Parents, Parks and Rec and insurance trust press North Smithfield schools to clarify facility-use, liability rules

Valerie Flurry, a parent of three North Smithfield students, told the School Committee on Oct. 21 that local volunteer sports and arts groups have repeatedly been denied access to school facilities because they lack liability coverage. “We have nonprofit groups that raise thousands of dollars a year to support these programs for our students having to cancel fundraising events,” Flurry said, and she presented a survey of 17 local organizations she said documented repeated denials.

The committee invited the Interlocal Trust, the school department’s self-insurance pool, to explain recommended coverage levels and options for short-term events. Ian Rizwan, executive director of the Trust, said the Trust administers a self-insurance pool that issues policies to public members and provides loss-prevention services. Rizwan said the Trust’s standard minimum recommendation for outside groups is $1,000,000 in liability coverage and that, where possible, organizations should “match the level of liability that the school department is carrying.”

A Trust speaker whose remarks described policy options said the Trust can add volunteers to the district policy in limited circumstances — for example, chaperones on a school field trip — but generally cannot extend the school department’s coverage to separate nonprofit organizations because the district lacks control over the groups’ governance, fundraising and operations. The Trust recommended that outside groups provide a certificate of insurance naming the school department and the town as additional insured. Rizwan and Trust staff also described a “gather-guard” one-day event policy the Trust offers for single events at modest cost.

Anne Lilly, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, told the committee the commission’s charter includes recommending programs and coordinating recreational facility use across town bodies. Lilly urged the committee to use the Parks and Rec commission as a starting point to improve coordination and communication between town leagues and the school department.

Committee members and administrators said they want to avoid excluding community groups. Several members asked the Trust for more granular guidance and practical next steps, including a clearer, shorter facility-use form, a checklist of required certificates and options for lower-cost coverage for smaller community fundraisers. The committee agreed to follow up: staff will meet again with the Trust, Parks and Rec and representatives of the local volunteer organizations to try to produce clearer, equitable guidance and a more user-friendly facility-request process.

The discussion also touched on ancillary constraints that affect access: custodial availability, field wear, and parking/traffic restrictions. The Trust suggested the school and town can issue reciprocal additional-insured endorsements when town-sponsored programs use school facilities and vice versa.

The committee did not adopt a new policy at the meeting. Members said they will request a further, more detailed risk analysis and a list of national- or state-level insurer programs commonly used by PTOs, booster clubs and youth leagues, and will reconvene with Parks and Rec to draft streamlined procedures.