Our public schoolyards are fenced locked and posted

[scaupus]

It's just about impossible to metal detect schoolyards here in South Florida anymore.

In the last year or two, its seems, they have locked and posted the school fields. This not only disrupts our metal detecting hobby, but removes a community amenity as kids and families were accustomed to using the fields and courts for recreation- especially in Miami, where the public park ratio to population has historically been very low, leaving many neighborhoods without nearby activity parks.

Is this a problem in other parts of the country?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Gee, that only happened in the last "year or two" in your area? CA's had fences and signs (that no one ever reads) around their school yards for 20 or 30 yrs. now.

Sheesk, how many of you out there remember when school yards were just considered the after-school playgrounds for the neighborhood? It has everything to do with injuries incurred on play-equipment, in this litigical age we live in. Nothing to do with metal detecting, per se.

However, at most of the fenced school yards in CA, there is always a turn-style entry spot, (or wide gaps in the fence or whatever), where people still go in after hours to jog the track, play soccer, or whatever. Ie.: the fences never changed much, since their inception. All I can figure is, that if someone falls off a slide, and tries to sue, the school can merely say "you shouldn't have been here, didn't you read the sign?".

If I see other people shooting hoops, jogging, etc... then I wouldn't hesitate to enter as well. But ...... that's just me.

 

[Felinepeachy]

You can't get into the school yards around here either. Locked up like Fort Knox.

 

[Sandman]

This is what we get when everyone wants to sue everyone else. It's public property or so I thought.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

ours are pretty much wide open, but so full of trash that I haven't bothered with one in a couple years.

 

[DesertNuggets]

Ours are gated but have gates to get in that are always open.

 

[jeff of pa]

The williams valley Football Field
here in Schuylkill (the Field is in Dauphin County actually)
county has been Fenced & Locked
For Years.

However, When I'm in the mood to detect it,
All I need to do is go to the School Office.
They will send somone the 2 Miles down the road
to Unlock it for me.

Of course this Bothers me, So I Try to just
catch Maintenance there. This way
they just let me Lock up when I'm done,
if they leave before me.

Not sure if You can Achieve the same,
But give it a try.

 

[Smudge]

Same problem here in Central Florida. Even those pedestrian openings in the school fence have been sealed.

 

[teverly]

This is what we get when everyone wants to sue everyone else. It's public property or so I thought.

yep..afraid someone will get hurt and sue..i am surprised they still even let the kids have a recess.....

 

[joeman]

This is what we get when everyone wants to sue everyone else. It's public property or so I thought.

yep..afraid someone will get hurt and sue..i am surprised they still even let the kids have a recess.....

Yeah, my Kid got STUCK in some of the NEW Outdoor Playground Equipment. 3 teachers had to come out and get him untangled.... Supposedly 'State of the ART' Playground Equipment, but Kid's WILL figure out how to get Stuck in those things no matter what. That 'Could' be part of why some Schools lock up the yards. It's Simply Less Expensive to Lock it up tight, rather than have some Kid get stuck and become injured or even 'suffocate'. Having said that, a warning sign like those at a Pool or Beach with no Lifeguard should be sufficient.... "All children need to be supervised closely when playing on School Grounds and Equipment".

 

[gleaner1]

Your Public school yards are fenced and locked? Really? Get the hell out of there dude. Yesterday.

 

[deepskyal]

Not much a problem around here that I've seen...maybe a couple isolated ones in neighborhoods where they worry more about vandals than anything else. I always see on the news schools and churches getting broke into and copper being stolen or puters stolen...more a crime issue than liability.

The bigger trend I've seen is getting rid of playgrounds, putting in astroturf and concreting what used to be grassy areas.....low maintainence costs.

Al

 

[diggummup]

Actually they've been locked and posted for years down here, not just the last couple. There are certain exceptions, but for the most part they are off limits. One word as to why- Tort!

In Maryland as a kid, we used to go to the high school down the street and jump off the top of the bleachers onto these big foam filled "bags" that were used for the high jump and pole vaulting. People regularly used the track, among the rest of the facilities after school. Yes, it was like the neighborhood playground, which was actually right next to the school track and football field.

Welcome to the New World. USSA.

 

[Cool Hand Fluke]

It's becoming a major nuisance in many of our schools in northern Calif. Probably 30% of the elementary schools are locked up. Some of the wood chip tot lots in the locked schools can be major coin and jewelry bonanzas, some have had years of accumulation. Sometimes you can get into the locked schools during parent teacher parent nights, little league games, etc.

 

[dahut]

It's just about impossible to metal detect schoolyards here in South Florida anymore.

In the last year or two, its seems, they have locked and posted the school fields. This not only disrupts our metal detecting hobby, but removes a community amenity as kids and families were accustomed to using the fields and courts for recreation- especially in Miami, where the public park ratio to population has historically been very low, leaving many neighborhoods without nearby activity parks.

Is this a problem in other parts of the country?

Yes. And parks and public venues and....
Detecting aint what it used to be. In fact, the independent pursuit of that which makes you happy aint, either.

 

[dahut]

This is what we get when everyone wants to sue everyone else. It's public property or so I thought.

It doesnt help that thieves and crack heads will rob schools as readily as anyplace else.
Last time I was tossed from a school, it was because "We've had break-ins..."
I wasnt a suspect, but I still hadda go since I was uncontrolled.

As for public places, they don't exist anymore. There are only those spaces the authorities permit you to enjoy, or somehow overlook.

 

[gleaner1]

It's just a part of big metro area policy. If they restrict activity on school grounds, you can bet there is a need for that restriction. It may be to cut down on property damage or theft, or to keep the kids safe from the generally dangerous world around them. If my kids were in that school, I would be happy knowing it's a secured facility. Old schools are one of my specialty areas. I have found alot of silver and good finds out of the old schools. Nowadays, I can hardly find a silver. Too picked over. The old one-room schools were hit hard from the eighty's, but if you can get in there with a good machine, you can dredge up the last deep goods. I have done a lot of old schools, abandoned, out in the woods even. Generally speaking, I could "sense" the places were "hit" before, they are not honey holes, and have not been for a good long time. Back in the late 90's we did find a modern school, from the fifties, still in use, that coughed up about forty silver and hundreds of wheats not to mention the rings and jewelry and tokens and on and on. Not gonna happen ever again.

 

[scaupus]

diggummup, it's been about 10 years since I used to take the dog to a middle school field in west perrine that was open, and I just started the MD'ing recently. I wonder if that field is locked now.

The fact is, ours is a fringe activity, sort of a little bit of a pirate thing (or like the old Fl keys wreckers) pulling other people's lost valuables out of the ground. On private property, obviously those things belong to the current owner if not the folks who lost the items originally. On public property, it's really the public's property, I imagine, not necessarily available to individuals to find and keep. We just depend on the forbearance of the public and public officials in parks, swales, and so forth - I think the operating rationale all around is that if we don't dig it up, it will just remain lost, and we're not doing any harm beyond removing the lost article.

What we need to do, frankly, like every other group that has a stake in the rules of the game, is to organize and lobby for our interests. Recreational fishermen have done it with great success. Hunters have long had game officials that have a stake in maintaining the sport of hunting - rules enforced by them of course. There's at least one beach here in s florida - matheson hammock - which has been closed to md-ers in the last couple of years. If we were organized, we could lobby to have it opened again. Otherwise, it could go in the other direction, and see more closures.

 

[chukers]

This is one of our schools... and I've been there 20+ times no one has ever said a thing to me... but we live in a small town of course I make sure it looks better than it did before I got there.

Chukers

 

[dahut]

The fact is, ours is a fringe activity, sort of a little bit of a pirate thing (or like the old Fl keys wreckers) pulling other people's lost valuables out of the ground. On private property, obviously those things belong to the current owner if not the folks who lost the items originally. On public property, it's really the public's property, I imagine, not necessarily available to individuals to find and keep. We just depend on the forbearance of the public and public officials in parks, swales, and so forth - I think the operating rationale all around is that if we don't dig it up, it will just remain lost, and we're not doing any harm beyond removing the lost article.

What we need to do, frankly, like every other group that has a stake in the rules of the game, is to organize and lobby for our interests. Recreational fishermen have done it with great success. Hunters have long had game officials that have a stake in maintaining the sport of hunting - rules enforced by them of course. There's at least one beach here in s florida - matheson hammock - which has been closed to md-ers in the last couple of years. If we were organized, we could lobby to have it opened again. Otherwise, it could go in the other direction, and see more closures.

At last, a voice of reason among the anecdotes. We depend on the forbearance of the authorities - exactly.
There is no public property, per se. It only takes one member of the "public" with a cell phone to end your privilege.

Lobbying IS the answer. Being fringe participants, however, that is something we are sadly deficient at. WE would rather be left alone, believing in ones independent right to pursuits of happiness. Our own motto - "Get it while you can," hurts us.

The public, on the other hand, has a different view. They don't see us as saving history; the self-anointed righteousness we ascribe to is lost on them. They know exactly what we are doing, just as scaupus says. Once they see you as this sort of "fringe," you must defend your actions. Softball players and fishermen are well known, so they are exempt from that. We on the other hand, are looters and parasites in the eye of the public... certainly something other than "harmless."

There is strength in numbers, but our desire to be left alone is our own undoing. The one organization we have, the FMDAC, is a toothless tiger. In my own struggle with local authorities, the FMDAC was not able to provide much assistance. They simply have few resources.
I don't believe it used to be so, but it has fallen on hard times. Membership is hardly mentioned much any more. How many of you even know what FMDAC stands for, without googling it?

What we must do is just as scaupus says, lobby collectively to retain our privileges. Complaining alone, or lamenting about how good it used to be, will see us overrun by the do-gooders of the world, those who know whats best for everyone else.