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Show Know Your Schools .... Use Of Schools By The Community . . On various occasions a question has been raised concerning the school district policies governing the use of school buildings by non-school groups and the charge made to these groups for the use of the school facilities. This article will attempt to clarify these policies poli-cies and the necessity for the charge set by the Board of Education. Educa-tion. School buildings are built primarily pri-marily to house the instructional program for all the children ages five through eighteen, but local board of education have been empowered em-powered by the state to provide facilities for community activities under the direction of the school board which in their judgment may appertain to the educational, political, economic, artistic and mora! interests of the citizens of the community, if such use does not interfere with any school function func-tion or purpose. The use of the school buildings in Duchesne County for this purpose pur-pose has been limited. However, adult education classes, P-TA meetings, school conferences, etc. are held in the school buildings when they are not being used for school purposes. The school district dis-trict does not sponsor an adult recreational program. Community recreational activities are extensively exten-sively sponsored by other agencies. Many of these sponsoring agencies seek the use of school buildings for their programs. Boards of education ed-ucation may permit the use of the school buildings for such purposes, but at no expense to the school (Continued on Back Page) KNOW YOUR SCHOOLS . . . (Continued from Page One) district. The law is quite clear on this point. Following is a full quote from Section 53-21-5 of the School Laws of the State of Utah, 1955: "All boards of education may permit public school houses, when not occupied for school purposes and when the use' thereof will not interfere in any way with school purposes, to be used for any other purpose that will not interefer with the .seating or other furniture or property, and shall make such charges for the' use of the same as they may decide to be just; provided, that the district shall be at no expense for fuel' or service of any kind for any such use or privilege and that public school houses shall not be used for commercial com-mercial purposes." The present charge of $2.00 an hour is a minimum charge to cover cov-er cost of heat, light, janitorial services and supervision. The necessity of supervision of the use of the school buildings by an employee of the school district has been questioned. It is the policy pol-icy of the district to have one of its employees supervise the use of the school buildings by non-school non-school groups from the time' the building is open until those using the building have left. This is to insure that the building, equipment and furniture will not be misused and that there will be nothing done to interfere with the' regular school program. It is the intent of the board of education that the school buildings in the communities of Duchesne County be used for the education and recreational interests of the citizens of the.ie communities. However, I'm sure we can all agree that such use should be properly pro-perly supervised to insure the' proper pro-per use of these buildings and that the use by non-school groups should not be an added school expense to be born by the taxpayers. |
