Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2000 | 12:01 p.m.
After two years of holding Sunday services in Dan Goldfarb Elementary School, Orchard Baptist Church's welcome is fading fast.
Next August, the church -- some 120 members strong -- will either be in a temporary structure on a nearby plot of land it owns, or -- if the School District allows it -- in another elementary school.
"We didn't kick them out, but we did discuss the fact that another organization wants to move in," said Bridget Phillips, Goldfarb principal.
As young churches sprout all over the Las Vegas Valley to accommodate a growing population, schools serve as an ideal meeting place: rent is low, space is abundant, locations are easily accessible.
But the district is revising its facilities-use policy to emphasize that churches and other nonprofits should stay a maximum of two years in a public school.
"The original policy was meant to allow them to be in the schools a short period of time while they built their own facility. It was never meant for the schools to be a permanent location for the church," said Lenny Williams, Clark County School District realty specialist.
"It's been coming to our attention that some of them have been here a lot longer than intended. We've got several churches who have been in a school five or six years," Williams said.
"The fact is, sometimes it is a problem because we have other churches or groups that want to get in there. It was not the intent for them to make the school a permanent home," said Williams. More than 60 CCSD schools currently house churches. There are about 125 public school facilities in the district, Williams said. The district's current policy says that after two years, school officials may ask a church to leave. But until recently that policy has been largely overlooked.
"We think it's time to take a look at the rolls and see how many have been there more than two years," said Williams.
The policy review is causing angst among pastors.
"So many churches are dependent on the schools," said the Rev. Tony Mayberry, Orchard's pastor.
Mayberry's church owns a plot of land but doesn't have the funding to complete construction yet.
"We've had the property, and we've been working on it for the past two or three years. We are thinking of seeing if the (Southern Baptist) North American Mission Board can give us a loan," he said.
But, Mayberry said, he isn't sure whether the neighborhood association's regulations would allow them to put a temporary structure on the property. Now Goldfarb has the opportunity to lease the space to a for-profit teacher training school, Lesley College, in August. As a part of the deal, the college would bring computers that schoolchildren could use during the day.
Churches and other nonprofits pay $50 an hour for a minimum of three hours to use the building on weekends. For-profit groups pay about three-times that rate.
"We know the college, and computers are a good deal for the school, so we've decided it's not worth the fight," said Mayberry. "We'll go."
But the Rev. Dan Newburn of Summerlin Community Baptist Church, which has been housed in William Lummis Elementary for six years, said the churches are a benefit to schools, too.
"I philosophically believe that churches should be a temporary resident, yes," said Newburn.
"But having churches in the schools is also good for the schools. In our case, a number of retired people get the opportunity to be in the public schools, and it brings the church's ties to the schools closer. It's a mutual benefit. The school gets a benefit of closer interaction with the community."
Newburn has spoken with school officials about his church's continued stay and has yet to determine whether he will have to move. "We own land in Summerlin. We've wanted to move into our facility long before this, but we haven't been able to get our building plans approved yet. Just getting through the Summerlin building requirements is not a quick process for any church. I think that all of the churches have been acting in good faith and trying to build their own facilities, but it takes time," said Newburn.
Still, district officials said that the schools can't be responsible for the plight of religious communities.
"There are a lot of churches that don't realize how heavily utilized the schools are. And it takes district employes -- custodians and such -- to work when the churches are in there," said Williams.
Other nonprofits, such as the Boy Scouts, also regularly use school facilities during off-hours. "What we're doing is re-evaluating the facilities use -- it's not just churches," said Dusty Dickens, CCSD director of demographics, zoning and realty. "However, there are more churches staying in the schools longer than intended. The idea was that we allow them to use the facility temporarily, and we have some churches who seem to be there on a permanent basis," said Dickens.
"They have not been asked to leave yet. But when we see on our use sheets that they've been there more than two years, it should come before the school board. "We've had several years to work with this policy, and there are areas of it that need to be revisited. We have to consult with people from risk management, the legal department ... and when we have that input, then it will go to the policy committee and the public will have a chance to speak.
"We have questions regarding our liability when groups are in the facility. There's also a question of security. Churches haven't necessarily been a problem in these areas, but the policy needs to be revisited.
"We've also had some that move from school to school -- and there's no regulation to prohibit that as it stands now -- we'll see how that comes out." The policy is expected to be revised within three months, Dickens said.
archive
