After hearing opposing viewpoints on the issue of using school facilities after hours, Carlynton school directors decided last Thursday to meet with the groups who are affected.

Board members are concerned that many of the organizations, youth sports in particular, include many nondistrict residents who are putting wear and tear on the facilities without paying taxes toward their upkeep.

They are in general agreement that the current policy -- which gives preference to school and community groups but makes no financial distinctions -- should be changed so that users from outside the district pay more.

"We need to protect our taxpayers as well as respect these groups," board member Sharon Wilson said.

The administration has proposed a policy with a fee schedule for groups with less than 75 percent Carlynton membership -- residents of Carnegie, Rosslyn Farms or Crafton.

But board member Tom DiPietro advocated closing facilities to groups at less than 85 percent Carlynton membership and charging a graduated fee for groups at 85 percent to 100 percent.

He is concerned that the youth sports groups do not make enough of an effort to include children from the district.

"I'm really tired of hearing that there are not enough youngsters in our communities to fill up these teams," Mr. DiPietro said. "We have plenty of kids, but the leaders of these organizations need to go out there and recruit them."

He said he had children in youth sports for years and believed leaders recruited more intently for children outside the district.

Board member Betsy Tassaro saw the issue differently.

"Our district is unique," she said. "We have three separate communities, and each of those communities has neighbors that are not in the district."

Ms. Tassaro said it's natural that Carnegie children might want to play with children from Scott, or Crafton children might want to play with children from Ingram. "We're very diverse," she said. "We have neighbors."

"I'm not in favor of limiting it very much" in percentage terms, Dr. Wilson said, "but I'm very much in favor of non-community people paying more money."

Board member Ron McCartney suggested not setting limits, but "simply have students from outside the district pay a fee."

The board eventually shelved the proposals the administration had developed and will invite the various groups to a meeting to get input.

One reason it's hard to fill rosters with Carlynton kids is that there are not many of them. Enrollment is 1,583 -- the 10th-smallest in Allegheny County.

Size has also caused problems with scheduling. The district works to offer a full slate of advanced courses and electives, but ends up each year dealing with a number of classes that don't have enough students to make them worthwhile.

High School Principal Robert Susini told the board that thanks to some tweaking of the scheduling process, 87.8 percent of the students are set with their classes for next year.

Earlier this year, the board took a look at revising an often-ignored policy requiring that classes have at least 15 students to operate. Dr. Susini said there are a number of such classes next fall. Some, such as Parenting II, will likely be scratched, but more academic ones, such as Physics and French 4, will likely be held anyway.

The board last Thursday also approved a proposed $23.2 million 2008-09 budget that would keep the property tax rate at 24.15 mills.