The Ministry of Education released a Community Planning and Partnerships Guideline that focuses on expanding opportunities to share facilities with community partners when building new schools, undertaking significant renovations, when considering the use of unoccupied space in schools and when reviewing properties that may close or sites considered for disposition.
The District School Board of Niagara believes that co-operative and collaborative partnerships are part of the foundation of a strong, vibrant and sustainable publicly funded education system. The DSBN supports the exploration of facility-sharing community partnership opportunities which would allow sharing of facilities with community partners in a manner that will benefit both parties.
A Facility-Sharing Community Partnership is an opportunity to:
- Create strong ties between education and the community through mutually respectful relationships
- Explore opportunities to maximize school efficiency and viability
- Improve services and supports available to students
- Effectively utilize excess space within schools
- Reduce costs through shared usage of space
How are Facility-Sharing Partnership opportunities identified?
- Through the planning process, the District School Board of Niagara will identify facilities that may be suitable for partnerships with respect to use of space within existing schools or co-build opportunities when undertaking new construction or significant renovations.
- Entities that provide services and programs for children, their families and the broader community will have the opportunity to express interest in sharing facilities with the school board and are encouraged to submit expressions of interest at any time throughout the year.
Criteria for Facility-Sharing Community Partnerships:
The DSBN considers the value of the partnerships to students when applying the following criteria in approving partnerships:
- The health and safety of students must be protected
- Partnerships must be appropriate for the school setting
- Partnerships must not compromise the student achievement strategy
- Entities providing competing education services such as tutoring services, JK – 12 private schools or private colleges, and credit offering entities that are not government funded, are not eligible partners
Types of partnerships considered through the Community Planning and Partnerships process:
- Co-building of facilities
- Lease/license agreements where underutilized space has been identified
- Joint-use agreements
What must be considered?
The District School Board of Niagara supports that partnerships between schools and other community partners should:
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Be mutually beneficial for the school/board and the other partners
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Be sustainable
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Respect the primacy of the school’s major purpose, to provide students with instruction and education
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Respect the core values of each partner and ensure the safety of students
Are there costs involved with a Facility-Sharing Community Partnership?
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Facility-sharing partnerships will be administered through formal agreements with the community partner and will be reviewed on a regular basis.
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Partners will be responsible for all costs including professional, capital, maintenance and operating costs and applicable taxes when developing, constructing and/or operating in the shared facility. Additional costs to the community partner include a proportional share of all shared space. This includes capital renewal, land costs and any administrative costs incurred by the Board.
How do I indicate interest leasing underutilized space or a co-building opportunity with the DSBN?
Expressions of interest in a facility-sharing partnership that aligns with the above criteria may be submitted by completing the Interest in Facility-Sharing Community Partnership form
How do I rent a school if I am interested in using it for after-hours use for a sports league, recreational programs or community event?
- Rental of school space outside of school hours is administered through a different procedure. Permit and Rental Services administers the rental of school facilities through the Community Use of Schools program. This initiative allows individuals and community groups to rent school spaces such as gymnasiums for various activities after school hours and on weekends.