High Use of School Buildings Concerns Some School Committee Members

DEDHAM, MA — Are the Dedham Public Schools letting too many groups use their facilities outside of school hours? That’s the concern from some members of the Dedham School Committee.

Many of the questions from the committee following a presentation on facility usage and fees were on the topic, with some noting the traffic that can build up with multiple events taking place simultaneously at the middle and high schools.

Committee member Tracey White noted that on May 11, a dance recital, bingo, and middle school talent show are all taking place on the same day with more events to follow the next day.

“We all know dance recitals go all day long with people coming to going. When you have a dance recital, don’t rent it to Dedham Youth Soccer because it’s not fair to any of these groups if you congest the areas. I won’t even talk about the neighbors, it’s not right,” Committee member Kevin Coughlin said.

Coughlin also asked if the school district was being greedy by having so many events.

“My short answer is no because otherwise, we would have to go to capital so we’re saving the taxpayers money by not having to go to capital,” Assistant Superintendent Ian Kelly said.

Committee member Steve Bilafer said he was concerned about multiple small groups not requiring a police detail. Events with more than 250 attendees requires a detail, but that requirement is not triggered if there are multiple that combine for over 250, but do not meet it individually.

“That’s why we have the traffic detail, that would look at the aggregate,” Kelly said.

The concern is something that will be looked at when the policy subcommittee reviews the guidelines for renting facilities, Superintendent Michael Welch said.

“We’re not in this business as a school department and unfortunately we have to be event coordinators and managers and we’re not good at that. We need to have some tighter controls in place in order to make sure we don’t have too much of a good thing,” Welch said. “I didn’t realize the extent that we’re renting our facilities, it’s significant and we need to have some oversight.”

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