during recess, local rules have been cropping up. A few years ago, several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Other elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, have also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina school has outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

A mother of two students at Willet expressed lament over the new school policy to the AP.

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Her sentiment however was not shared by another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia who said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.