ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School District board members voted to amend a facility rental policy that otherwise would have sharply increased fees for Mars Cub Scout Pack 413.

The policy was amended to require a smaller mandatory percentage of the group to be composed of Mars Area School District students in order to qualify for a discounted rate.

At a March 1 school board meeting, a number of Cub Scout parents and Boy Scout students spoke on the topic of Policy 707, which defines certain classes of nonprofit community groups as qualifying for a discounted hourly facility rental rate based on whether they are composed of 90% or more of Mars district students.

Because Pack 413’s ratio of Mars students to outside students falls just under 90%, it would otherwise be subject to a sharp increase in costs from the current $15 an hour for rental to $135 an hour.

The board voted Tuesday night to amend the policy and reduce the required percentage of Mars Area students to 75% to qualify for the discount. The board also waived the 30-day posting timeline to make the change directly at the meeting.

Cub Scout families attended the meeting in uniform in support of changes to the policy.

“With the change in the policy, I think that that will be better for all the organizations, and I think that you all did a great job listening to us,” said Valencia parent Aaron Best, who brought the issue to the board at the last meeting. “I just wanted to extend my sincere appreciation to all the board members, and everybody who worked on that particular issue. Thank you so much.”

During the meeting, board member Megan Lenz advocated for changing or removing the percentage threshold, saying that the policy was causing an “antagonistic relationship” between the community and the school district.

“The Boy Scouts do so much for the community, and charging these fees hinders their programs, which in turn hurts our community, and the lack of opportunities that they will have,” Lenz said. “(The policy) was never meant to hinder community activities.”

Board member Sallie Wick recommended keeping some sort of majority threshold as part of the policy. Both Wick and Lenz advised against setting individual exceptions or unique agreements with specific groups, a practice Wick said could become “a slippery slope” if taken too far.

“If we start allowing everybody to come in, we’re not being a good steward of these facilities. It’s our job to keep them up and to maintain them,” Wick said. “Maybe that 90% wasn’t the right threshold, but I do think that that participation percentage should be 75% or above, so that we make sure that we have a majority of taxpaying residents taking advantage of the discount.”

The policy change will take effect immediately and apply retroactively to July 1, 2021.

Mars resident Gary King asked the board about future plans for masks and COVID-19 requirements.

“Just recently, my 6-year-old son asked me ‘when is COVID-19 going to be gone?’ I didn’t know what to tell him other than when the adults decide it’s gone,” King said. “This mask thing is going to come back in the future. Do you have a different plan of how you want to make rules, or are we just going to follow orders?”

Mark Gross, Mars Area superintendent, said the district’s health and safety plan specifies that the district would follow any state mandates if required.

“Our safety plan was specifically written at the time that masks were not required unless mandated, and we would follow those mandates,” he said. “That’s what led us to follow that. I guess time will tell whether there will ever be another mandate, but we didn’t enjoy that either.”

Gross added that the district continues to contact trace because the Pennsylvania Department of Health requires reporting on Fridays of numbers of active cases and people contact traced each week.

As of Friday, Mars Area School District had four active student COVID-19 cases, three students recommended for quarantine, and five students actively quarantining.