Should Churches Be Permitted To Co-Sponsor Brookline Community Events?

BROOKLINE, MA — Some Brookline residents are upset and calling for a review of Brookline policies after finding out that a Christian church that rents space at the Driscoll School co-sponsored a recent town community event. The church group from City on a Hill Church donated a speaker to the Food Truck Friday event on June 9, and helped set it up. Because of that, they earned a note of sponsorship on the bottom of a flier announcing the event.

During the summer, the church donates the use of its projection equipment and supplies the town-picked family friendly movies on movie nights in the park and has been helping the town like this for several years, say those who work with them.

"It bothers me tremendously. On so many levels," Anne Weaver posted to Facebook after raising the concern there.

• Sign up for more updates on all things Brookline by getting the Brookline Patch Newsletter

What happened?

Earlier this month a flier popped up about an event to be held at the Driscoll School. Food Truck Friday. The flier about the community event promised family friendly music and entertainment and fun activities and several food trucks — a small festival featuring food and community.

A note at the bottom of the flier showed it was sponsored by the Diversity Inclusion and Community Relations Committee in conjunction with Parks and Rec, three other town entities, and the local church.

About 450 people showed up to partake in the community event, according to police estimates. There were lines for the food trucks, folks spread blankets for picnics and children played on the Driscoll School Playground. There were no announcements made about those who donated to make the event happen other than the flier. All of this is normal for town events, according to those who help put them together. There were no special signs indicating that a church was part of the community event. There were no reports of evangelism or church related activities.

But, Brookline resident Anne Weaver noticed it was sponsored in part by a church and took to Facebook to see if anyone else felt like protesting the notion that a religious organization — especially one she said did not share her beliefs — was permitted to sponsor a town event.

"Having this 'church' 'co-sponsor' town events for use of a sound system and 'volunteers' (who don't evangelize - yeah, right) doesn't work for me. Nor do I like the school renting space to them for their 'meetings,'" Weaver posted, going on to suggest that the town should be able to rent or raise money for a sound system without a church's help.

The online conversation spun into hundreds of comments. One Brookline woman who identified herself as a lesbian said it didn't bother her. Many of those in the conversation seemed to be surprised that church groups could rent space in schools at all. Others questioned why a municipality would allow a religious group to help sponsor a community event. Should that be permitted in Brookline?, they asked, citing a question of separation of church and state. One commenter noted they liked to pummel tennis balls next to where the church group met.

Across the state and country churches have been meeting in school classrooms for decades after hours and donating equipment for community events, thus effectively becoming a sponsor of said events. In Brookline, in recent years because of space limitations Brookline Early Education has met in space in some Jewish temples around town.

The working group who were planning the community Food Truck event was originally going to hold it in the Centre Street parking lot, but after some discussion they landed on using either Amory Park or Driscoll School for the green space there.

Community events

But what does it mean to sponsor an event? In the Food Truck Fridays event, which was mainly a Diversity Inclusion and Community Relations baby, a number of people from different groups came together to discuss how to foster community in Brookline.

City on a Hill Church, which has members who live in Brookline, donated the use of a speaker system and set it up when the Diversity and Inclusion and Community Relations team was spitballing to figure out what they might need and how to do the work as inexpensively as possible, according to someone on that committee. That person referred all public comment on the matter to the chair of the group who was not immediately available for comment.

Joanna Baker who is involved with the Friends of Waldstein Park association said online she did some research before allowing this particular church to donate the use of their movie screening equipment for movie night in the park there and said she didn't see any red flags. Patch could find no evidence that the church was associated with the controversial Seattle based Mars Hill mega church founder as some residents suggested.

A look at the believe sections on the group's webpage does not address women in leading roles or what they think about LGBTQ issues, which seemed to be top concerns noted in the posts online.

But it did say this,"We believe that God created men and women in His image. Therefore all people have inherent and equal dignity and worth." The church appears to come from Southern Baptist Church roots.

Chairman of the School Committee David Pollak confirmed that the Food Truck Friday event was not associated with either the Driscoll School or the Public Schools of Brookline.

"Permitting for use of the Driscoll School Playground for the event was arranged through another Town Department, and no Driscoll Staff or PSB staff had any involvement with planning the event nor will they be involved with carrying it out," he wrote on Facebook before the event.

This community event arranged by the Diversity Inclusion and Community relations in collaboration with town rec and other departments happened outdoors at one of the schools, Pollak noted and he added that he's already asked the School Committee Policy Subcommittee to include a review of policies as part of its work for the coming year.

What is school policy?

The relevant part of the Brookline school policy currently says:

"The School Committee encourages the rental or lease of any surplus space in any school building to public or private profit-making businesses or non-profit organizations, where such use does not interfere with educational programs being conducted in the school building. Any such lease must be approved by the School Committee."

As part of the requirements for leasing the building or rooms, the policy manual of the public schools of Brookline, which was last voted on in 2014, requires that groups must provide CORI info and provide proof of no discrimination. Group must, it reads;

"Ensure that all admission and retention criteria, consistent with law, does not discriminate against any student on the basis of a recognized protected class including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or genetic information."

Stay tuned for another story on this. Earlier this week Patch requested information from the town and school departments were unable to get the information requested by deadline on Friday. Phone messages and an email to the Diversity Inclusion and Human Relations Commission were not returned Friday morning. The pastor for City on a Hill Church was also not immediately available for comment.

• Sign up for more updates on all things Brookline by getting the Brookline Patch Newsletter

Image of the Driscoll School via Google Maps