Grade schools

[+Misha]

A few years back I was hiding a cache, on a wooded perimeter of a school property. It was about 300 meters from the school building. My hide was not permitted by CacheAgent. Now, I been out seeking caches in the same city and they have been hidden on school property in places like gas utility, power utility, play ground equipment, on property signs stairs etc. Are schools, public buildings, daycares, and the like open for hides or not. These schools all have no trespassing signs on their grounds, but not their woods.

 

All I want is the same rules to apply everywhere, that is except where local laws exceed the GC rules.

 

Maybe reviewers should be using better maps that show accurate data like this free viewer http://geonb.snb.ca/geonb/

 

[+Keelmann And Cici]

Reviewers make mistakes. If you're concerned about the caches, report them as need archived.

[+Touchstone]

Stuff unfortunately happens, like what you describe. Luckily in my area, where we have a very active Geocache Community, this sort of thing gets reported back to the Publishing Reveiwer very quickly, and resolved almost immediately.

[+captnemo]

Reviewers make mistakes. If you're concerned about the caches, report them as need archived.

Please don't use the NA, contact the reviewer there may be a very good, legal reason these caches are OK. As I understand it caches can be placed on school property with permission.

 

If no reponse after a reasonable amount of time then the NA is needed.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

One thing to keep in mind, there are "guidelines" and then there are "operating principles".

 

Reviewers all function with the same guidelines, but do not necessarily function with the same operating principles. Some will be stricter than others. Sure, it makes for a lack of true consistency, but it is not wrong per se. You see, guidelines are always open for interpretation, and each person interprets them just a little differently than does another.

 

If you really feel wronged, there is always the appeal to Groundspeak. Just remember that they do allow reviewers some latitude (rightfully so).

 

For what it's worth, "free" viewers or maps are rarely better.

[+Hemlock]

As I understand it caches can be placed on school property with permission.

Forum regulars will remember a cache in California that was placed in front of a school, with explicit permission from the principal. Problem was he didn't let all the staff know. So one day when he was away on business, a teacher sees someone hiding something in the school sign, and calls the cops. The school was placed on lockdown and it was a real mess.

 

To this day I will not knowingly publish a cache on school grounds, even with permission.

 

That said, if I make a mistake, I encourage you to send me an email and let me know. I'm sure all the other reviewers would appreciate the same.

[AZcachemeister]

The guidelines get...

 

Bent

Tweaked

Flaunted

Avoided

Mis-applied

Skirted

Circumvented

 

...nearly every day.

 

Let's hope #5 is the least often seen.

[+Manville Possum]

As I understand it caches can be placed on school property with permission.

Forum regulars will remember a cache in California that was placed in front of a school, with explicit permission from the principal. Problem was he didn't let all the staff know. So one day when he was away on business, a teacher sees someone hiding something in the school sign, and calls the cops. The school was placed on lockdown and it was a real mess.

 

To this day I will not knowingly publish a cache on school grounds, even with permission.

 

That said, if I make a mistake, I encourage you to send me an email and let me know. I'm sure all the other reviewers would appreciate the same.

In no way should caches be placed near Grade, Middle, or High Schools. Lot's of other places to place a geocache.

[+BMndFul]

As I understand it caches can be placed on school property with permission.

Forum regulars will remember a cache in California that was placed in front of a school, with explicit permission from the principal. Problem was he didn't let all the staff know. So one day when he was away on business, a teacher sees someone hiding something in the school sign, and calls the cops. The school was placed on lockdown and it was a real mess.

 

To this day I will not knowingly publish a cache on school grounds, even with permission.

 

That said, if I make a mistake, I encourage you to send me an email and let me know. I'm sure all the other reviewers would appreciate the same.

In no way should caches be placed near Grade, Middle, or High Schools. Lot's of other places to place a geocache.

 

Agreed...it should also include park playrounds. In my area, a CO placed a cache on a bench facing a playround. Even after/before hours it looks strange for a guy poking around benches and equipment. I just ignore those now.

Edited October 19, 2011 by Russ!

[+Team Hugs]

In no way should caches be placed near Grade, Middle, or High Schools. Lot's of other places to place a geocache.

 

One exception might be a cache placed by the school itself. I (sort-of) visited a cache which is maintained as a travel bug hotel by a teacher at the school, who uses the cache and the travel bugs that moved through as a means to teach --- something or other. (Geography, I'm guessing.)

 

Even so, this might be the exception that proves the rule. The cache itself was located at the extreme corner of the school grounds, adjacent to public property, so that those visiting the cache wouldn't have to walk onto school property for more than a few feet. So it still maintained the spirit of the rule of avoiding the appearance of suspicious folks hiding objects near schools.

[Narcosynthesis]

Caches may already exist in places they shouldn't, which can happen through the rules changing to allow/ban certain things, different reviewers interpretations of the rules or even just a reviewer making a mistake in what should or shouldn't have been allowed.

 

The general rule is that caches in kid specific areas are a bad idea - school grounds, playparks and so on. It certainly doesn't give the sport a good name having people skulking about a school for unknown reasons... There is also the fact that school grounds are private, so a cache shouldn't be there unless it is placed with the express permission of the relevant people.

 

Some caches do exist in otherwise prohibited locations, such as ones placed by a school as a project, but they are going to be pretty rare.

[+briansnat]

It's not always evident that it's a school from the maps and sat photos and a daycare is nearly impossible to spot. So unless the CO mentions that its next to a school or daycare (and some actually do), the reviewer sometimes has no way of knowing.

 

That's where we come in. If we find a cache that is inappropriately placed a NA or quick e-mail to the reviewer is in order.

[+dakboy]

As I understand it caches can be placed on school property with permission.

Forum regulars will remember a cache in California that was placed in front of a school, with explicit permission from the principal. Problem was he didn't let all the staff know. So one day when he was away on business, a teacher sees someone hiding something in the school sign, and calls the cops. The school was placed on lockdown and it was a real mess.

Something like this happened to me at a museum. There's a Wherigo which tours the grounds of the local science museum, the final being a micro on the grounds in such a location that stealth (both visibility and noise) is required. I finished things up and got spotted by someone several hundred feet away who, despite my belief that she wasn't looking, was watching me. She immediately started asking questions, making phone calls, etc. and I assured her several times that the cache had permission (being familiar with the CO's work, I had no reason to believe he hadn't crossed all his Ts and dotted all his Is). But she, nor anyone she called, had heard anything about the cache. It was about 2 years old. I thought for sure I was going to be chatting with the police, but surprisingly enough, they weren't called.

 

The real kicker? This museum had hosted the GPS Adventures Maze Exhibit sponsored by Groundspeak.

 

I made contact w/ the CO who confirmed that he did have permission, and I passed him the name I was given at the museum so he could contact that person to make sure the staff were all aware of it. Whether anything came of that, I don't know - people have found it since, and no update was made to the cache description.

[+Ry Dawg]

A few years back I was hiding a cache, on a wooded perimeter of a school property. It was about 300 meters from the school building. My hide was not permitted by CacheAgent. Now, I been out seeking caches in the same city and they have been hidden on school property in places like gas utility, power utility, play ground equipment, on property signs stairs etc. Are schools, public buildings, daycares, and the like open for hides or not. These schools all have no trespassing signs on their grounds, but not their woods.

 

All I want is the same rules to apply everywhere, that is except where local laws exceed the GC rules.

 

Maybe reviewers should be using better maps that show accurate data like this free viewer http://geonb.snb.ca/geonb/

 

 

There's an area here, that is a public park right next to the school grounds. The cache is actually on school property, but I don't think the CO or Reviewer knows this. I think a detailed map would be useful in knowing this. I don't think it's supposed to be on that property.

[+captnemo]

As I understand it caches can be placed on school property with permission.

Forum regulars will remember a cache in California that was placed in front of a school, with explicit permission from the principal. Problem was he didn't let all the staff know. So one day when he was away on business, a teacher sees someone hiding something in the school sign, and calls the cops. The school was placed on lockdown and it was a real mess.

 

To this day I will not knowingly publish a cache on school grounds, even with permission.

 

That said, if I make a mistake, I encourage you to send me an email and let me know. I'm sure all the other reviewers would appreciate the same.

I stand corrected. Now, I remember that forum post now. Thanks Hemlock.