School facilities rental plan advances

By Jane DeGeorge
Eagle Reporter
Published: August 22, 2008

Local organizations may now rent some of Madison County’s school buildings on an ongoing basis.

At the school board’s regularly scheduled Aug. 11 meeting, the board approved revisions to a school policy – establishing fees and rules for some outside groups to lease school property.

Local associations have always been able to host one-time events for free at the schools’ athletic fields, although outside groups were previously not permitted to use the indoor buildings or use the schools on a long-term basis.

Now, approved organizations may apply to use the schools’ buildings as long as it does not interfere with Madison County Public Schools- and Madison County Facilities and Recreation Department-related activities.

In addition to paying hourly rates based on which room within which building is used, groups are required to hire one of the schools’ custodians to work during the hours the buildings are in use in order to regulate entry to the indoor properties as well as clean them after they are used. Depending on the area of the building being used and the type of activity, organizations may also be required to hire a building technician/maintenance worker, a stage/sound/lighting/computer technician or a food service employee.

Madison County’s school- and local government-sponsored organizations, including booster clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H clubs, the local fire department and rescue squad, are still able to use school property for free.

At the school board’s meeting last week, board chairman Jeff Early and member Doug Farmer noted that school officials’ motivation to revise its policy was to provide a service to the community, not for moneymaking purposes.

“We see it as a service to the community because it provides more access to the facilities than [community organizations] had in the past…we’re opening up use of the facilities more to the community,” Tanner told The Eagle.

At the board of supervisors’ regularly scheduled Aug. 12 meeting, the superintendent told officials that the fees included in the revised policy were not for “fund-raising” but “to recoup some of the costs of these groups using the facilities.”

The policy revision was initiated by a request by a new Madison County church – called The Summit – that first approached school officials in May about paying them to use Madison County High School for its weekly Sunday service. This new church is an offshoot of Mountain View Community Church in Culpeper, which meets at Culpeper County High School each week.

The revised policy also includes a new condition that states that a custodial fee may be charged to any organization that uses school property – including Madison County Facilities and Recreation Department-related groups – that “fails to thoroughly clean the facilities,” according to the policy. Large groups may also be charged this type of fee, the policy states.

The revised policy includes the following fees for use of the schools’ buildings:

• Madison County High School auditorium, $80 per hour.

• Wetsel Middle School gymnasium, $75 per hour.

• MCHS gymnasium, $65 per hour.

• Waverly Yowell Elementary School and WMS multipurpose rooms, $50 per hour.

• MCHS cafeteria, $40 per hour.

• WYES, WMS and MCHS kitchen, $30 per hour.

An additional $20 per hour fee will be charged for any groups that do not include Madison County residents. Non-resident groups must be sponsored by a Madison County resident, according to the revised policy.

Groups are required to rent the facilities for a minimum of three hours including opening, cleaning and closing. The policy also requires that the groups hire particular school employees depending on the area of the building being used and the type of activity.

Employees must be paid for a minimum of three hours and be provided the following minimum rates:

• Custodians, $20 per hour.

• Building technician/maintenance workers, $30 per hour.

• Stage/sound/lighting/computer technician, $20 per hour.

• Food service employee, $20 per hour.

In other matters at the Madison County School Board’s regularly scheduled Aug. 11 meeting, the board:

• Listened to Superintendent Brenda Tanner’s comments about preliminary reports school officials received that state that all four of the county’s public schools will likely meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements.

• Approved a supplemental appropriation request of about $15,700 that the schools received in state sales tax. The funds were apparently mistakenly left out of the schools’ state funding numbers provided to school officials earlier this year, Tanner told the board. The superintendent said that officials plan to set aside this additional money to possibly pay for rising fuel costs and cover any future state sales tax revenue shortfalls later in the school year.

• Passed a motion granting contingency release time for kindergarten-fifth grade students to attend religious education classes provided by CBM Ministries in a “mobile chapel” that would be parked near the schools but off of school property.

• Presented Charlottesville televison reporter Jenn McDaniel with a plaque and passed a resolution adding her to the Virginia School Board Association’s media honor roll in recognition of her coverage of the schools’ budget process, facilities committee and Madison County High School winning the 2007-2008 Wachovia Cup award. 

• Went into closed session for the stated purposed of discussing personnel items and several students being released from compulsory attendance for religious reasons. Following the closed session, the board re-entered open session and voted to approve the students release from attendance, according to School Board Clerk Liz Patterson.