State Board: ICB cut out of field rentals at high schools

In a June 23, 2009, opinion the Maryland State Board of Education has agreed with the MCPS Board of Education that;

...the RMHS (Richard Montgomery High School) field is not covered by the ICB guidelines because it is a high school game field. The fact that it has artificial turf, in our view, does not make the ICB guidelines applicable.

This decision will be news to the Interagency Coordinating Board (ICB). The ICB runs the Community Use of Public Facilities agency and governs public use of Montgomery County school facilities.

The ICB has already entered into a Facility Use Agreement with Maryland Soccer Enterprises, LLC to regulate their 830 hours of private use of the RM stadium field; and, on October 14, 2008, the ICB established a fee schedule for other users of the new RM stadium field. The ICB fee schedule document is shown below.

Apparently, the ICB did not realize that the MCPS Board of Education attorneys had filed pleadings in an appeal at the Maryland State Board of Education alleging that ICB guidelines do not apply to the RMHS field.

The ICB had been looking forward to collecting the $125 - $200 an hour usage fees for community use of the RM artificial turf field! But if the Maryland State Board has now decreed that high school game fields are not covered by ICB guidelines for issuing field permits, then what authority do documents executed by the ICB have over the RM stadium field?

ICB Resolution on High School Stadium Fields