In an emotional meeting following the fatal shooting of a teen earlier in the day, the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education on Tuesday evening approved opening the district’s facilities for limited student use and community rental.
Under the new policy proposed through the district’s “Enough Is Enough” effort, outside organizations will be able to request to rent the district’s facilities including gyms, fields, tracks and auditoriums. A new fee schedule was approved, with fees much less than those previously charged.
Board President Randy Lopez held a moment of silence during the meeting for a teen who died in a shooting earlier in the day. The teen, whose identity has not yet been released by authorities, was a school district student, he said. The teen was walking on a sidewalk near Hazel Grove Elementary School when he was shot by an unknown person in a vehicle.
Lopez made a plea for the community to come together as the district suffered its 26th student death.
“Let’s come together and find ways to love each other, to bring peace, to work together to end the violence,” Lopez said at the school board meeting. “We can’t have one more student death, especially the gun violence in our community. It hurts all of us when we lose one student, one person in our community.
“Please, let’s work together, we can’t keep doing this to our community,” he said. “We have to love each other and work to come together.
“Let’s find ways to work together, to love and end the violence,” Lopez said.
Lisa Garcia-Stewart, the district’s director of student services, said the facilities proposal was just one plan they can begin to work on in the coming months to provide more connectedness for youth.
“How heavy it is to think about another death of a student, and the family and the students and staff who are impacted in our community,” she said at the meeting.
The board had been scheduled to hear the information about the facilities on Tuesday night, and vote on it at a future meeting, according to a board member, but they decided to vote on it Tuesday night.
A rental fee will be charged to outside groups that do not provide free services to youth, under the new policy.
According to district officials, the plan would allow current coaches in the school district to hold camps or workouts for middle and high school students, with a district stipend provided to those who work with students at least six hours a week for four weeks.
Community organizations could apply to use the district’s facilities. They would pay a fee, provide proof of insurance and would have to follow all district rules, including COVID-19 guidelines, according to officials.
Exceptions to the fee would be if outside organizations holding an educational workshop or camp for district students are working with a school’s coach. In that case they wouldn’t be charged if the coach sponsors the activity.
About $172,000 was estimated as the maximum cost for this program, with coaches paid $500 for providing six hours a week for four weeks of coaching instruction, camp and workouts, according to Tammie Romstad, the district’s athletic director. The stipend program was not likely to use that much funding, according to officials.
Romstad said as many as 2,700 middle school and high school athletes could be part of this coaches’ program through the months of June and July. This did not include outside groups that might come in and present programs, she said.
Board member Wanda Brownlee Paige, who voted against the proposal, was in favor of opening school district facilities, such as gymnasiums, for free play by students. However, Dennis Covington, chief financial officer, said that would not be covered under the district’s insurance.
Coaches who hold programs at district facilities would be covered under the district’s insurance, he said.
Some of the kids who lost their lives were not athletes, Paige said, and may not have participated in these programs had they been offered. She was in favor of splitting the $172,000 and allowing open play for students. She also discussed other uses of the gyms, rooms and facilities, for example, a robotics club, STEM classes or a chess club could be considered.
“They want something to do,” Paige said. “I just want to see us open it up more for that kid.”
Paige also mentioned an incident on Saturday at Parkwood Pool, where teens jumped over a fence and went into a closed community swimming pool to swim. One teen nearly drowned.
The district could take a look at allowing some of the high school swimming pools to be used, she believes.
Garcia-Stewart said they want to expand offerings in the future, but this was just something they could do right now. They also will be partnering with some community organizations to offer some programs that might be similar to what Paige was describing. They will continue to come back and present other options to the board in the future, she said.
Romstad said some of the outside organizations that rent the gyms may not have very structured use of it, and could be similar to unstructured play, for their own groups.
Board member Maxine Drew said they’re laying the foundation, and after they get it started, more could be added later, such as swimming pools opening. Many rooms can be used, she said.
“There is a foundation of where we’re going to go so we can move up to a higher level to get our kids engaged during the summertime,” Drew said.
Dr. Alicia Miguel, interim superintendent, said this was the first step in reopening the district’s facilities. They will continue to meet with community members and reach out to different organizations, so they can come in, she said.
Paige said she thought the district itself should offer free play for students, and not depend on outside organizations to do it. She suggested a coach should let some students in the gym have free play while others are in a program at the same time.
Outside groups that want to rent space in the district’s facilities would apply to Covington, who would review the applications. They would have to have insurance, he said.
The board also approved fees for community organizations to rent facilities, including: $20 for a classroom; $25 for a computer lab; $35 for a gym; $20 for a cafeteria without kitchen services; $20 for training rooms; and $30 for a cafeteria with kitchen services. There are additional charges for security.
To rent a baseball field for 90 minutes would cost $15. There are additional charges for the type of field and lights, as well as security. A stadium could run $25 an hour for turf fields and $25 per hour for lights, plus additional for security.
The school district’s own programs, such as sports teams, would have priority in scheduling, according to district officials.
To view a video of this meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UseRuODHOYw.
