Facility Usage/Scheduling

As it is taxpayer revenue that supports a school district, the community should have access to the facilities of that district. The community education office is the natural entity for scheduling and overseeing facility use as this truly reflects the “lighted school house” concept of community education. A community education model provides the community with appropriate spaces for educational, recreational, cultural and other activities for its citizens when those facilities are not in use for K-12 activities. This is accomplished through the facility scheduling process.
Components of a facility usage/scheduling process should include:

•School board policy
•Usage guidelines
•Classification of users
•Fee schedule
•Required documents for contract (contract itself, indemnity statement, insurance requirements, etc.)
 
The community education office is responsible for keeping building administrators and custodians advised, in advance, of scheduled facility use and addressing the issue of building access and security. There are a variety of ways to handle communication, request for use and other components associated with usage that are unique to each district. Today there are software programs that help make the facility usage/scheduling process more manageable through means such as ready-made online calendars, contact information templates and contracts.