School clarifies its liability coverage

By Joshua Bassett

Citing possible misinformation, Granville Central School District staff said Education Law and insurance liability concerns keep them from sponsoring many youth sporting events at the school.

That’s why school football coach Mario Torres asked the village of Granville to insure a Granville 7-7 football team and a camp at the school from June 24 to Aug. 14 for students in grades 9 through 12. The village board approved the request last week, 4-1, but not without reservations.

Torres, who was reappointed to be the varsity coach for the upcoming season, could not coach the students at the summer camp under the school’s insurance because they are only enrolled at the school from September to June.

The school covers interscholastic events, such as sports practices that start in August.

The request for summer camp insurance came to the village board on official letterhead from the school district, and was signed Mario Torres, head football coach.

School business manager Cathy Somich said that while the football camp would be taking place on school grounds, it is not in any way affiliated with the school nor does the school have any affiliation with Torres or the camp students.

Somich said that any district employee who approaches the board does so as an individual and has no affiliation with the school district in that instance.

The school district has a sheet labeled Granville Central School District Building Activity Request, and the sheet cites Education Law 414, section four, subsection D. It states, “Organized and regular use of our fields (grounds) requires a Certificate of Insurance.”

“We want people to use our buildings as long as it falls under Education Law,” said Somich.

A document provided by Somich addressed to the school district from Kristine Lanchantin, the school district’s attorney, states:

“Summer youth programs, such as sports programs or camps, are not school district activities or programs and are not authorized by the Education Law. Therefore, you have no statutory authority to run such programs.”

“If you were to operate such programs, you would subject the District to liability for injuries or damages,” wrote Lanchantin.

James Goodspeed, an insurance agent who works with the school district, said that for the summer activities and other events to work, they either have to get an insurance certificate through a municipality or through a third party insurance agency.

“In some other districts, it’s done both ways,” Goodspeed said.

Somich said that any use of school grounds has to be sponsored by a municipality if it does not meet certain requirements of the Education Law.

When a village board member asked what would happen to the program if the board did not approve the insurance request, Torres said it would be canceled.

The use of the grounds is contingent on getting a sponsorship and insurance certificate from a municipality, or through third party insurance and sponsorship from a municipality.

Goodspeed said the rules and regulations are not just confined to youth sports but to any event taking place on school property as it pertains to Education Law 414.

Somich said she emailed other officials at other schools in the WSWHE BOCES system and learned that many have a youth sports commission. The youth commissions in many of those areas are the ones that supply the insurance for youth events, such as summer camps, and multiple sources said those youth commissions are supported through taxes.

There was a sheet of paper Somich showed for a program taking place at Lake St. Catherine which uses buses from the school district, with one name on the paper saying Granville Youth Commission.

Village clerk Rick Roberts said that he was not aware of there being a youth commission in either Granville town or village and that he has the program labeled as Granville Youth Program.

The town does have a summer recreation commission, which is run through the town and is run by town employees.

School superintendent Mark Bessen said the American Legion baseball and basketball tournaments that take place at the school have third party insurance and that the AAU basketball team has insurance through AAU.

Bessen and Somich said they understand why the village board is concerned about liability and would understand if the village board decided not to sponsor the requests in the future.

Bessen went to a laptop and did a quick internet search of third party insurance agencies for youth events and sports before naming a few.

“These wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a need for them.”

Bessen said the school covers liability, not players and coaches, saying that if someone were to slip and fall because of a wet floor at one of these events that’s on the school district or if someone is rounding third base and hits a spike sticking out of the ground and breaks his ankle, it is again the district’s problem because of liability.

But if one person with a baseball bat turned around and struck another person in the face with it, the district would not cover that.

Granville mayor Brian LaRose said that he and town supervisor Matt Hicks will attend the next Board of Education meeting on June 15.

Hicks said the goal is to just start working on a solution. He said the town board does not issue an insurance certificate except for summer recreation events for which the town uses town employees, which was the recommendation of the town attorney.

All involved have stressed that they want to do the best thing for the children and avoid canceling programs and opportunities which they all view as being beneficial.