Nicholson v. Board of Education

Fuchsberg, J. (concurring).

On a day in June after school hours in 1968, seven-year-old Brian Nicholson went into the schoolyard at P.S. 94 in Brooklyn at 4:30 p.m. and sat down in a corner. Ten other children, each about 12 years of age, were present. Brian heard his name called. When he turned around he was hit in the left eye by a firecracker. After several successive operations, the eye was removed and an artificial one fitted.

Brian was not a student of P.S. 94 nor of any formal afterschool program conducted by it. The schoolyard was not run as an. official, supervised area for afterschool…