As many of you know, the District has been working to update our facility use procedures, fees, and forms. The School Board adopted 2008-09 fees and updated procedures in August, 2008, and we have found we need to look at clarifying when the fees apply and to which groups. Any language changes that result from this review process are anticipated to be recommended to the School Board at their October 7th regular business meeting.If you would like to see the currently adopted facility use procedures and rates, here's the link to the District's webpage:
http://www.edmonds.wednet.edu/propertymgt/newfac.html
If you have time and interest in meeting with me to go over the facility use procedures and fees, I would welcome your review and feedback. You are invited to an optional meeting for community groups as follows:
Thursday, October 2nd at 7:00 p.m. in Board Room B
We appreciate your interest. Our goal is to support community use of schools, while also being fiscally responsible for covering operating costs that result from that use.
Although it is not required, it would be very helpful to know if you are planning to attend the meeting, so we have ample materials and space. Thank you!
Marla Miller
Asst. Supt., Business and Operations
p.s. I've cc'd the people designated as the facility use contact for each school. Would you please forward this invitation to the leaders of the groups that frequently rent your facility? Thank you!
13 comments:
The cheese sandwich summit must have prompted this latest effort to tap the community for intelligence.
I'll be at that meeting. Should be fun!
Well looks like the district is liking the idea of using the food service dept. as the fall guy for all their budget problems. The news this morning on KIRO said the schools were being closed because of enrollment, fuel and food cost. Since when does food cost effect the district budget. The FS dept. still gives to the general fund. What are they talking about! Maybe the food is what is being sold in the ASB stores?
So if the Edmonds School District Public Education Foundation is a class 1 group, where is Powerful Partners?--or whatever it is now called.
I see that the Chess group that Ric Jorgenson organizes specifically is mentioned as a Group 1. Did they previously have to pay $1000 in insurance or is this something new?
So if a Parent Club has a fall auction (on campus) and invites guests from out-of-district they have to pay a $1000 insurance fee. What if that same Parent Club has a fund-raising "family run" on school property in the spring and invites guests from outside the district. Do they have to pay another $1000 insurance fee? How many days or months does this $1000 fee cover?
Which insurance company do these groups have to go thru for their $1000 fee? (And don't tell me it's a friend of Marla's.) How long a period of time does this $1000 cover?
The vice-president debate (6pm Pacific time) is the same night as this meeting. Many people will not want to miss this debate!
I don't know who this was addressed to but did they send this out to all the parents groups and PTA's that are affected? I see the "cc" but most of the Office Managers have never considered parent groups as being "renters" of the facilities.
Were all the Office Managers included on the distribution? I wonder... or is it just another "select group" designed to elicit the response Marla is looking for?
Building Office Manager's have never thought of Parent groups as "renters". Buildings are paid for by tax payers, which includes parents. Why should they pay rent to conduct a School Carnival, Spaghetti Feed, other activities to raise money for KIDS; the fund-raising dollars are often spent on improving Playgrounds with new Play equipment/apparatus, Books for the Library, and often Scholarships for under priviledged kids for Outdoor School (camp), and also offer back packs and school supplies for kids. Why in the world would Parent Groups (PTA, PTSA), have to pay RENT to raise money for our KIDS? There may be a concern for liability for after hour activities; doesn't the District have insurance for these activities. If anyone out there in BLOG WORLD knows the answer, this would be helpful information.
A couple points of clarification as someone who has been working this issue for months.
1) There is not a $1000 "Insurance Fee". There is a requirement for groups to carry $1Million in Liability Insurance. I have always been required to carry this insurance (and do). Our group is a certified PTO and carries all appropriate insurance. All Parent groups I'm aware of do carry this same insurance.
2) The issue with FUNDRAISERS is that parent groups are TREATED EXACTLY LIKE A FOR PROFIT ORGANIZATION and the board as specifically stated that that is their intent. Rent is at the highest rate the district charges and Susan Paine specifically stated that that was by design. If people from Outside the district are invited, the higher rate must be charged (although why it makes a difference with people inside or outside the district makes no sense to me). This rule is all encompassing - Family Runs that use the school facilities, Spaghetti Fees, Auctions, everything. If you invite people from the outside to raise more funds for the kids, they whammy you. I guess the objective is to make sure that we don't raise more money for the kids because we will invoke more "wear and tear" on the school".
3) Only selected people have been asked to provide input - no individual parent group has been notified - they assume Ron M (PTA District President) has superhuman powers and will do their co-ordination. Even so, not all School Office Managers (who are supposed to do the District's work) are to notify the people that rent the facilities - not even a request to inform the local PTA.
If anyone would like to contact me, you can reach me at rick.jorgensen@gmail.com. (Please use the correct spelling - someone in Hawaii has a similar name). I keep all communication confidential as to the source because I know what happened to me by the District when I posted my position publicity on this site.
Tivo the VP debate; this is more important.
Our choice is between Palin's political gibberish and Miller's district gibberish.
Maybe if they invited Mark to debate Marla, a huge crowd would show up.
I got a chuckle at the suggestion of a debate between Marla and Mark - this is not a joke, however - if this could happen, I believe a facilty would have to be rented to hold hundreds, perhaps thousands of interested tax payers, PTA/PTO/ PTSA groups, ESD employees and the general public! It would be good to schedule the debate in October; because ESD employees could wear masks and it would not seem out of place! (Most would not attend for fear of their jobs - sad but true).
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