A wording dispute over school custodial fees cost Berlin's schools a basketball facility rental, the Berlin-Boston Regional School Committee learned this week.

BERLIN --

COMMUNITY -- School Committee member Jackie told the Berlin-Boston Regional School Committee on Sept. 8 that confusing language in the district's facility use fee policy led a prospective renter to walk away from booking gym space. Jackie said the policy's wording on a three-hour custodial minimum was being interpreted by renters to mean they would be charged for three hours plus an additional hour before and after an event, and that "we already lost one rental for a basketball" because of that interpretation. Superintendent Conway said the district has already made some adjustments case by case, waiving a custodian requirement when a building is already open and staffed, but acknowledged more complex situations, such as multiple events sharing a building the same day, still need to be worked through. Committee members said the policy's language would likely be cleaned up by a subcommittee once a new finance director is in place, with that work targeted for around November.

Compiled from team and league reports, reader submissions, and local coverage.