The idea behind public parks is that they provide a safe place for kids to come and play.  In one Maryland city, they think too many kids are playing in their parks.  So children over five have been banned from the parks during daytime hours.

The motivation?  A local private school’s children were playing in one of the private parks during recess.

KENSINGTON, Md. - Public parks are usually the places where children go to have fun. But the town of Kensington just passed a new rule that bans kids over five years old from playgrounds during the daytime. ...

The town council unanimously passed a resolution this week saying only caretakers with children five years old and younger can be in Reinhardt Park from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Since that resolution passed, Brookewood students have gone elsewhere for recess. “We like to use the park because it’s big and we like to run around and play games,” said Basia Syski, a fifth-grade student.

The town manager says students using the park for recess created maintenance issues and damage. The town council asked the school to pay $4,000 a year to help with upkeep but never heard back.

“Do a clean through trash pickup, lay mulch around the swings—we could do that,” said McPherson. “But pay $4,000? We just don’t have it. We just don’t have it in our budget.”

So now a public part is going to sit empty during the day because the city’s politicians couldn’t shake down the private school for some extra money.

Here’s the ugliest part of the whole story: The suggestion by the town’s mayor that the private school kids were “abusing” the park.

Brookewood’s headmaster tells ABC 7 News it’s a public park for all too use but Kensington’s mayor disagrees. By phone he said the park is for taxpaying citizens—not abuse by a private non-profit school.

So if it was a public school it’d be ok.  But a private school?

I guess those kids’ parents don’t pay taxes.

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