Playing Smart changelabsolutions.org | kaboom.org 36 City parks department staff approached Hernando High School. Principal Freddie Joseph had some reservations about liability and vandalism, and his concerns convinced the city that it had outgrown the handshake agreements. “When we got to three agreements, we really had to make a formal agreement,” says Melissa Zizman, the assistant director of the parks department. “Once everything was spelled out, nobody would have any confusion.” The principal’s reservations – plus the newly available state grant money – provided a catalyst for creating the city’s first joint use agreements with its public school system. Under the state’s joint use agreement incentive program, each of Hernando’s three schools received $3,750 to purchase new gymnasium equipment. Like every other community participating in the state program, Hernando city and school staff had to meet a number of benchmarks: 1. Attend a training in developing joint use agreements, led by the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (a program of Public Health Law & Policy) 2. Attend an empowerment meeting 3. Provide regular progress reports 4. Provide the state with notes from the school and city council meetings that involved joint use agreements 5. Write up a success story once the program was in place 6. Provide their legal and operating budgets to the state 7. Clarify how they’d use the grant money to increase accountability and success Shea Lewis conducts regular site visits to all the communities, both to collect data and offer technical assistance. “Most of my schools are using the money for equipment,” Lewis says. “One built a fitness cluster in their playground. Another built a walking trail at their elementary school.” In Hernando, the grants went toward weight-lifting equipment, padding for gym walls, and basketballs. Everything has run fairly smoothly, Zizman says. The schools and city agree on a use schedule, with schools having priority. The schools issue keys to the parks department so that the director, the assistant director, the program coordinator, and the basketball league director are responsible for locking and unlocking the gymnasium. The schools have copies of the city’s insurance policy and rules, and if damage happens while the city is using
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTkzMzk=