After Boy’s Fall, No Upgrades In Plan For Wayne HS Bleachers: Officials

WAYNE, NJ — When three-year-old Evan Brooks went to sit down at a Wayne Valley High School football game last autumn, his small body slipped past the bleacher seat and through more than a 12-inch gap, falling about 15 feet onto the ground below.

His parents, Stacey and Ashley Brooks, were at the Oct. 7 game supporting their daughter, a Wayne Valley cheerleader. The Brookses spoke to Patch about Evan’s fall, and the effort they have put in to try and keep a similar accident from happening again — both at the local and state levels.

The Lincoln Park couple appeared at a June Board of Education meeting to ask Wayne school officials to consider retro-fitting the bleachers, or do some other kind of improvements, to prevent something like this from happening to another family.

The Brooks family said they initially felt encouraged that district officials would do something after a June Board of Education meeting, but said that flame of hope has dimmed somewhat after July’s meeting.

"Our goal is to make the bleachers safe before someone dies," Stacey said, adding that the gaps between the floor and the seat where Evan fell through are 15 inches.

Board of Education officials are taking no action on the matter as of the July meeting, citing cost concerns, and will instead put up signs near the 60-year-old bleachers to spread “education and awareness.”

At the meeting, board officials said they would wait until the upcoming referendum to consider the costs of replacing or improving the bleachers, and said there is no room in the next school year's budget to retro-fit them.

Other pre-approved facility projects going on this summer include installation of a new HVAC system at the school district offices, roof maintenance around the district, and security upgrades at several of elementary schools.

Bleachers 'not designed for three-year-olds'

Board member Cathy Kazan, who chairs the Facilities and Maintenance Committee, said it would cost the township close to $750,000 to retro-fit the grandstand bleachers at both Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley High Schools. She said the committee discussed the issue at length at their last meeting.

“We’ve had these bleachers for 50, 60 years and this is the only accident, and it is an unfortunate accident,” she said, adding that the structures have passed all inspections.

“There's no issue with the bleachers being unsafe," said Kazan, the only board member to speak on the issue during the July 13 meeting. She was not present at June's meeting, when board members said they would put effort into fixing the problem.

Kazan said the district would have to cut major programs or staff to find that $750,000 immediately, and pointed to an upcoming referendum that could fund any bleacher upgrades.

Kazan added that the bleachers are “designed for young adults and adults,” not small children.

“What most people don't understand is that these are high school bleachers,” Kazan continued. “They aren’t designed for three-year-olds, and they never were.”

Kazan said officials will put signs up as part of an “education and awareness” campaign, telling parents of young children where it is safe to sit. She said officials will also ask kids at football games not to climb on the backs of the bleachers "like jungle gyms."

The Brookses told Patch that Evan’s fall was not because they weren't watching him– and they pointed out that plenty of other parents bring young children to Wayne football games. They also said another child fell through the bleachers, several weeks after Evan, from three rows up on the visitors' side.

“It’s not about how much you watch your kid or how good of a parent you are,” Ashley said.

"There's no guarantee the referendum's going to pass," Stacey said, adding that it would take the district additional time to seek construction bids and secure a contractor for a project.

The Brooks family questions how the bleachers can be deemed safe, and said the district declined their requests for inspection reports. The couple said they are hesitant to attend any more games at the high school with Evan, and reiterated that changes should be made to prevent a more serious accident from happening.

The New Jersey State Uniform Construction Code has adopted standards for bleachers, but they do not retroactively apply to those seating areas already built, according to state documents.

'Nothing has been done'

The day of the game, Ashley and Stacey were standing with Evan and some friends before the football players ran onto the field. They all sat down, but Ashley said Evan’s bottom missed the seat. His body folded and he slipped through the gap, somehow missing the maze of metal and the rocks below.

“We both tried to reach down and catch him,” said Ashley.

Stacey was already running, and Ashley said she “couldn’t move” until she heard Evan cry out, as confirmation he was still alive.

“I couldn’t look down, because I was afraid he wasn’t going to be alive,” Ashley said.

Stacey said she missed catching her son “by a thread.”

“I didn’t see him land because I was already running,” Stacey added. “When I came underneath the bleachers, he was sort of in a crouched, kneeling position” and Evan was screaming with blood on his face, said Stacey.

A friend later described Stacey’s run down the bleachers as reminiscent of “a cartoon character,” she said, as she was moving so fast.

X-rays and a CAT scan showed that Evan, now four, had no serious injuries from his 15-foot fall – but he still reports discomfort and pain in his heel and foot sometimes, his parents said.

“He was having trouble walking, his foot hurt, and he struggled to get back to normal,” Ashley said.

School officials knew about Evan's fall "the night that it happened," Ashley said. They hoped someone would make a safety upgrade, while taking care of their son and being thankful he was not more seriously hurt.

But now they are taking up the matter themselves, doing research on state regulations and what the bleacher standards are in other districts around New Jersey.

“Nothing has been done, and then we finally got tired of not doing anything ourselves," said Ashley. "Thankfully, we don't have to spend our time grieving a loss. We can now spend our time trying to advocate for something that's going to help this not happen again."

Re-introducing the NJ 'Bleacher Safety Act'

The Brookses approached state legislature members, and worked with a Morris County father whose young son fell from bleachers in Randolph 20 years ago, to re-introduce the idea of a "New Jersey Bleacher Safety Act."

The current New Jersey versions of the bills would require stricter safety standards for bleachers in "places of public accommodation" such as gyms, auditoriums, special events centers, and stadiums.

Locations with older bleachers would be required to retro-fit or upgrade them, according to a copy of the bill in the New Jersey Legislature. Legislators cited the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's guidelines on how to do so as a potential model to follow. Federal guidelines are that there should be no more than four inches between the footboard and some kind of barrier:

" Any opening between the components in the seating, such as between the footboard, seatboard, and riser, should prevent passage of a four-inch diameter sphere where the footboard is 30 inches or more above the ground and where the opening would permit a fall of 30 inches or more."

Ashley said they were able to get the bill introduced in the Senate last October, several weeks after Evan's fall. Legislature records show that it did not move out of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee.

As of June 30, 2023, the state Assembly has a version of the bill; it is assigned to the Community Development and Affairs Committee.

Update: Wayne Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Toback provided the following statement to Patch:

The health, well-being, and safety of our students, staff, and community are top priorities for the Wayne Township Public Schools Board of Education. That includes in school buildings and facilities as well as at events on school grounds. Thousands of spectators of all ages safely attend events in our district each year, but even one incident like the one last October is of concern to the entire board. The Board of Education took the concerns and requests expressed by the Brooks family and others who attended the June Board of Education meeting very seriously. We looked to the district’s architects to advise us on steps we should take to ensure our facilities are safe and secure. The architect concluded that the bleachers, although older, are up to code, and there are no violations.

Although there are quick-fix options to retrofit the current bleachers, the board is committed to a carefully planned, long-term, and fiscally responsible solution. The estimate to retrofit the current bleachers at both high schools – a short-term solution - is $750,000. Making changes to the bleachers now would not be a wise financial choice for the district, as the funding would come directly from taxpayers. Rather, the district is planning a bond referendum for March 2024. If the referendum is approved, the improvements would be eligible for state aid, reducing the impact on Wayne taxpayers. Furthermore, any funds invested in the bleachers would be taxpayer funds lost because the bleachers would be demolished to make way for new bleachers.

Projects of this magnitude are typically planned for the summer months to minimize the amount of disruption to students and staff. Closing the bleachers during the school year would significantly impact student activities and emergency evacuation protocols.

After thoroughly exploring all options, we are confident that pursuing modern replacement bleachers through a referendum with the public determining the next steps will be the best path for the long-term safety and financial stability of our community.