California Professional Standards for Education Leaders · 4C–2
Build mutually beneficial relationships with external organizations to coordinate the use of school and community facilities.
Shared facilities can expand student and community opportunity, but only when access, cost, safety, scheduling, and responsibility are explicit.
What this looks like in practice
{"Begin with public benefit"=>"which students or community members gain access, and what school goal is advanced? Then work through the operational reality\u2014insurance, supervision, custodial work, keys, technology, accessibility, emergencies, fees, cancellations, and damage."}
A digital permitting system can reduce paper handling and scheduling conflicts, but it does not decide policy. Leaders should examine who can navigate the process, who receives priority, and whether fees or technical barriers exclude intended users.
Developing the practice
Establish the rules
Align district policy, joint-use terms, insurance, safety, accessibility, fees, and priority before opening reservations.
Design the workflow
Assign approval, calendar, payment, support, setup, incident, and closeout responsibilities across organizations.
Review public benefit
Compare usage, cancellations, cost, access, and outcomes to the purpose of the partnership.
Useful connections
Facilitron
See how a facilities-use platform can move requests, approvals, documents, and payments out of a paper-and-email process.
Facilities-management systems
Compare other scheduling and facility-use approaches represented in SDLA’s product directory before narrowing a workflow decision.
Questions for reflection and mentoring
- Who benefits from the current facilities process, and who finds it difficult to enter?
- Which responsibility is most likely to fall between organizations?
- What evidence would justify renewing the arrangement?