Horry County Schools should follow the NFL’s lead and make concussion data public | Opinion

Going into Super Bowl weekend, I can tell you the National Football League just recorded its lowest number of concussions — 182 — during a season.

Better equipment and more consistent enforcement of rules designed to protect players contributed to a 17% decline from the previous year, the league said.

How do I know this? Because the NFL began tracking that information and telling the public nearly a decade ago amid a concussion crisis.

I cannot tell you how many concussions have occurred on the football teams in the Horry County school district. Why? Because the district has decided not to make that information public despite having to settle a lawsuit about how a football player’s concussion was mishandled.

I should be more precise. If I want information about concussions in Myrtle Beach area high and middle schools going back a decade, it will cost me $432.68, which includes a deposit of $108.17.

If I wanted only three years of data, it would cost $115.38, including a $28.84 deposit.

That money supposedly pays for the staff hours needed to dig up the numbers.

I asked the district why such basic information isn’t already readily available.

“At this time, no discussions have been held to place concussion data on our district’s website,” Horry County Schools spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said.

When I asked Bourcier how the district is trying to make football safe, she said it hires athletic trainers, requires coaches to be certified in CPR, and invests in the latest technology and equipment, among many other steps. But it can’t be fully committed to safety if it isn’t willing to look closely at concussion data, or allow the public to dive into it. The NFL, for instance, knows that the changes it made to kickoff returns — maybe the most dangerous play in the sport — reduced concussions because the league studied the data.

Last year, Horry County Schools was forced to pay Logan Wood and his mother $750,000 after being found negligent for its handling of serious head injuries Wood sustained while playing middle school football. The district fought the suit for several years before the state Supreme Court ordered it to pay.

That’s why the district’s decision to hide behind a narrow reading of the Freedom of Information Act instead of being transparent about the safety of its football players is odd, shortsighted even.

From a practical standpoint, the district should get out front of other potential lawsuits that might come from players being harmed. The outcome of the Wood lawsuit should have convinced the district to become a leader for other school districts. Because there will be other players harmed.

That’s the nature of football and even some non-contact and non-collision sports.

There’s no getting around that.

Parents considering football should be equipped with as much information as possible before making the decision about whether to allow their children to sign up for tackle football at an early age. This district can help parents make more educated decisions if it simply made concussion data more widely available.

That would be no small thing. The NFL is more transparent about concussions at the professional level because it essentially had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a point where it recognized why it was important to let the public know. Even after it became apparent that concussions were a real part of the violent sport, the NFL spent years downplaying that truth.

The league, though, has far from made up for past wrongs. Even after a landmark settlement, it has failed former players still suffering from concussion symptoms long after their playing days ended, denying dementia claims by dozens even while paying out $1.2 billion to many more and their families.

Horry County Schools doesn’t want to look up 10 years from now staring down an NFL-like lawsuit because it didn’t ensure parents were fully informed before allowing their children to throw on shoulder pads and helmets. The more proactive the district is, the more credible its claims of treating the safety of its student-athletes with the utmost of seriousness will be taken.

Providing data about whether the number of concussions is increasing or dropping, their severity, and how they were handled is not a big ask. It’s the least the district can — and should — do.

This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Horry County Schools should follow the NFL’s lead and make concussion data public | Opinion."