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Gannett stations across the country sent FOIA requests to school districts requesting the brand and model of every helmet being placed on the heads of high school athletes in our communities. We took those lists and compared the helmets to Virginia Tech's Star Rating System (used by the NFL). In all of the 16 markets we investigated, we found numerous schools allowing students to use helmets “not recommended for use” according to Virginia Tech, which found the lower-rated helmets increased concussion risks. We also discovered that many high school athletic associations claimed they were not familiar with the Virginia Tech research, and they only used a system run by the helmet manufacturers to rate helmets.