1. Agreement to These Terms
These terms form a binding agreement between the school that requests a service and TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS. The agreement begins when the school submits an enquiry, when a representative signs a loan ticket, or when a representative first uses this website, whichever happens first.
If a representative signs a ticket on behalf of a school, that representative confirms that they are authorised to bind the school to these terms. A teacher who signs for a classroom loan does so as an agent of the school, and the school carries responsibility for the item while the ticket is open.
If you do not agree with any part of these terms, do not request a loan and do not continue to use the website. A school that borrows without accepting the terms has already accepted them by conduct, which is why we ask for a signature at the counter rather than relying on a click alone.
2. About TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS
TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS operates a lending tool crib for school technical programs. The organisation is based at 12730 Ridgewood Rd SE, Jefferson - 97352-9282, United States (US), and can be reached by email at grants@tools4rschools.org or by telephone on +13194209996.
The digital records and the public website are built and maintained under the developer name SchoolToolkit. A reference to the crib, the counter or the lending service in these terms means the service operated by TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS, whether a person reaches it in the building, by telephone or through the website.
We describe ourselves as a crib rather than a shop because the central act is lending. An item that leaves the building is expected to come back, and the relationship continues through the return, the inspection and the next borrower.
3. Scope of the Service
The crib provides six services: crib sheet bays, loan ticket runs, shop note desks, repair windows, grant review rounds and handout sittings. A request that falls outside these six services may still be answered with advice, but it does not create an obligation on the crib to provide equipment or labour.
We provide procedure sheets and shop notes as guidance for trained school staff. We do not supervise a classroom, we do not operate a machine in a school, and we do not assume the duties of a district safety officer. Responsibility for the safe conduct of a school activity remains with the school and its staff.
We provide repair windows for instruments and small systems that a school brings to the bench. We do not collect equipment from a school, we do not install repaired items in a building, and we do not provide an emergency call out service.
We provide grant review rounds as a reading and commentary service. We do not write an application on behalf of a school, we do not guarantee that an application will be funded, and we do not act as an agent in dealings with a funder.
4. Eligibility to Borrow
Any public, charter or independent school that teaches a technical, scientific or integrated systems program may borrow from the crib. The school must provide a named representative who can sign a ticket and accept responsibility for the borrowed item.
A representative must be a member of school staff or a contractor acting under a written arrangement with the school. A student may not sign a ticket, and a student may not collect a loan without a member of staff present at the counter.
We may decline a request when an item is already on loan, when a school has an overdue ticket, when the item is unsuitable for the stated room, or when we cannot satisfy ourselves that the item will be used safely. A refusal will be explained at the counter, and where possible we will suggest an alternative date or an alternative item.
5. Loan Tickets and Returns
A loan ticket records the borrower name, the school, the room, the item and serial number, the issue date and the return date. The ticket is the controlling record of the loan, and both parties should keep a copy.
The standard loan period is fourteen calendar days unless the ticket states a different date. A representative may request an extension by telephone or email before the return date, and an extension is effective only when the crib confirms it in writing on the ticket record.
An item must be returned on or before the return date, in the condition recorded at issue, with any accessories listed on the ticket. A late return may be noted on the school records and may affect the priority given to future requests from the same school.
If an item is lost, stolen or damaged beyond repair, the school must tell the crib as soon as it becomes aware. The school is responsible for the reasonable replacement cost of a lost item, as described in the fees section below.
6. Care of Lent Items
A school must keep a lent item in a secure place and use it only for the purpose stated on the ticket. An item may not be taken off the school site without the written agreement of the crib, and it may not be lent to another school or to a private individual.
The school must use a lent item in accordance with the crib sheet provided and with the manufacturer instructions. Where the two differ, the more cautious instruction applies until the crib has reviewed the conflict and issued a revised sheet.
Consumable parts that are used up during a loan are not replaced by the school unless the ticket says otherwise. Reusable accessories must be returned with the main item, and a missing accessory is treated as an incomplete return until it is recovered.
Normal wear from careful use is expected and is not charged. Damage that results from misuse, from a missing guard or from use outside the stated purpose may be charged to the school.
7. Repair Windows
A repair window is booked for a specific date and time and held for a single instrument or small system. A school that arrives late may have the window shortened or rescheduled at the discretion of the bench staff, because the next window is already committed.
Every repair begins with a diagnosis. The bench staff record the fault, quote a price band in writing and wait for the school decision before starting chargeable work. Diagnosis itself carries no fee, and a school may decline the quote without cost.
We do not guarantee that a fault can be repaired. Where a repair is not economic or not possible, we will say so and return the item with a written note explaining the finding. A school may then choose to replace the item or to seek a specialist repair elsewhere.
A repair that fails within thirty days from the same cause may be returned for rework at no additional labour charge. This rework promise does not apply where the failure results from a new fault, from misuse after collection or from a part that the school supplied.
8. Crib Sheets and Shop Notes
Crib sheets are lent for use in a specific room and must be returned with the item they accompany. A school may copy a sheet for internal training, provided the copy carries the crib attribution and is not sold or published.
Shop notes produced at a desk belong to the school that commissioned them. The crib keeps a copy for the lending record and for training, and handles it as described in the privacy policy. The school may ask for a copy of a note at any time.
Both sheets and notes are written for trained staff. They do not replace a risk assessment, a district procedure or the judgement of a qualified instructor. A school that relies on a sheet in circumstances it was not written for does so at its own risk.
9. Grant Review Rounds
A grant review round is a reading and commentary service. A school sends a draft at least seven days before the booked round, and two reviewers read the draft and discuss it with the team in a ninety-minute session.
Review comments are advisory. They reflect the experience of the reviewers with similar applications and with funder guidance, but they do not guarantee a funding outcome and they do not replace the school duty to read the funding call carefully.
A school is responsible for the final content of its application. The crib does not submit an application, does not sign it and does not act as the representative of the school in any communication with a funder.
Crib staff treat a draft application as confidential. A draft is shared only with the two reviewers assigned to the round and is deleted or returned after the round unless the school asks us to keep it for a follow up.
10. Handout Sittings
Handout sittings take place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at the crib. A representative collects printed guides, classroom kits and small consumables in person and signs the handout record.
Items handed out become the property of the school at the moment of collection. The crib does not accept a return of a consumable item, and a printed guide is not replaced unless it arrives damaged or incomplete.
A school that cannot attend a scheduled sitting may send another authorised representative. The name on the record may be changed at the counter, but the change must be confirmed by the school.
11. Fees and Charges
Most crib services are free to eligible schools, including crib sheet loans, standard handout items and diagnosis at a repair window. Any chargeable item is quoted in writing before work begins or before an item leaves the counter.
A repair is charged according to the written quote, which itemises labour and parts. Parts are billed at cost plus a handling figure that is stated on the ticket. A school may supply its own part, in which case no handling figure is charged for that part but the crib does not warrant the part.
A lost item is charged at the reasonable replacement cost of an equivalent item in comparable condition. The crib will provide a written figure and, where available, a supplier reference, and will consider a fair reduction for an item that was already well used.
Invoices are payable within thirty days of issue. A school that disputes an invoice should contact the crib within the payment period rather than withholding payment without explanation.
12. Use of This Website
The website is provided to help schools understand the crib and to make contact. You may read pages, print them for internal use and link to them from a school resource, provided the link is not presented as an endorsement and the content is not altered.
You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the website, interfere with its operation, scrape it for commercial purposes, or use the enquiry form to send unlawful, abusive or misleading material.
We try to keep the site accurate and available, but we do not promise uninterrupted access. Pages may be changed, suspended or withdrawn at any time, and a link to an external resource may stop working without notice.
The enquiry form opens a message in your own email program rather than submitting data to a server. That design choice keeps a record in your own mailbox and keeps the number of parties that handle a message to a minimum.
13. Intellectual Property
The text, layout, code and visual design of this website belong to TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS unless stated otherwise. Crib sheets and shop note templates are protected in the same way. A school may copy a sheet for internal training as described in section eight, but may not resell it or publish it as its own work.
Third party names, marks and manufacturer references are the property of their respective owners and are used only to identify an item or a standard.
A school that sends us material, for example a photograph of a fault or a draft application, keeps ownership of that material. By sending it, the school grants the crib a limited licence to hold, read and if necessary reproduce the material for the purpose of providing the service.
14. Limitation of Liability
We provide the crib services with reasonable skill and care. To the fullest extent permitted by law, TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost teaching time, loss of a funding opportunity or damage to a school reputation.
Our total liability for a claim connected with a loan or a repair is limited to the reasonable replacement cost of the item concerned, or to the fee paid for the work, whichever is greater. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or for any other liability that the law does not allow us to exclude.
A school is responsible for the supervision of its students and for the safe conduct of its activities. The crib is not liable for an injury that results from a school use of an item in a way that departs from the crib sheet or from the manufacturer instructions.
15. Indemnity
A school agrees to indemnify TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS against a reasonable cost that arises from the school misuse of a lent item, from a breach of these terms, or from a claim brought by a third party because of the way the school used the item or the shop note.
This indemnity does not apply to the extent that the cost results from our own negligence or from a defect in a sheet that we supplied. It is intended to place responsibility where it belongs, with the party that controls the use of the item at the time of the incident.
16. Privacy and Data
Our handling of personal information is described in the Privacy Policy published on this website. The policy forms part of these terms, and a school that accepts these terms also acknowledges the policy.
Where a school sends us a student record or another sensitive document, the school confirms that it has the authority to share the material and that it has taken any step required by its own privacy rules before sending it.
We keep loan tickets and repair notes for the periods described in the privacy policy and then destroy them. A school that needs a copy of a closed ticket should ask while the record is still within the retention period.
17. Suspension and Termination
We may suspend a school lending account when a ticket is significantly overdue, when an invoice remains unpaid after the payment period, or when a school has broken these terms in a way that puts an item or a person at risk.
Before suspending an account we will contact the named representative and explain the reason. A suspension does not cancel a loan that is already open, and the school remains responsible for returning the item in good condition.
A school may end its use of the crib at any time by returning every open item and settling every outstanding invoice. These terms continue to apply to any matter that arose before the relationship ended.
18. Governing Law and Disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Mexico in the United States, without regard to conflict of law rules. The parties will first attempt to resolve a dispute by discussion at the crib, because most disagreements about a loan or a repair can be settled with a conversation.
If a discussion does not resolve the matter, the parties will consider mediation before starting a legal action. Nothing in this section prevents a party from applying for urgent relief where a delay would cause serious harm.
19. Changes to These Terms
We may update these terms when a service changes or when the law requires it. When we make a material change, we update the effective date at the top of the page and we write to the main contact at each school that has an open ticket.
A change does not alter the terms of a ticket that has already been issued unless the school agrees in writing. New terms apply to a ticket issued after the change, and a school is free to ask for an explanation of any clause before signing.
20. Contact Details
Questions about these terms can be sent to grants@tools4rschools.org or raised by telephone on +13194209996 during business hours. The crib is at 12730 Ridgewood Rd SE, Jefferson - 97352-9282, United States (US).
Please mark correspondence about a specific ticket with the ticket number so that the counter can retrieve the record quickly. If your matter concerns a repair, include the item description and the date of the repair window.
These terms were prepared by TOOLS 4R SCHOOLS with the assistance of the developer name SchoolToolkit and are reviewed at least once a year. The version published on this page is the one in force.