First Reading Knox County Board of Education Descriptor Term: Descriptor Code: Rescinds: Issued: Community Use of School Facilities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 GENERAL REGULATIONS EBH 7/95 Revised: 7/95 The use of school buildings and property may be permitted in accordance with these regulations at any time when the principal states that the premises are not required for school purposes. As approved by the Board of Education, school buildings and grounds or portions thereof may be used for auxiliary, educational, recreational, cultural, and such other purposes as promote the welfare of the community and the educational goals of the Board. School facilities may not be used for private profit, except for the purpose of providing an academic educational service1. Entities that have a compelling operational need to reserve or schedule facilities for an extended period of time may submit a formal request detailing the need to the Director of Schools or the Director's designated representative. If the request is determined to be valid, appropriate and supportable, the Director may enter into a long term partnership agreement or memorandum of understanding with the entity outside the provisions of this policy. Use of school facilities by the Parks and Recreation Departments of Knox County and the City of Knoxville will generally be governed by this type arrangement. SCHOOL-RELATED ACTIVITIES School-related activities shall not be scheduled to use school property on weekends without permission of the principal. School property may be used for school related activities on school days without application and without charge if permission is granted by the principal of the school. However, this use must still be scheduled by the school to avoid the creation of conflicting facilities reservations. OTHER ACTIVITIES Proper liability insurance shall be required of all groups given permission to use school facilities, except where this coverage is already provided by the Board of Education. Evidence of insurance coverage must be provided to KCS prior to use of the facility. The Knox County Board of Education must be listed as an additional named insured on liability policies obtained by organizations wishing to use Knox County Board of Education property. The use of school facilities by a religious group for instructional and/or religious purposes is restricted, and the group must show consistent effort and progress in obtaining and/or providing its own facilities as quickly as possible. EBH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 The Board of Education shall approve a fee schedule for the use of school facilities by all users. The Board of Education may choose to approve multiple fee schedules as needed for different types of organizations (i.e. non-profit, government, or community groups). ProcedureREQUIREMENTS FOR FILING APPLICATION FORTO USE OF FACILITIES: 1) All non-school groups or individuals requesting to use school facilities must make application through the principal and have approval of the Director of Schools prior to the date of use. 2) It shall not be necessary for any application to be made to use the school facilities for any schoolrelated activity. However, school related activities shall be properly scheduled and tracked to ensure that conflicts in scheduling do not arise. School-related activities shall he defined to include: a) parent-teacher activities; b) activities of school-related civic clubs, or groups or School Support Organizations; c) school club meetings, properly supervised by a teacher in the school; d) classroom groups properly supervised, and e) educational meetings called by the principal or authorized member of the school administrative staff. 3) All such meetings are to be arranged through the principal of the school involved. The principal or the principal's designeedesignated school employee shall be on duty when the building is in use for any activity after the end ofoutside the normal school day. The holder of an approved application to use school facilities may cancel the agreement by giving the principal or the Director of Schools notice at least twenty four hours five days in advance of the date scheduled to be used. Otherwise, the group will be held responsible for all charges. Knox County Schools reserves the right to either cancel an event or offer a substitute facility to an applicant at any time. Knox County Schools will not be responsible for any applicant costs due to such cancellation or change of venue. When use of the school building involves use of food service facilities, the manager, or a member of the food service staff designated by the manager, shall be present and shall be paid there shall be a charge for this service. The full cost for Ffood service and custodial personnel to support an event shall be borne personnel and custodians shall be paid billed toby the using organization. theorganizationper hour for the time they are on duty when the building facilities are used by organizations; and for any additional time needed to open the facility prior to an event and close afterwards. Organizations using a facility shall remit any personnel costs to the Knox County Schools and school employees will be compensated through the Knox County Schools payroll. Organizations shall not make payments directly to KCSschool employees. Both the cafeteria personnel and custodian shall be paid directly by the organization at the time the service is rendered. Procedure forPAYMENT FOR USE OF SCHOOL FACILITIESshall be as follows: 1) Groups using school facilities for a school-related activity will not pay for the use of the facilities unless there is some extraordinary cost involved. additional work and time involved Page 2 of 5 EBH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 exceeds that normally required. If required, the responsible party will make payment directly to the school custodian according to the approved fee schedule at the time services are rendered. Additionally, community, civic or non-profit groups engaged in providing a direct service to students shall not be assess a fee if the activities take place in their entirety prior to 5:00 p.m. on a school day and do not require additional staff or custodial support. 3) Community, governmental, not-for-profit, or political groups: a)Shall pay directly to the required school personnel (custodian, food service workers) the hourly rate on the approved fee schedule at the time services are rendered. b)Shall pay to the Board of Education the approved fee and shall pay directly to the required school personnel (custodian, food service workers) the hourly rate on the approved fee schedule if a fee is charged to persons attending the activity. 23) All other groups shall pay to the Board of Education the approved facilities fees and wages for all school personnel required to support the activity. fee and pay directly to the required school personnel the hourly rate on the approved fee schedule at the time services are rendered.In no instance shall a group directly compensate an employee of the Knox County Schools. 43) All payments to the Board of Education shall be made payable to the Knox County Board of Education and should be received in the business office no later than forty-eight hourstwo weeks after the date of use. Users scheduling recurring events shall pay monthly with the payment due two weeks after the last event date of the month. Late payments will be assessed a late fee and future use of Knox County Schools facilities may be restricted or eliminated for groups with consistently late payments. 4) The Director of Schools may waive the payment of fees under what the Director determines to be appropriate and extraordinary circumstances. While in use, the area of school buildings being used shall not have its means of egress blocked and Fire Prevention Regulations shall be strictly enforced. CONDITIONS FOR USE OF FACILITIES At the conclusion of the activity, the user of the facility will notify the principal or other designated school employee. The holder of an approved application to use grounds, equipment, or space in a school building shall agree to observe the following rules and regulationsrequirements of the Board of Education: 1) To exercise the utmost care in the use of school premises and use only designated areas as approved. 2) To make goodbe financially responsible for any damage arising from the occupancy of any portion of the school premises. 3) To indemnify and hold the Board of Education and its employees and agents blameless harmless for any claim, loss, or damage by reason of any act on the part of the applicant or other members of the organization.arising out of the applicant's use of the Board of Education property or facilities. The Board of Education shall be an additional named insured on all liability insurance policies held by organizations or individuals using Board of Education property or facilities. 4) All activities must be under competent adult supervision and approved by the building principal. In Page 3 of 5 EBH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 all cases, an assigned school employee must be present. 5) The use of alcoholic beverages, drugs, profane language, or gambling in any form is not permitted on school property. Use of tobacco within the buildingon school grounds is not permitted. 6) While in use, the area of school buildings being used shall not have its means of egress blocked and Fire Prevention Regulations shall be strictly enforced. 7) Applicants will adhere to all KCS policies and procedures, including all terms and conditions of the school use application 8) All groups or individuals using school facilities will have a copy of the approved facility use request in their possession at all times during their use of the facility. The principal and the Director of Schools reserve the right to determine the need and the number of uniformed officers to be on duty for school, community, and non-school related activities. If the principal, the Director of Schools, or their designees determine that it is necessary for security personnel to be present for or due to the use Knox County Board of Education property by an individual or organization, that individual or organization shall bear the cost of such security personnel. Knox County Schools' safety/security officers shall be directed by the Office of the Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services. The principal and the Director of Schools reserve the right to cancel the use of the school facility at any time. SCHOOL-RELATED ACTIVITIES School-related activities shall not be scheduled to use school property on weekends without permission of the principal. School property may be used on weekdays without application and without charge if permission is granted by the principal of the school. However, this use must still be scheduled, so that other users do not reserve the same spaces for use as well. Non-school athletic groups using a school gymnasium on Saturdays shall make satisfactory arrangements to pay the custodian the approved fee schedule for additional time and service as a result of this use. OTHER ACTIVITIES Proper liability insurance shall be required of all groups given permission to use school facilities, except where this coverage is already provided by the Board of Education. Evidence of insurance coverage must be provided to KCS prior to use of the facility. Political, government, civic, or charitable organizations shall not be required to provide proof of insurance for routine meetings. Insurance will be required for special events including but not limited to fundraising, annual dinners, auctions, etc. The use of the facilities by a religious group for instructional and/or religious purposes is restricted, and the group must show definite consistenteffort and progress in obtaining and/or providing its own facilities as quickly as possible. The Board of Education shall approve and annually review a fee schedule for the use of school facilities by all users. The Board of Education may choose to approve multiplefee schedulesas needed for different types of organizations (non-profit, for-profit, government, etc). community or civic organizations and other non-profit, recreational, or religious groups. USE OF ATHLETIC FACILITIES School gymnasiums shall be released to the Recreation Department of Knox County and Knoxville City for scheduled practice and games after a mutually satisfactory agreement has been reached between the Page 4 of 5 EBH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Director of Schools, school principal, and the facilities applicant fees and as to: 1) Times to be used 2) Adequate supervision 3) Rates of pay for all supervisory and custodial services 4) Any other matters that may be required in order to protect school property and to serve the program of the Recreation Department. Facilities applicant shall furnish in writing to the school principal and to the Director of Schools' office a schedule of all uses as identified by the agreement. All events must be scheduled in the same manner as required of other users. Legal References: 1. TCA 49-2-405(a) Page 5 of 5