Awning should stay for a season

Chew on this one: Pop Warner football players smashing into each other on the gridiron, and nobody thinking twice about it.

Until an awning is erected so players can be shielded from the sun.

Suddenly: danger.

Or so says the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

District workers tore down the awning at Costa Mesa High School after a struggle with Pop Warner parents over whether the structure should go. District officials said the club never asked for permission to put it up. Pop Warner organizers say a former principal approved it.

State law requires new school structures to be approved by the Department of State Architect. If the school district were sued, higher damages could be awarded if the awning wasn’t state-approved.

The awning’s metal legs would be considered a safety hazard in an earthquake by state regulations, said Tim Marsh, district administrative director for support services. The awning cannot be put back up because it would not meet state safety standards, he said.

The structure also was installed during school hours without proper security clearance, Marsh said.

“We take many security precautions with our contractors, to the extent that they all have to be fingerprinted, but these people just showed up during school hours,” Marsh said.

He may well be correct. But what does common sense dictate? That more than 200 kids may have to play under the broiling sun for the season? That there’s a pretty good chance that one of those helmeted, padded players will run into an awning?

These decisions seem inspired by a fear of being sued. Even in our litigious society, this is imprudent.

Couldn’t the district strike some sort of pact with Pop Warner board members to let the awning stay for at least the end of the season?

“My 8-year-old son is having a hard time understanding why the school would want to tear it down,” said Steve Mensinger, a Costa Mesa Pop Warner board member.

There are times when adults get so muddied up in the morass of legal and governmental regulations that they fail to see what a child can see.