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A Toronto school that made headlines over a controversial decision to ban hard balls on the school playground stepped away from the decision on Monday evening and described the affair as a misunderstanding.

The administration at Earl Beatty Jr. and Sr. Public School met with parents and students Monday evening to discuss the affair, which garnered international attention after the school sent home a letter earlier this month.

The school cited safety concerns after a parent complained about being hit in the head by a soccer ball and banned students from playing with soccer balls, footballs, volleyballs or tennis balls in the schoolyard.

"Any balls brought will be confiscated and may be retrieved by parents from the office," the letter read. "The only kind of ball allowed will be nerf (sic) balls or sponge balls."

Principal Alicia Fernandez said that some younger children were afraid to play in the schoolyard because the area was too small and they were often being hit by the hard balls.

An explosion of outrage followed as parents, students and the public accused the school of both overreacting and mollycoddling the children.

The incident was even mentioned on the U.S. sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live during its news parody segment.

During Monday's meeting a school trustee explained that the school's code of conduct had always limited the use of hard balls such as basketballs and volleyballs.

Parents broke into discussion groups to consider ways to make the school's limited space safer for children, including options that will allow ball play.

By the end of the meeting, tennis balls, which were approved under the decade-old conduct code, were given approval to return to the school playground, but students will need to get permission to play with larger balls until a permanent decision is made.

The recommendations from Monday's meeting will be presented to the board for consideration.