The School Committee decided to revisit its new rental-agreement policy and exempt the town’s Girl Scouts from having to pay $30 per scout annually to hold troop meetings in Lynnfield High School’s classrooms.
“All Lynnfield youth non-athletic, nonprofit civic organizations that are service-oriented will be exempt from facility fee charges under the condition that the spaces are left clean and returned to how they were found,” School Committee Vice Chair Stacy Dahlstedt said. “We have been assured by Diane Courtney, who is the service coordinator for the scouts, that she will be the point person should any issues arise with the conditions of the school spaces after being used by Girl Scout troops.”
Courtney said that she is grateful the committee agreed to revisit the policy and make changes to it.
“We’re grateful to get this opportunity to meet back in the schools,” Courtney said. “We feel it was the right decision for the School Committee to invest in our Girl Scouts, who are hopefully going to be our future female leaders.”
The committee also decided that the Girl Scouts will be charged a custodial-service fee if the classrooms are left damaged in any way.
“We are in total agreement with the committee,” Courtney said. “’I’ve already sent out an email to all of our families and our leaders that this is important. It is the Girl Scout way to leave every place better than we found it, and so we’re going to be devoting some time to getting that message across to the girls and putting a focus on it.”
School Committee Chair Rich Sjoberg said that the committee does its best to work on policies and “sometimes there are things that need to be double-checked.” He added that the decision to waive the fees was significantly influenced by the Girl Scouts’ commitment to civic responsibilities, community involvement, and community service.
Courtney said that the Girl Scouts will make sure to uphold the values Sjoberg complimented them for.
“We need to keep reminding the troops that this is a privilege and we want to take pride in how we leave places, so that people do recognize that we are following the Girl Scout way and we are respecting this opportunity to meet school classrooms,” Courtney said. “We should take pride in our schools and to respect the places that we’re using.”
