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OREM, Utah (AP) -- A growing number of schools are banning Heelys and other shoes with wheels in the heels.
School administrators says the children zip down hallways and sidewalks, sometimes injuring themselves or plowing into others.
"We had an incident at school where a student was riding their Heelys and fell back and broke their arm," said Highland Elementary Principal Reed Hodson.
Banning the shoes had been discussed before, and the broken arm confirmed the decision, Hodson said.
"For a while, we said, 'You can wear the shoes but you don't skate around the building,"' Hodson said. "It didn't work very well."
Students struggled with removing -- or remembering to remove -- the wheels from the shoes. Last fall, the shoes were banned and the dozen or so students who had the shoes had to leave them at home, Hodson said.
Jordan School District has never allowed the wheeled shoes in schools because of considerations for safety and wear and tear on the floors, district spokeswoman Melinda Colton said.
Granite, Salt Lake City, Davis, Alpine and Nebo districts leave it up to individual principals.
The ban against the wheeled shoes at Spanish Oaks Elementary School is part of a general policy that covers roller skates and roller blades, said Principal RaShel Tingey.
The Ranches Academy, a charter school in Eagle Mountain, is prohibiting wheeled shoes beginning this fall to protect the floors and maintain the spirit of the dress code, which aims at downplaying socio-economic differences.
Heelys sell for $60 to $100.
The ban is bad news for Seth Edwards Hudson, 7, who is beginning second grade at the Ranches Academy. He said he wore his Heelys almost every day this summer.
"I think they're very fun," he said. "You have one heel and they're really fast."
Hudson's parents will make sure he complies with the new rule because they agree with the dress code.
Mike Staffaroni, president and chief executive of Heeling Sports Ltd., near Dallas, said, "You shouldn't be skating in school; that's been our position from the beginning."
He said the wheels are plastic and he questioned reports of Heelys damaging floors.
Information from: Deseret Morning News,
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
