ROLE OF THE SCHOOLS

The City has maintained an excellent relationship with the City School System over the years. School properties continue to provide some recreation within the City.

In discussing the use of school properties, it is acknowledged that the primary purpose of the school is education and that recreation programs must be subordinate to this purpose. Still, significant recreation programming can and should take place on school grounds in order to get maximum results from tax dollars. This is especially true in the County, where sites are newer and larger.

In future planning, plans for new school sites and for athletic or other recreation facilities on school properties should involve the City or County in the planning process in order to ensure utilization of school sites.

An additional opportunity for cooperation between the schools and the Department is the Community Schools Act, which presents unique opportunities for join efforts. Many of the activities permitted under this Act are leisure oriented, and the Department should be alert for opportunities for jointly-sponsored programs. Unfortunately, at the present time, state funding for the Community Schools Act is subject to severe budgetary restrictions. However, these restrictions may be rescinded at some future date.