It is indeed rare that a public school, particularly one in New York, will admit they were guilty of negligent supervision. So, as you might well imagine, it must be a real humdinger when they actually admit it.

Last year, 12 year-old Shane Reese was injured when his teachers - who were short-staffed and out of ideas to occupy their students - instructed them to play dodgeball. But they didn't pick the standard soft rubbery balls used for the game; they gave the students hard soccer balls. The school's negligence didn't end there, though. Apparently, they had six classes totalling more than 100 students crowded into the gym to play the game. As for the plaintiff - he wasn't even participating in the game: he was sitting it out because he had just received expensive dental treatment.

What happened next shouldn't come as a surprise: despite sitting in the bleachers, he was hit in the head with great force by one of the errant hard soccer balls, which destroyed his new dental work.