To discourage groups with offensive messages from holding events on school property, Baltimore school officials are considering charging user fees and adopting tougher restrictions on school use.
School officials have been studying their options since fall, after a community organization protested the use of school buildings by groups advocating anti-Semitic and racist views.
"We are trying to put more teeth in the policies," said Anthony Fears of the school system's office of management services. Board members received copies of the proposed policies yesterday.
School officials cannot legally bar groups or individuals based on their political or social views. As a result, they could not revoke permission granted in March 1994 for a privately sponsored event at Walbrook Senior High that included a speech by Tony Martin, author of the controversial book "The Jewish Onslaught," which says Jews have conspired against blacks. That event prompted protest from People Against Hate, a community group that called for school policy revisions in the fall.
The school system cannot violate groups' First Amendment rights, Mr. Fears said, but may be able to make its buildings less attractive to non- educational and for-profit groups.
One approach school officials have considered is to take the profit out of using the schools. They are considering a ban on fund raising by private groups at events on school property.
School officials also are considering setting a sliding scale of fees to be charged to groups that solicit donations or raise money while using schools, with smaller fees for nonprofit groups.
Mr. Fears said establishing fees might discourage noneducational groups from using school property. "We're not in the rental business; we're in the business of education."
School officials are considering policies in effect elsewhere. Baltimore County, for example, gives its officials the power to ban an event if it "appears likely to provoke or add to a public disturbance."
Some Baltimore school principals support the effort by the school board to better oversee use of its buildings. User fees are worth considering, too, said Charlotte W. Brown, principal of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, a popular site for community meetings. Groups are charged a fee to cover custodial services, and the funds are sent to school headquarters, she said.
But nothing is collected to help offset the costs of wear and tear on school stages, heating and electricity bills, and supplies that are used while the groups are in the building.
Marilyn Rondeau, principal at Walbrook High School, said she welcomes policy revisions that clarify and increase the school system's responsibility for deciding what groups can use schools. In the past, most principals have made such decisions on their own, she said. Now the applications are being reviewed by officials at school headquarters.
Larry Cohen of People Against Hate said his group supports the proposed revisions.
"I believe this will discourage them [hate groups] from using schools," he said.