John King, the Springs School District’s athletic director, pitched a plan on Tuesday to have all of the district’s seventh and eighth graders undergo baseline cognitive testing for the management of potential concussions during school sports, gym class, or other school activities.
The “Impact” testing, as it’s known, would be one part of a four-pronged protocol that also includes an educational component for parents and coaches, sideline procedures at sports contests, and guidelines for return-to-play and classroom expectations.
A concussion, which is a type of traumatic brain injury, can “cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, creating chemical changes in the brain and sometimes stretching and damaging brain cells,” the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states on its website. “Medical providers may describe a concussion as a ‘mild’ brain injury because concussions are usually not life-threatening. Even so, the effects of a concussion can be serious.”
It’s most often associated with football, but in recent years coaches and educators have expanded the scope.
Mr. King told the school board that many neighboring school districts, including East Hampton and Southampton, are already testing students every two years, and that colleges and professional sports teams do similar testing. The Impact tests are 20 minutes in length and taken via computer during gym class. The district would pay an annual fee of $425 to cover all Springs seventh and eighth graders. Data would be kept private until they are needed by a doctor treating a student.
The idea was endorsed by Tim Frazier, the school board vice president, whose daughter experienced a concussion while playing on the volleyball team at East Hampton High School several years ago. She was one of the first students tested at the high school. “It’s just a snapshot of your cognitive activity that can be used to help diagnose a concussion or not. . . . If you have it, it does add to the ability for them to diagnose it. If you don’t, it really doesn’t hamper them — it’s just another instrument they can look at,” Mr. Frazier said.
Before the meeting, however, when Mr. King consulted Dr. Gail Schonfeld of East End Pediatrics, the district’s official physician, she told him that the Impact testing “is not turning out to be as helpful as has been initially assumed it would be.”
According to Mr. King, Dr. Schonfeld said “the overall summary is that it is a useful tool which when used in combination with a good history and physical exam can add useful information. It cannot diagnose whether or not a child has had a concussion or had recovered from it.”
Prior to this year, Springs School athletes playing on East Hampton Middle School teams had been tested by the East Hampton district. Mr. King said he was disappointed to learn that somewhere along the line that fell by the wayside — and turned into an issue recently when a Springs student who had not undergone the usual Impact testing was diagnosed with a concussion.
“I had no idea that they were not doing it,” Mr. King said.
Erik Fredrickson, another school board member, was also in favor of Mr. King’s idea. “It will raise awareness for the teaching staff as well, and shows that we’re taking it seriously. . . . It fits right into our social-emotional learning program and committing to walking the walk.”
The school board did not make any decisions on Tuesday, but Debra Winter, the district superintendent, told the board she thinks “it’s a very small amount of money.”