By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Three people gave the School Committee an earful about the district’s new facility rental fees during an Oct. 17 meeting.
The School Committee approved Policy KF last spring, which seeks to raise additional revenue for the School Department. According to Policy KF, prospective renters are broken into three different classes of groups. Class 1 pertains to student, school and town groups. Class 2 is for nonprofit organizations and Class 3 is for “all other renters.”
Class 1 groups are not charged a fee, while Class 2 and 3 groups are required to pay fees for renting a school facility. The fees vary depending on the space that is being rented.
Main Street resident Diane Courtney noted that she is the service unit coordinator for Lynnfield Girl Scouts, which is being classified as a Class 2 entity.
“I’m asking members of the School Committee and Superintendent Kristen Vogel to please reconsider the use of school facilities fees being charged to our Girl Scout troops,” said Courtney. “I respectfully ask that our troop meetings be made exempt from any facilities fees. As you know, troops are now being charged $30 per Scout annually to hold troop meetings in our schools. For example, first grade Daisy Troop 77647 has 21 members, so the troop would owe Lynnfield Public Schools $630 before their first troop meeting of the year. That is equal to the profits earned from them selling 700 boxes of cookies.”
After Courtney sent Vogel an email requesting clarification about Lynnfield Public Schools’ facility fees, the superintendent responded by stating Girl Scouts “will be treated like other youth groups, like youth volleyball or basketball, when using our school buildings.”
Courtney was not happy with Vogel’s response.
“We disagree with Girl Scout use of school space being categorized with and charged the same amount as youth league sports,” said Courtney. “Girl Scouts meet in small, available classroom spaces, usually once but sometimes twice a month, for one to two hours, and only while school buildings are normally open for business. Girl Scouts leave every place better than we found it, so we do not require any additional custodial services.”
Courtney stressed that Girl Scouts is completely different than youth sports.
“League sports require much larger spaces that are in high demand, have more participants, involve use of space for many more hours per week including evenings and weekends, need to accommodate spectators, add to the maintenance costs of fields and courts, require additional custodial services, and impact town traffic and parking in school lots,” said Courtney.
Courtney said the Boxford, Burlington, Duxbury, Lexington, Lincoln and North Andover school systems do not charge Girl Scouts to use those districts’ facilities. She noted that Andover Public Schools charges a Daisy Troop $36 a year to rent a classroom while Lynnfield Public Schools is looking to charge each troop significantly more.
“But my stance is, if there’s only one town that doesn’t charge, that town should be Lynnfield because Girl Scouts reflect our community values,” said Courtney. “We aren’t a community that creates obstacles that could prevent kids from participating in an organization that focuses on healthy development, leadership skills, community involvement and service. I’m making an official request that Girl Scout troop meetings be exempt from use of school facilities fees, and for you to please allow us to resume meeting at the schools at no charge.”
Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts volunteer support specialist Linda McNamee said school officials’ decision to charge Girl Scouts for renting classrooms “limits opportunities for youth.” She recalled that the Girl Scouts frequently attend townwide events such as the Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies.
“While $30 might not seem like a huge deal to you or perhaps you see it as equal treatment for all students, the Girl Scout leaders see this $30 fee as a way to stifle creativity, to limit opportunity and to take away service from the community,” said McNamee, who lives in Burlington.
School Committee Chair Rich Sjoberg asked what is the annual cost to be a Girl Scout.
McNamee said the annual membership fee is $50 per girl. She said Girl Scouts provide financial assistant to the girls who are unable to afford the membership fee.
Spearfields Lane resident Jim Crawford sparred with Sjoberg over the rental fees. Crawford, who is the son of Select Board member Phil Crawford, agreed with Courtney and McNamee that each Girl Scout should not be charged a $30 fee for using a classroom.
“Girl Scouts should absolutely not be charged,” said Crawford. “My daughter is a Girl Scout. They volunteer at least twice a year to clean up school property.”
Crawford’s main concern about the policy was about playing pickup basketball games at the Lynnfield High School gym on Wednesday nights. He emailed the School Committee asking for clarification about using the gyms on Sept. 6, and received a response from Sjoberg on Sept. 7.
“I was asked some questions and I didn’t get a response back until Sept. 18,” said Crawford. “I think that (delay) is unacceptable for a public board.”
Sjoberg said the delay was the result of him collecting information from different officials.
“I let you know that I needed some time to gather information,” said Sjoberg.
In response to a question from Crawford, Sjoberg said the rental fees that the School Department collects “will 100 percent go back into the facilities.”
Crawford said people are not happy that the School Committee recently approved raises for Vogel, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Tom Geary and Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Kevin Cyr while the School Department has been experiencing budget challenges.
“You are now charging town residents for using public buildings that they are already paying for,” said Crawford. “At the same time, you are giving raises when it is not contract renewal time.”
Sjoberg said the School Committee reviews Vogel’s contract annually.
“In our review of the superintendent’s contract this year, it came to our attention that, in the last year, there were 52 superintendent positions open in the state,” said Sjoberg. “Of those 52 positions, the lowest salary being offered to a brand new superintendent was $204,000. One of the greatest things we value in Lynnfield is stability and consistency. The last thing we want our superintendent to do is take another position based solely on salary. At the time, she was making $11,000 less than any superintendent who was going to be hired in the state.”
Sjoberg said the Select Board’s decision to extend and increase Town Administrator Rob Dolan’s salary earlier this year inspired the School Committee to take a similar route.
“It was our thought that it would not only be fair, but also worthwhile based on her performance,” said Sjoberg. “We equaled the superintendent’s salary with the town administrator’s salary.”
Crawford reiterated that taxpayers “should not be charged to use the gym.”
“It works out to over $7,000 a year,” said Crawford.
Sjoberg said the fee to rent a school gym is $150 an hour.
“In my research, I realized that you used the gym for an hour-and-a-half each week,” said Sjoberg. “That is $225. You said you have between a dozen or more players. I went with the low number, a dozen. For an hour-and-a-half to play in the gym, it came out to $18.75 a person. We feel that is reasonable.”
Crawford said Sjoberg’s assessment was “not that simple.”
“The same group of guys don’t play every week,” said Crawford. “You are chasing money, which is aggravating. We offered to pay a flat fee of $500 to $1,000.”
Sjoberg said teenagers frequently send each other money through Venmo when they go out for coffee and one person pays the bill. He suggested that Crawford and the other pickup basketball players do the same thing.
“You guys are supposed to be here to serve the parents and the residents,” said Crawford in response. “That’s not being done with the decisions that are being made. You are more concerned with serving the superintendent.”
Sjoberg said the school rental fees are designed to “help lesson” residents’ tax burden.
“It was discussed during the budget process, and it was discussed at several meetings,” said Sjoberg.
Crawford asked the School Committee to reconsider the school rental fee policy.
“I wouldn’t imagine there is high demand for using the high school gym on a Wednesday night,” said Crawford. “You are not losing out on money. You are just preventing residents from using it.”
Sjoberg said Lynnfield Youth Basketball is growing in popularity, and said they are using all four schools’ gyms repeatedly over the course of a week.
“There is certainly time for you to squeeze in there, but the gyms are being used every single night of the week and on weekends throughout the year,” said Sjoberg.
Before the meeting adjourned, School Committee member Jamie Hayman said the school facility rental fee policy should be discussed at an upcoming meeting.
“I think we aim to get everything right and I think we got most of this right,” said Hayman. “I think there are some unintended consequences that came from it. Whether we change it or not, I think at least we owe it to the community to talk through this.”
School Committee Vice Chair Stacy Dahlstedt said it’s “important for the community to know that the intent of the policy is being able to maintain our facilities while allowing our community to utilize those facilities.”
“I think Girl Scouts is different than basketball,” said Dahlstedt. “Girl Scouts are using classroom space, while basketball players are pounding on the gym floors. Maybe we should look at what we charge them sooner rather than later.”
Sjoberg said the School Committee should evaluate the policy over the course of the academic year.
“We need to evaluate it now,” said Hayman in response. “I think it is 95 percent of where it needs to be, but let’s get that last 5 percent right.”
School Committee members Phil McQueen and Kate DePrizio both agreed with Hayman’s viewpoint.