'I Love Boobies' bracelets booted from some LI schools

Rubber bracelets that proclaim "I Love Boobies," meant to raise young people's awareness of breast cancer, have been banned from some school districts on Long Island.

The bracelets are enormously popular among teens and tweens across Long Island and nationwide.

"We just don't like the wording," said Nancy Lenz, district spokeswoman for the nine schools in the West Islip school district, which announced the ban at the start of the school year in September. "We think it's inappropriate for children. Particularly at the elementary and middle school level, we have students who find it more humorous than are supportive of the project."

The bracelets are also unwelcome in the Center Moriches and Comsewogue school districts, and a middle school in Great Neck, which banned them this year. "I've absolutely told my building principals that children are not to be wearing them," Center Moriches Superintendent Russell Stewart said.

In the North Babylon district, the bracelets were banned along with the popular Silly Bandz and similar bracelets last school year because they were a "distraction" in the classroom, the district said in a written statement.

Island Trees Superintendent Charles Murphy said that although he thinks some of the bracelets are "in poor taste," he will not consider a ban until someone complains. "You have to be very careful with these things," he said, adding, "It's a hot potato with trying to do the right thing for people."

The 1-inch-wide bracelets are $3.99 each at Keep-A-Breast.org. They also say "Keep A Breast" on them and support the California-based breast cancer awareness advocacy group's nationwide programs to educate young people. The group has sold more than 2 million this year, said Kimmy McAtee, marketing manager. "We fully understand that the 'I Love Boobies' campaign is not for everyone, but we also feel that the word boobies is not a four-letter word," Keep A Breast said in a statement earlier in the school year after the bracelets were banned at several schools in California, South Dakota and Washington state.

Tracie Cinquemani, a parent with a fourth-grader and a 10th-grader in the West Islip schools, said she doesn't have a problem with the kids wearing the bracelets. She's a cancer survivor and said her children understand the point of the bracelets. "People are oversensitive about silly things these days," she said. "They should be focused on other things than the word 'boobies.' "

West Islip High students interviewed for this story agreed with Cinquemani. "Do you think anybody cares what people have on their bracelets anymore?" said Abby Riley, a 10th grader. She was wearing 10 rubber bracelets on one arm and 13 on the other, supporting causes such as animal rescue, literacy and the U.S. Air Force.

"It just puts a little bit of humor into something that's serious and hurts a lot of people, and makes it a little easier to cope with," says Adrianne Ragland, a 14-year-old ninth grader. "It's like a conversation starter. 'I like your bracelet. Where'd you get it?' 'It supports breast cancer.' See how that works?"

But the West Islip PTA supports the ban, said PTA Council president Theresa Shaw. "The wearing of these bracelets, much like the SillyBandz last year, appears to be causing a distraction in the classrooms, taking away valuable minutes from instructional time," Shaw said in a written statement issued Monday.

With Valerie Kellogg and Patricia Brandt