Some community nonprofits and other organizations are not happy about a recent change to the Chico Unified School District’s facility policies.
The change prohibits non-school related groups, such as Little League teams and the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the USA, from using school facilities until after 6 p.m.
The district did not answer before deadline about why this decision was made, but told NSPR that the change was a “tough, but necessary decision” saying that school districts must offer equal access to facilities for all groups and organizations.
The move means programs, like Girls on the Run, which aims to empower and instill confidence in elementary-age girls, will need to find somewhere else to meet after school.
“When we are on campus, it means that all the girls that are doing the program, they're in a program together. They're doing that within a circle. A very safe place,” said Claire Johnson executive director of Girls on the Run North State.
Johnson said the new rule has been challenging and said it has shifted the dynamics for the kids in the program.
“When you take it off campus and put it in a park, some of those teams might be all girls from one school,” Johnson said, “but a lot of them are probably gonna be a mixture of girls from many different schools. It changes the conversation.”
Johnson also worries participants who are unable to join many other after-school programs will now face more barriers.
Girls on the Run lost many of its coaches due to the change. Most of them, she said, were CUSD teachers who were only able to coach because the program began right after their classes on campus.
She said her organization normally serves between 250 to 300 girls across 12 campuses in the district. She said fewer than half that number — and from only four campuses — were able to find a new place to meet and volunteers who could drive them to practices.
