After a series of meetings in which community stakeholders expressed their support for the Vashon Commons Agreement and strong criticism for plans to replace it with a web platform named Facilitron, Vashon Island School District (VISD) Superintendent Slade McSheehy and the school board have stepped back from the idea, and now say they will move forward with the goal of preserving the agreement.

First established in 1987, the Commons Agreement allows the Vashon Park District (VPD) to facilitate community use of VISD properties including fields and buildings, during non-school hours.

As an alternative to the Commons Agreement, VPD and VISD had proposed becoming clients of the California-based facilities management company Facilitron.

“I think that even just in the last few days, we’ve learned that we need more information, and more community participation,” said Toby Holmes, VISD Board Chair and current Commons Board representative for VISD.

In an email sent to school board members, The Beachcomber and Nick Keenan, Vice President of the Vashon Island Soccer Club on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 10, prior to that evening’s school board meeting, VISD Superintendent Slade McSheehy wrote, “I wanted to take a moment to inform you that from Monday evening’s feedback and ongoing conversations between VISD and VPD leadership over the last two weeks, I’m anticipating that we will be moving discussion of the Commons Agreement back to a future Commons Committee meeting. This seems to be the most prudent recommendation.”

The date for the Commons Committee meeting has not yet been set but is in the works, and the public will receive notice of the meeting once a date has been set, said McSheehy.

This decision comes after several different meetings in the past week, including a public Zoom meeting Monday, Feb. 7, with user groups, VPD leadership and VISD leadership. The following evening, Tuesday, Feb. 8, community members gathered over Zoom again for the bi-weekly Park District meeting.

During time for public comments, community member David Hackett, a former VPD Commissioner himself, stated that rather than build community centers on the island, VPD provided funds to VISD towards the Commons.

“[The] Park District is facing an existential crisis over the Commons,” said Hackett.

“Please be an advocate for the community,” said Keenan, also present at the meeting.

Osha Christianson, vice president of Vashon Lacrosse Club’s board of directors, said that she “hope[d] we can all work together to find a solution…to make this work for everybody,” calling for communication and collaboration.

In an email to The Beachcomber, VPD Executive Director Elaine Ott-Rocheford wrote that ensuring four main goals will guide the board’s decision making:

1) Maintain and improve the Vashon community’s access to VISD facilities.

2) Improve equitable and effective scheduling of facilities that includes priority access to island user groups.

3) Maintain alignment and coordination of rates and scheduling procedures between VISD and VPD.

4) Establish fair and reasonable rates, fee structures, and timeline for recovery of costs to maintain and operate facilities.

During the meeting, Ott-Rocheford also noted concerns the community had with the potential termination of the agreement, including fees and the feeling of “secrecy” surrounding earlier meetings about the Commons Agreement. According to Ott-Rocheford, the first meetings were done to see if Facilitron was worth exploring further.

VPD Commissioner Bob McMahon added that he was “surprised” to hear that bringing on Facilitron necessitated terminating the Commons Agreement, adding that they “need the agreement in some form.”

Two days later, at the Feb. 10 VISD Board meeting, the room where the meeting was held was packed with community members in attendance.

Though some community members had been advised of the issue being moved to a future Commons Committee meeting pending a vote of the board, the Feb. 10 VISD board meeting agenda originally contained the first read of a proposal to terminate VISD’s participation in the Commons. The Feb. 10 agenda also contained the first read of a contract, already initialed by Director of Facilities Kevin Dickerson, to hire Facilitron, a Silicon Valley tech company, to manage community use of the school district’s properties.

“I understand that you’re sending the Commons issue back for more discussions, in front of the Commons Board,” said Hackett during the public comments portion of the meeting. “I think that’s a great idea.”

Hackett urged full retention of the Commons Agreement, stating that the Commons Agreement was “not anomalous” and worked for the “unique circumstances” of Vashon.

Keenan expressed his appreciation to the VISD board for “pumping the brakes” on the momentum surrounding Commons Agreement conversations.

Robin Magonegil, President of Vashon Basketball, also stated that she was very glad to see the Commons Agreement discussions being moved to a Commons Board meeting.

“That would have been the end of basketball if we would have moved to something that was so costly,” said Magonegil.

Later in the meeting, Facilitron Director of Accounts for Southern California Teault Marcille, joining via Zoom, gave a presentation about his company.

Marcille, describing the seven-year-old facilities management company as the “Airbnb of facilities,” listed some of the features Facilitron offers, including professional set-up, account management, business analysis and 24/7 customer support.

“Part of our partnership includes a full implementation and training suite,” said Marcille, describing services including professional photography and drone footage of each facility, training for staff and the creation of the entire account.

According to Marcille, all Facilitron account holders are also assigned an account executive who is familiar with their region; that person provides quarterly reports “showing best practices for your state, but also for neighboring states.”

As for Facilitron’s business model in terms of working with VISD, the company would make its money from the district by taking an approximately 10% commission off each reservation. In an example given to the board, Marcille stated that for a $100 reservation, Facilitron would take $10 and cut a $90 check to VISD. The commission from reservations is Facilitron’s sole source of income.

VISD Board member Kali Aguilera raised questions about cost analysis, one of the elements brought up during Facilitron’s presentation.

“Our cost analysis here really allows you to calculate your direct costs,” said Macille.

He further explained that through Facilitron’s “direct cost calculator,” created by two California nonprofits, Facilitron is able to input data, such as operational costs and depreciation costs into the calculator to evaluate direct costs to operate a facility.

McSheehy has had prior experience working with Facilitron — Hockinson School District, in Brush Prairie, Washington, was a client of the company. McSheehy served as assistant superintendent of that district.

In an email, McSheehy said that making any comparisons between Hockinson and Vashon would be difficult, as the two districts operate on different models that respond to different sets of needs in how they manage and operate facilities.

However, in the case of Hockinson School District, McSheehy said Facilitron provided an initial cost analysis that showed that the district “was not recovering a reasonable amount of operating costs.” As a result, rates in the district were increased over a period of six months.

“From a recent market analysis, it appears their rates most resemble other districts’ rates who manage and set rates for their own facilities,” said McSheehy.

At Hockinson High School, rates to rent the Upper Gym, a facility noted for its capacity to “accommodate basketball and volleyball practices and games,” according to the Facilitron website, start at $123.62 an hour.

In contrast, non-profit groups at VPD, which include most sports groups on the island, pay $8 per hour for facility use currently.

At the Feb. 10 VISD board meeting, Ott-Rocheford and VPD Board Chair Josh Henderson were also in attendance.

“We’re not interested in rushing through any process,” said Henderson. “We want to make sure that everything is above board and that we’re thinking about how the community will be impacted.”

Henderson also noted that, since his time on the VPD board, he hadn’t “seen any issue garner as much passion as this one has.”

Holmes similarly noted that VPD and VISD had found “a soft spot,” but he also remained confident.

“…We have the right collaboration, the right spirit that we can work through this,” said Holmes. “I think that the best outcome would be to find ways to improve the experience, ensure that we’re still abiding by each district’s main goals, and so I actually see this as a real opportunity.”

The VISD board unanimously approved to hold a Commons Committee meeting and defer any decisions on the matter.

“I’m confident we’ll get where we need to be,” said Ott-Rocheford after the vote.

In response to an inquiry from The Beachcomber, Michael Soltman, who served as superintendent of VISD for 16 years prior to his retirement in 2018, said that during his tenure, he had found the Commons Agreement to be a model of community partnership.

“I experienced the Commons Committee as an engaged group of leaders committed to providing great activities for youth and adults in collaboration with VPD and VISD to access facilities and support,” he said. “Basically, it was a pretty solid alliance of users and the districts working together to ensure fair access, quality maintenance, adequate site supervision and support, and reasonable fees.”

Regarding the district’s decisions going forward, Soltman said, “I think the future of this community partnership should be considered with the respect and care it has earned over so many years.”

— Elizabeth Shepherd contributed reporting to this story.