The Vashon Island School District (VISD) and Vashon Park District (VPD) are moving forward to re-negotiate the terms of the Commons Agreement, a partnership that allows VPD to facilitate community use of VISD properties.

The Commons Committee met Friday morning, March 11, at the Ober Park Administration Building, to discuss the matter.

The seven-person Committee includes VPD Executive Director Elaine Ott-Rocheford, VISD Superintendent Slade McSheehy and co-chairs for Commons Committee, Hans Van Dusen and Toby Holmes.

Also present were two committee representatives appointed, respectively, by the VPD executive director and VISD superintendent — David Hackett, who will represent user groups, and Matt Sullivan, VISD’s executive director of business and operations, who will also represent VISD. Hackett was appointed to the committee following the resignation of former user group representative, Darragh Kennan.

Not present at the March 11 meeting was the committee’s at-large member, who has yet to be selected.

The call for additional discussion regarding the Commons Agreement came after VISD announced plans to potentially terminate its participation in the Commons — a partnership with VPD that has been in place for more than three decades.

The Commons Agreement allows VPD to facilitate community use of VISD properties, including fields and buildings, during non-school hours. VISD had also proposed the introduction of Facilitron, an online facilities scheduling platform based in Silicon Valley, to manage rentals of VISD properties.

At a series of meetings held last month, community stakeholders pushed back against this potential dissolution, expressing concerns regarding lack of notice concerning the potential termination of the agreement and fears of increased costs to users following the implementation of Facilitron.

On Friday, McSheehy indicated that VISD had sent Facilitron data for the company to compile a cost analysis for the district, which would determine direct costs. He informed the committee that Facilitron had told the district its analysis would be completed sometime this week.

But as the meeting continued, it became apparent that not all parties were interested in further pursuing a relationship with Facilitron, in light of the decision to renew the Commons Agreement rather than terminate it.

As the committee discussed scheduling platforms pertaining to the Commons Agreement, Ott-Rocheford stated that she had “no interest in changing [the] model if Commons stays the same,” adding that the “human element” is critical to the services provided.

“[The] level of customer service is something I really value,” said Ott-Rocheford, who also singled out Parks employee Robin Miller, praising her longtime work as the scheduler for the Commons.

Hackett echoed this sentiment, adding that local, hands-on support of Commons services is something islanders have become accustomed to.

Kevin Dickerson, who is the facilities director of VISD and was also present at the meeting, spoke to the group about various means of access to VISD spaces.

The committee agreed to meet again in April to further review the language, procedures and processes in the Commons Agreement.