Back-to-school Silly Bandz bans: Some schools, parents limit bracelets

They’re unisex accessories with attitude. They sparkle. They glow in the dark.

“I like them because I can match them with different outfits,” said Isabella of Forsyth County, whose stash includes her favorite band, a glow-in-the-dark alien. “They are fun to collect and trade. My mom only allows me to wear 10 at a time. If I wore too many it would probably cut off the circulation in my arm.”

The Silly Bandz rage of creative kids is also causing rage for some metro Atlanta schools and parents.

At Chattahoochee Elementary School in Cumming, Silly Bandz are considered contraband. The school has joined the growing list of campuses in Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Texas that have outlawed the bracelets because of their powers to hypnotically distract students. Whether kids stare at them, stretch them or sling them across the room, administrators say that Silly Bandz, a product of BCP Imports of Toledo, Ohio, can cause a student to lose focus.

“The teachers have asked that they not be worn in the classroom,” said Jennifer Caracciolo, Isabella’s mother and a spokeswoman for Forsyth County Schools. “At her school it was [causing] a disruption. Kids were trading them in class. Some of the other schools allow students to wear Silly Bandz. We even have had a principal or two wearing them.”

The Bandz ban has spread to other metro Atlanta campuses that either prohibit them or limit them. Parents should check dress codes before adding assorted packs of Silly Bandz to the back-to-school shopping list.

“I know these bracelets are very popular with students,” said Julie Derucki, the principal of Notre Dame Academy in Duluth. “We wear uniforms. In our handbook, it says students are allowed to wear a watch and/or a bracelet. If that is their one token bracelet, OK. If they do come in with a lot on, we have asked students to put them in their backpacks.”

The dress code at Ivy Preparatory Academy in Norcross also promotes uniformity. Students wear dress blazers,  plaid skirts and khakis on occasion.

“We even tell the students what type of accessories that are allowed,” said Nina Gilbert, Ivy Prep's head of school. “Silly Bandz are not a part of that.’’

The code was made before the craze. “If a student had on a green or a white Silly Bandz that does not create a distraction, we would allow that,” Gilbert said, referring to the school's colors. “If she has several, it wouldn’t be allowed. Anything that distracts from the learning that occurs in the classroom, we would definitely ban.’’

Still, children are so intrigued that the Borders bookstore chain arranged for Silly Bandz swaps last Saturday at its stores throughout the country.

Third-grader Alecia Edwards of Snellville loves the flexibility of Silly Bandz. “You can do tricks with them,” she said. “You can take two Silly Bandz, fold them into each other and connect them. It’s fun.”

But her mother, Kim Herring, would rather not see any more Silly Bandz.

“My daughter is always pulling and playing with them,” she said. “They’re everywhere, in the wash, on the floor ... getting swept up by the vacuum cleaner.”

Other metro Atlanta school districts, including DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett, aren’t planning to snap back against Silly Bandz. They allow students to wear their colorful collections -- which cost about $4.95 or more a pack -- if they do so responsibly.

“We have a very basic dress codes principals can tailor to meet the needs of their school,” said Keith Bromery, an Atlanta Public Schools spokesman. “If they see that an item like Silly Bandz is creating a large distraction, they can make sure that parents don’t let their children bring them to school.”

The bands are like a form of status currency for kids that help them feel independent. Students often buy them. Some, however, just borrow them from siblings.

Shiloh High freshman ReNee’ Brown recently wore football Silly Bandz -- a green helmet, a red megaphone and more -- to community league cheerleading practice. The bracelets were gifts from her younger brother and sisters. Her mother, Ja’Nene, however, says stray Silly Bandz are the source of sibling spats, and she would rather see many of them chucked in the trash.

“I like to look at them,” ReNee’ said. “They’re silly. You can have them at school as long as you don’t play with them.”

Silly Bandz are fourth-grader Aalea Grimes’ first real hobby that she can share with friends.

“I used to have a rock collection,” she said. “I had a harder time trading them. Most of my friends don't collect rocks."