[hackerspaces] Minor usage and student memberships

[Xer0Dynamite]

> What are various people's policies on space use by minors? Use when
> supervised by an adult, use when supervised by an adult member, no use at
> all, etc?
>
> Followon, do you offer student discount memberships, and if so, are they
> available to minors? E.G. can a 14 year old get a student membership and be
> supervised by a non member parent? Or do you restrict student memberships
> to college/university students?
>
> Last, do you offer an 'educational' membership rather than a student which
> is extended to students and qualified educators (teachers & professors)?

Personally, everything rests on accepting responsibility and having
the knowledge of how to do so.  Whether that means allowing non-member
adult to supervise a minor after you've checked that that adult knows
what they're doing, or whether it means you personally supervise
because YOU know what you doing is irrelevant.  You just have to
ensure you've taken reasonable and expected efforts to ensure that the
minor is not doing something stupid.  That means you know how to
manage minors.  Just putting out directions and posting it around
dangerous equipment they might use, for example, is NOT sufficient for
a minor.

The short of it is that you have to be clued in.  If you're not clued
in, you might be able to fake it with hiring a larger number of
clueful adults hanging around, but that might not protect you either.
In fact, there is no sure way to protect you, which is why some people
get insurance.  But still better is to know what you're doing, why
you're allowing minors into your space, what they're doing at all time
and maintaining an ongoing dialog when anything changes.

\m