In your article entitled "School Board Denies Facilities Use Request" you state that "...the school board did not want the school to be involved with any political process that could influence the help the school would receive from elected officials." Does that statement make any sense at all? If I'm correct, ALL of the candidates were invited to attend and participate. If they chose not to for any reason, that was on them. Wouldn't a reasonable person think that if hosting this type of event did in fact have any affect on any future relationship with any political candidate or official that it might actually be a positive one? How could use of a facility be construed as bias or an endorsement of any kind if the opportunity was open to everyone? Beats me!

And here's a little tidbit for your pipe: Did you know that anyone (and I mean literally anyone) can request use of any Edmond school facility or any part of any Edmond school facility? There is a very brief and painless process that is involved, and there is of course rent to be paid for use of their facilities, audio/visual equipment and personnel to assist, but it really and truly can be done!

I recently had occasion to plan an event which required a very large convention-type space, which is pretty scarce in Edmond. Out of desperation, I contacted the Administrative Office at Edmond Schools, expecting to be turned away, and quite surprisingly learned that all of the schools are available for rent to outside groups. I can tell you that we ultimately arranged to rent a very large part of one of the high schools for our event, including a couple of classrooms, the main hallway, the auditorium, the foyer and even their newly-renovated cafeteria with all the necessary furniture, audio/visual techs and set-up personnel, for 2 full days. The rent for the event was in excess of $6,000 and we were naturally required to provide our own liability insurance coverage for the days of the event, but we were not at all dissuaded by that, especially when we learned that 25% of the rental proceeds go directly to the school that's rented!!!! A portion of the remaining 75% is used to pay custodial staff, utilities and general overhead for the event; and the rest is basically gravy for the District. So, in effect, it costs the District nothing and the School gets sort of a commission for having the facility available. Rental rates for non-profit groups are of course substantially lower than those for outside and for-profit groups, but the service is still available.

I would have preferred to put money in our Deer Creek coffer's rather than Edmond's, but that's just me. I wonder if Deer Creek would ever consider implementing such a program so that our gymnasiums, cafeterias and other available on-campus facilities might actually help bring in money instead of costing money while they're sitting empty and unused outside school hours and the school year. As for the County Commissioner Forum and similar politically-connected events, I think charging rent for using a facility would certainly at least help to eliminate any appearance of impropriety or bias in such cases. And what a great little income-generator for the school! In my book, it beats the heck out of selling wrapping paper and sausage any day of the week!

Our Reply

The school does have a policy. All events must be approved by the school board. Make sure to plan far enough ahead to so that you have time to get school board approval. We believe requests need to be submitted 7 days before the next school board meeting; but, please double check this number with the school administration building before making plans. Remember to plan far enough ahead in case the school board denies your request and you need to find another facility for your event. Facilities & Equipment Use Request forms are available at the administration building. See School Contacts for the phone number >>

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