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Say it ain't so, Jolteon.
Pokemon -- the trading card craze that has usurped its baseball counterpart's role among youngsters throughout the nation -- is so out of control that some frustrated school administrators have banned the cute creatures with tongue-twisting names because the "wheeling and dealing" has caused a major distraction in the classroom.
Kids, who tote stacks of the popular and hard-to-get cards to school in their book bags, are late for buses and slow to clear out of the cafeteria because they have been so consumed with their trades.
And when they argue about a badly brokered deal, teachers are left to referee. One teacher, who returned the wrong cards to a student, later was accused by a parent of stealing them.
One Brookfield elementary school principal says the situation is so bad that he fears academic "achievement is beginning to suffer."
So beginning this week, Burleigh Elementary Principal Bil Zahn banned them from his school.
"Pokemon cards have become a huge problem here at Burleigh. Cards are being traded and then a decision is reversed and a student is unable to get his/her original cards back," Zahn wrote in a "principal's proclamation" called the "Pokemon Dilemma" that he sent home to parents.
"Students are admiring their Pokemon cards instead of paying attention to their teacher," he said.
Pokemon (short for "pocket monsters") mania has given a monstrous headache to more than Zahn.
Cooper Elementary School in Sheboygan also banned the cards, which are based on a popular Japanese game.
Ben Franklin Elementary in the Menomonee Falls district, Lake Bluff Elementary in the Shorewood district and Johnson Elementary in...