• Agendas for business meeting

*A password is required. Please contact jamestr@gmail.com, identifying your connection to the meeting, to request the password or if you have any questions or difficulties.

Worshiping Together(WT)-3 is THE MAIN PAGE for what we expect the next few “Worshiping Together Sundays”  to look like.
The next WT Sunday will be October 10. (Sunday Oct. 3 is Family Meeting.)
The longer-term thinking, based on the experience of recent Sundays, will be found at WT-4.

Please offer us your comments at the bottom of this page, or bring your ideas about this to the Worshiping Together table during Fellowship time. Or email Richard at Richard.Osbo.Fuller at gmail.com.

*  There is a handout for parents outlining how this works.

First Day School starts at 10:55 on “FDS Sundays”

First Day School Sundays are the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Sundays of the month.
(On the 1st Sunday of each month we have Family Meetings with children and adults gathering in the Fellowship Room at 11AM. This is in addition to the regular 11AM worship in the meetingroom. On the occasional 5^th Sunday we have inter-generational worship: 30 minutes of centering worship in the meetingroom for all ages.)

On FDS Sundays parents should have children in the classroom by 10:55.

The next “FDS Sunday” will be October 10, and therefore also our next Sunday of “Worshiping Together,”

during the last quarter hour of 11AM meeting for worship.

In the first weeks of Worshiping Together, we expect to spend some time figuring out how things need to go for this to be a rewarding experience for all. We will necessarily enter into some periods of confusion, and we look forward to them.

For detailed attempts to think this through, week-by-week, see WT-4.

* CURRENT PLAN: children do NOT bring work done in class to the meeting room.

IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15, M&C has responsibility

M&C will try this on September 26, and then revise it, as necessary.
Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.

* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?

• DRAFT PLAN: When a family knows ahead of time that the children (or teachers) MAY want to join family members already in the meetingroom, they should agree roughly where in the room they will sit. Preferably not too far from the doors.

• CURRENT PLAN: Youth will not sit in classroom groups. The class ends when the kids enter the meetingroom and teachers are no longer responsible for the children at that point.

———————————-

* FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT!

There is a table during the Fellowship time each week. People are encouraged to take their ideas & concerns there. Email and phone calls are also encouraged.

Issues by individual Classrooms

Nursery Children are not included in Worshiping Together

Parents will pick up their children in the Nursery after the rise of meeting.

Preschool

Preschoolers are included in WT

Kindergarten – First Grade

Second, Third & Fourth Grades

“Middle School,” Grades 5-8

High School

Will come sometimes, at least.

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: Issues related to how we imagine the flow of children and worship on any given Sunday, once the process is well established.
  THIS IS THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience.
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

Sunday 9/26, update 6

Our first Worshiping Together Sunday was a fine experience for many!

ALL the classes entered without breaking the mood of worship.

Many adults were excited to see so many children.

Teachers were happy to have the chance to join the Meeting in worship.

Question of the day: How will we handle the influx of children’s name tags?

WT-3 and WT-4 have been lightly updated, in light of Sunday’s experience.

Thursday 9/16, update 5

The first “Worshiping Together” Sunday is Sept. 26, the second is Oct. 10

In the first weeks, as we are sorting this out, teachers have discretion about bringing their students down to the meetingroom doors at 11:45.

WT-3 page, “the main page” re-purposed:

The old title was: WT-3: We imagine the flow of children and worship on a Worshiping Together Sunday
The focus was on imagining what we wanted, at some level that combined ideal and practical.
The new title is: WT-3: We imagine what the flow of children and worship on the next few Sundays

So WT-3 is now for TCFM members who want to know what to expect in the near term.
The main preparation work has moved to WT-4, which is focused on the PROCESS of bringing the community into a worshiping wholeness over the next several weeks.

Friday 9/10, update 4

We are now opening a window of intense discussion and change.

A significant sharpening and slimming down of the thinking occurred on WT-3 on 9/8, no major new ideas, but something approaching a draft plan.

Teachers will react to the draft plan on Saturday, 9/11, and these pages will likely change in response to their thinking.

Sunday 9/12 is a discussion in Adult Ed which will likely produce further chances, which should show up early next week.

The new plan will not be implemented 9/19, the first day of FDS, because that is the orientation day, with everybody gathering in the Fellowship room at 11AM.

However, if we find ourselves in general agreement, the new plan might start the next Sunday, 9/26.

Monday 8/30, update 3

Worshiping Together Update #3:
*TCFM Website re-designed, “comments” function working, WT Pages now accepting comments.

WT-3, Big Update:
M&C presents their plan for 11:45-12:15:

HERE IS THE PLAN: M & C has responsibility for what happens with the children after they arrive at the meeting room door.

M&C will try this the first week we decide we are ready, and then revise it, as necessary.
Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.

PROPOSED:

Saturday, 8/29, update 2

Big update.

WT-2 lightly re-written to adapt to broken “comments” function on this website.

WT-3, major update: “CURRENT PLAN” is beginning to appear for some topics. “PROPOSAL”s are also showing up. M&C is taking responsibility for what happens once children & youth are in the meetingroom. There are sections for thoughts about each classroom/age-group. Perhaps there will be Sundays when individual classes choose not to come to adult worship.
Previous contents of WT-3 moved to WT-3-Old.

WT-4, major update: Preparation time line. Slow, class-based, implementation? Scheduled evaluation?

Friday, 7/29, update 1

Report on discussion at M&C, 7/28.

This is from my (Richard Fuller) point of view. Others who were there, feel free to email your perspective to me and I will incorporate your thinking into this report.

1. M&C proposed that each Sunday, it would be the person closing meeting who would open the doors at 11:45 and welcome the children in.
2. There was general agreement that the teachers are doing LOTS of great work, and that we want them to feel supported as we move into the final planning for this Worshiping Together process.
3. Most M&C members feel that adult worshipers are ready (mostly) for the change to Worshiping Together at 11:45, and M&C suggests the WT subcommittee and the FDS committee focus on the needs of teachers, parents and children.
4. M&C is firm that 11:45 WT should start this fall, but realizes that, since the first Sunday after Labor Day is September 12, it may not be possible to have everything ready to go by September 19, when FDS classes begin.
5. It was suggested that during the weeks of preparation for WT, adults from 11:00 worship might come to each of the FDS classes and “invite” them, and explain why (that particular adult) was excited to have the class coming into worship near the end, instead of at the beginning.
6. Members of the WT subcommittee plan to have informal discussions with teachers and parents in early August, in an effort to draft a plan of specifics on how this will work. We will have a progress report to M&C in time for their next meeting, 8/25. We hope to have a ready-to-edit-or-implement draft plan, covering everything we can think of, by the second Sunday in September, the 12th.

A subcommittee has been formed

Richard Fuller has asked Heather Ferguson and Caroline Fahrney Kirchner to help him stay on top of this process as it develops, and they have agreed.

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: What we expect the next few Sundays to look like, before further tweaking.
  
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience. THIS IS now THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

Richard Fuller here. I am a member of the First Day School Committee, the committee responsible for the oversight of our First-Day education of our children.
(We recruit teachers, help them with lesson plans, if needed, decide each year what age-groupings of kids in classes make sense for that year, keep on top of child-safety issues and a bunch of other stuff.)

We work with Ministry and Counsel to coordinate when and how the children and adults worship together on First Day (Sunday) morning.

Since the 1980s, children have been part of adult worship starting at 11 AM, and they left the meeting room about 11:15.
Last spring First Day School and Ministry & Counsel committees agreed it might be better for the children’s experience of worship if they came in at 11:45, so that they could experience meeting for worship after the adults had settled in to a deeper state of waiting.

Of course, a couple of Quaker committees cannot “decide” what all the Quakers in a meeting will do. We ARE the relevant committees to initiate that decision, but we need to consult with everyone affected by the change, or at least allow everyone who will be affected the opportunity to raise concerns and make suggestions. We need to listen and we need to take what we hear into account.

And many suggestions WILL be needed. This will be a big change, requiring many arrangements. FDS & M&C committees are excited about how this will bring adults and youth of the community together, but we need YOUR input to make it a successful experience, one that gives our children & youth a better understanding of waiting silently in worship for the movement of the Divine.

There has been MUCH discussion already, of how this will work, but it has been scattered among committees and small informal groups. What I hope to do here on the TCFM website is to

• Provide a place where EVERYBODY can see how the discussion is developing
• Encourage people to comment here (at the bottom of most WT pages) or to email or speak to us on as many of the issues as they have opinions about
• Offer a place that outlines the discussion and invites input for folks who don’t have other avenues of input, like committees they are serving on.

I see the WT pages on this website as a supplement to meetings and informal conversations, but also as a place of record, where we summarize our current thinking, a place where people who may have missed an important meeting can catch up.
I encourage you to follow the discussion here, and to comment, but also to come to the “Worshiping Together” table during the Fellowship time, or to talk to members of Ministry & Counsel and/ or the FDS Committee, or to email me at richard.osbo.fuller(at)gmail.com.

On the WT-3 and WT-4 pages we are listing all the issues and questions we can think of, plus proposing ideas and naming CURRENT PLANS, where we have them.

In the language of Process Work, we need to map the “field;” we need to recognize as many of the elements of the situation as possible, before we can make changes that will benefit the community as a whole, rather than just some parts of it.

My plans for how this web-assisted discussion will work

I am posting a series of WT (Worshiping Together) articles devoted to

• WT-2: This introductory post, or page
• WT-3: Current Plans, Proposals & Issues related to how we imagine the flow of children and worship on any given Sunday, once the process is well established.
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience.
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made on all the issues.
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.
• WT-1: Current Status Updates – When you come back to these pages after having been away, you can check here, rather than having to review all the pages.

I need to emphasize this is an experiment, like all of life. Many of us have ideas of how this will work, but it will take trying things to know what really works. And if something isn’t working for some folks, they need to comment here or bring those issues to the “Worshiping Together” table in the Fellowship room or to talk to someone on the FDS or M&C Committees.

My imagined role as “discussion-shepherd”

I will update these WT posts as the discussion continues and as an eventual consensus develops. I will regularly add inputs from meetings, and reports of informal conversations.

YOU –all of us– are ENCOURAGED to share your thinking.

The main contact people are:
Richard Fuller (FDS Committee)
Caroline Fahrney Kirchner (Parent, FDS teacher)
Heather Ferguson (Parent, M&C member)
Marybeth Neal (clerk, FDS Committee)
Tom Stoffregen (Parent, designated M&C contact)

Talk to us face to face after worship. Call us or email us.

Comment here. At the bottom of most of the WT posts is a comment area. Please contribute ideas relevant to that WT topic. I will assimilate the substance of the comments into the WT framework where it can be seen in context, and then I’ll move the original comment to the WT-5 area.

Please post comments not only on your own ideas but ideas you hear from others. This web discussion area is supposed to reflect and represent the larger face-to-face conversation.

Please email your ideas to Richard.osbo.fuller (at) gmail.com. I will assimilate the substance of your thoughts into the WT-3 and WT-4 where it can be seen in context, and then I’ll place your message –your words– in the WT-5 area, unless you prefer otherwise.

There is a corollary to my request for ideas: If you are speaking to a Friend about “Worshiping Together” and you are saying something that you DON’T want quoted on this website, please state that clearly. If you talk to me, I will automatically be doing my best to summarize what you say here. I am encouraging all of us to report what they are hearing. We assume this is a community-wide conversation where everybody has the opportunity to know what is being said. If you are saying something that is not for the ears of the whole community, you have a responsibility to be clear about that.

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: Issues related to how we imagine the flow of children and worship on any given Sunday, once the process is well established.
  THIS IS THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience.
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

The WT-3 version outdated on _____

The WT-3 version outdated on Sept. 16

[Title of page changed. Old title was: WT-3: We imagine the flow of children and worship on a Worshiping Together Sunday]

(updated, 9/11, after Teacher Orientation) Beginning Sept. 26, children should be in their First Day School (FDS) classrooms at 10:55.

Worshiping Together(WT)-3 is THE MAIN PAGE for plans related to how a “Worshiping Together Sunday” will work.
The first WT Sunday will be September 26 or October 10.
(Sunday September 19 is the FDS ORGANIZING session. Parents and children gather in the Fellowship room at 11AM, and the kids will not go into the meetingroom at all that day. Sunday Oct. 3 is Family Meeting.)

Please offer us your comments at the bottom of this page, or bring your ideas about this to the Worshiping Together table during Fellowship time. Or email Richard at Richard.Osbo.Fuller at gmail.com.

*  There will be a handout for parents outlining how this is expected to work.

• Will the handout offer suggestions about what to say to kids (of different ages) about what to look for, and how to behave?

On “FDS Sundays,” First Day School starts at 10:55.

First Day School Sundays are the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Sundays of the month.
(On the 1st Sunday of each month we have Family Meetings with children and adults gathering in the Fellowship Room at 11AM. This is in addition to the regular 11AM worship in the meetingroom. On the occasional 5^th Sunday we have inter-generational worship: 30 minutes of centering worship in the meetingroom for all ages.)

On FDS Sundays parents should have children in the classroom by 10:55.

The first “FDS Sunday” will be Sept. 26.

While the start time of 10:55 is clear, the details of how and when the kids enter the meetingroom are still being worked out.

The first “Worshiping Together Sunday” will be Sept. 26 or Oct. 10.

PLAN:

• Every week through October, all three main entry doors will have a sign posted, for that week, that tells parents and others what will happen that day.
• This website will always have current information people can check about the upcoming Sunday. The information will be here, and there will be a link to it on the TCFM home page.
• Richard Fuller, or another “FDS Greeter” will be stationed in the foyer each Sunday, ready to help.

* How much discretion can we give to individual classes, especially the teachers, about whether they come to Meeting for Worship on a given day?
CURRENT PLAN:
For now, for the first “Worshiping Together Sunday,” whether it happens on 9/26 or 10/10, let’s say each class is expected to arrive outside the meetingroom doors at 11:45. This will minimize the variables we have to cope with in the early stages.
After some experience we may discover  we can improve things even more by not expecting “every class, every week.” Still, that will be our goal, for starters.

• Longer-term, can we encourage a feeling of choice, at least on the part of each teacher?

* CURRENT PLAN: children do NOT bring work done in class to the meeting room.
A drop-off point in the Library?

* How can we help preserve the centered atmosphere developed in the classroom as we move toward and into the meeting room?

• How can we minimize a kid-jam outside the door, with the attendant jostling and distractions?
  • PROPOSAL: Teachers can ask for extra adults to accompany the class to the meetingroom doors.

* What about kids who are not ready for “Worship Together”?

• Do we staff a room for kids who are not ready?
• What if a significant part of the class has got a “thing” going, and the teacher expects they would be a disruption in the meeting room?
  DEFAULT: It’s not the teacher’s responsibility after the kids are inside the meetingroom. Then, it’s up to M&C.

IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15, M&C has responsibility

M&C will try this the first week we decide we are ready, and then revise it, as necessary.
Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.

* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?

• DRAFT PLAN: When a family knows ahead of time that the children (or teachers) MAY want to join family members already in the meetingroom, they should agree roughly where in the room they will sit. Preferably not too far from the doors.

• CURRENT PLAN: Youth will not sit in classroom groups. The class ends when the kids enter the meetingroom and teachers are no longer responsible for the children at that point.

* What is considered “appropriate behavior” for kids during meeting for worship?
OUTSTANDING ISSUE:
What guidance do we give kids about standing and sharing in worship?

* M&C intends that announcements after worship will be compressed.

* What if a child is disruptive, or a group of children?
CURRENT PLAN:
If the child has chosen to sit with her family, the family members are responsible.
For children not sitting with their parents, the M&C member who is closing meeting is responsible, along with other M&C members present.

* How can we encourage opportunities for adults to talk to kids about “what just happened in worship”?

———————————-

* FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT!

There is a table during the Fellowship time each week. People are encouraged to take their ideas & concerns there. Email and phone calls are also encouraged.

Issues by individual Classrooms

Nursery Children are not included in Worshiping Together

Parents will pick up their children in the Nursery after the rise of meeting.

Preschool

Preschoolers are included in WT

Kindergarden – First Grade

Second, Third & Fourth Grades

Fifth & Sixth Grades

Middle School

High School

Optional? Might come at least once a quarter?
Should feel invited.

The WT-3 version outdated on Sept. 11

(updated, 9/10)

Worshiping Together-3 is THE MAIN PAGE for plans related to how a “regular Sunday” will work. The first POSSIBLE regular Sunday would be September 26. (Sunday September 19 is the FDS ORGANIZING session. Parents and children gather in the Fellowship room at 11AM, and the kids will not go into the meetingroom at all that day.)

Please offer us your comments at the bottom of this page, or bring your ideas about this to the Worshiping Together table during Fellowship time. Or email Richard at Richard.Osbo.Fuller at gmail.com.

Outline for WT-3:
1. Issues around the Worshiping Together activities in the meeting room, from about 11:45 to about 12:15

2. Issues that arise for the times before and after Worshiping Together

1. IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15, M&C takes responsibility

M&C will try this the first week we decide we are ready, and then revise it, as necessary.
Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.

* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?

• DRAFT PLAN: When a family knows ahead of time that the children (or teachers) MAY want to join family members already in the meetingroom, they should agree roughly where in the room they will sit. Preferably not too far from the doors.

• CURRENT PLAN: Youth will not sit in classroom groups. The class ends when the kids enter the meetingroom and teachers are no longer responsible for the children at that point.

*Do we assume every class will be present in the meetingroom every week? May we leave it more gradual and at the discretion of teachers so that students are slipping in little by little with timing at the discretion of teachers?”

* What is considered “appropriate behavior” for kids during meeting for worship?

• What guidance do we give kids about standing and sharing in worship?

* What if a child feels she needs to leave worship, to go to the bathroom or for another reason? DEFAULT: Children who choose to sit with their parents can get guidance from them. Youth who choose to sit alone or with peers will rely on their resources.
OUTSTANDING ISSUE: Will Advancement Committee have a member designated as a hall monitor who will be responsible in such a situation?

• Will we have a list of “situations” like this, with suggested responses, to give interested parties?

* M&C intends that announcements after worship will be compressed.

* What if a child is disruptive, or a group of children?

• CURRENT PLAN:
  • If the child has chosen to sit with her family, the family members are responsible.
  • For children not sitting with their parents, the M&C member who is closing meeting is responsible, along with other M&C members present.

———————————-

* FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT!

There will be a table during the Fellowship time each week. People are encouraged to take their ideas & concerns there. Email and phone calls are also encouraged.

2. ISSUES IN THE TIMES BEFORE & AFTER “WT”

(In roughly the order they will occur on a Sunday:)

*  There will be a handout for parents outlining how this is expected to work.

• Will the handout offer suggestions about what to say to kids (of different ages) about what to look for, and how to behave?

* Where do parents drop their kids, in order to arrive at worship before 11AM?
* How do teachers handle their pre-class preparation, before 11AM?

PROPOSAL: We have group singing from 10:45 to 10:59.
After taking off their coats, parents bring their children to this area, which might be in the Fellowship room or the Meetingroom. Parents can either sing with the group or leave the children.
After completing their preparation, teachers come to the singing area to join the singing and then gather their class, just before 11:00.

* What things can we do so that latecomers disrupt FDS classes as little as possible?

Is this really a problem? Is it more of a problem for some classes, less for others?

• Latecomers go to a supervised play area rather than their FDS classrooms? Then kids join their classes as a “late group,” at ___ (11:20?)? Teachers can plan their activities with a break at that point, when it is easy to assimilate newcomers?

UNLIKELY IDEA: Madison Meeting offers a “Family breakfast” of oatmeal at 10:15. Families can arrive with some members still half-asleep and still be ready to go at 11:00.

* Since many details still remain to be decided, including when the first “Regular Sunday” actually will happen,
how will parents and others know what to do when they arrive on Sunday?
PLAN:

• For the next many weeks, all three main entry doors will have a sign posted, for that week, that tells parents and others what will happen that day.
• This website will always have current information people can check about the upcoming Sunday.
• Richard Fuller, or another “FDS Facilitator” will be stationed in the foyer each Sunday, ready to help.

Other ways a new start-time can be publicized:

• Announcements in the newsletter, announcement sheets, and a changed FDS brochure.

* What sort of positive preparation for entering worship do teachers give the kids?

• Can teachers and others make suggestions about what might teachers say, generally, about meeting for worship?
  • What would it be good for teachers to say in the moments before the class gets up to go to the meeting room?
    Is someone willing to volunteer to author/edit a list of suggestions?

* How much discretion can we give to individual classes, especially the teachers, about whether they come to Meeting for Worship on a given day?

CURRENT PLAN:
PART A:
For now, to begin with, for the first “Regular Sunday,” whenever it happens, let’s say each class is expected to arrive outside the meetingroom doors at 10:45. This will minimize the variables we have to cope with in the early stages.
PART B: There may well be some “Preliminary Sundays,” when we experiment with just the older classes Worshiping Together, before the first “regular Sunday.”
TO SUMMARIZE, the goal during the ramping-up process is that we want eventually to see a month of Sundays when ALL the children are in worship with the adults.
We may discover during the ramping-up that this is not a good goal. Also, we may discover, if we successfully achieve the goal, that we can improve things even more by not expecting “every class, every week.” Still, that will be our goal, for starters.

• Longer-term, can we encourage a feeling of choice, at least on the part of each teacher?

* CURRENT PLAN: children do NOT bring work done in class to the meeting room.
A drop-off point in the Library?

* How can we help preserve the centered atmosphere developed in the classroom as we move toward and into the meeting room?

• How can we minimize a kid-jam outside the door, with the attendant jostling and distractions?
  • PROPOSAL: Teachers can ask for extra adults to accompany the class to the meetingroom doors.

* What about kids who are not ready for “Worship Together”?

• Do we staff a room for kids who are not ready?
• What if a significant part of the class has got a “thing” going, and the teacher expects they would be a disruption in the meeting room?
  DEFAULT: It’s not the teacher’s responsibility after the kids are inside the meetingroom. Then, it’s up to M&C.

* How can we encourage opportunities for adults to talk to kids about “what just happened in worship”?

Issues by individual Classrooms

Preschool

Are Preschoolers included in WT?

Kindergarden – First Grade

Second, Third & Fourth Grades

Fifth & Sixth Grades

Middle School

High School

Not included?
Optional? Might come at least once a quarter?
Should feel invited.

The WT-3 version outdated on Sept. 8

1. IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15, M&C takes responsibility

HERE IS THE PLAN: M & C has responsibility for what happens with the children after they arrive at the meeting room door.

M&C will try this the first week we decide we are ready, and then revise it, as necessary.
Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.

* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?

• PROPOSED: When a family knows ahead of time that the children (or teachers) will want to join family members already in the meetingroom, they should agree roughly where in the room they will sit. Preferably not too far from the doors.

• CURRENT PLAN: Youth will not sit in classroom groups. The class ends when the kids enter the meetingroom and teachers are no longer responsible for the children at that point.

Comments from Teachers:

• In Texas, children came in at the end. The teachers come with special chairs.
  And in Durango –a smaller meeting– children sat with another adult that wasn’t a parent.
• I like the idea of kids staying with the teachers.
• I don’t like what I’ve seen in other meetings, when kids crawl around in a designated area.

*Do we assume every class will be present in the meetingroom every week?

One teacher writes:

I hope the time period for entering meeting is not frozen at 11:45 when the doors open and masses pour in like clockwork.
May we leave it more gradual and at the discretion of teachers so that students are slipping in little by little with timing at the discretion of teachers?”

* What is considered “appropriate behavior” for kids during meeting for worship?

• What guidance do we give kids about standing and sharing in worship?

Comments from Teachers:

• We gave kids paper and pencils and what they wrote was beautiful.

• It isn’t about silence but respect for a sacred space.
  Even it a kid hasn’t yet grown into an ability for silent worship, they can learn respectful behavior.
  I want them to have a positive experience of meaning.

* What if a child feels she needs to leave worship, to go to the bathroom or for another reason?

• Will we have a list of “situations” like this, with suggested responses, to give interested parties?

* Will announcements after worship be made as they are now?

• One class a month might introduce the class members to the meeting.

* What if a child is disruptive, or a group of children?

• PROPOSED: If the child has chosen to sit with her family, the family members are responsible.
  CURRENT PLAN: For children not sitting with their parents, the M&C member who is closing meeting is responsible, along with other M&C members present.

* What if  a child is upset by something during worship, an expression of grief or other strong emotion by an adult worshiper?

• DEFAULTS: The child will find help from a trusted source. An adult who has some context with the child may approach him or her.

* How, after the handshake, can we encourage children and youth who have done well, sitting in worship?

One teacher writes:
Kids who sat through meeting got a certificate In the “Black Hat Society.”

———————————-

* How will FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT?

CURRENT PLAN:
There will be a table during the Fellowship time each week for several weeks before and after the new procedures are in place,
People will be encouraged to take their ideas there. Email and phone calls are also encouraged.

* What if you, an adult, are bothered?

• Are there any guidelines for judging
  • “this is my problem, a challenge to my spiritual growth” vs.
  • “this is a problem our community needs to address” ?

  DEFAULT: Feel free to bring up issues at the WT table during Fellowship, or with someone on FDS or M&C with whom you feel comfortable.
  “My problem vs. Our Problem” should not be an issue in this exploratory conversation.

2. ISSUES IN THE TIMES BEFORE & AFTER “WT”

(In roughly the order they will occur on a Sunday:)

* Will there be a handout for parents outlining how this is expected to work?

• Will a handout offer suggestions about what to say to kids (of different ages) about what to look for, and how to behave?

* How do teachers handle their pre-class preparation, before 11AM?

PROPOSAL: We start by having child-care available from 10:30 to 10:45 where teachers can drop their kids while they prepare for class. This ends with group singing, which starts at 10:45.

* When do teachers need to be in their classrooms, ready to receive students?
PROPOSAL: We have group singing from 10:45 to 10:59.
After taking off their coats, parents bring their children to this area. Parents can either sing with the group or leave the children and go to the meetingroom.
Teachers come to the singing area to gather their class, shortly before 11:00.

* How do we handle the likely “drop-off drift”? As we know all too well, families tend to run late.
Setting a tone, “you won’t want to be late for this,” is good.
ALTERNATE IDEA: Madison Meeting offers a “Family breakfast” of oatmeal at 10:15. Families can arrive with some members still half-asleep and still be ready to go at 11:00.

• What other things can we do so that latecomers disrupt our efforts as little as possible?
  Latecomers go to “Extended Singing” rather than their FDS classrooms? Kids join their classes as a “late group,” at 11:20. Teachers can plan their work with a break at that point, when it is easy to assimilate newcomers?

* How many ways are there, that a new start-time can be publicized?

• Large sign in the entry way,
  prominent notice on the website,
  as well as newsletters, announcement sheets, changes to the FDS brochure, etc.

* What sort of positive preparation for entering worship do teachers give the kids?

• Can teachers and others make suggestions about what might teachers say, generally, about meeting for worship?
  • What would it be good for teachers to say in the moments before the class gets up to go to the meeting room?
    Is someone willing to volunteer to author/edit a list of suggestions?

* How much discretion can we give to individual classes, especially the teachers, about whether they come to Meeting for Worship on a given day?

• Can we encourage a feeling of choice? A “yes, let’s go!” feeling, at least for the teachers and classes who need it?

* CURRENT PLAN: children do NOT bring work done in class to the meeting room.
a drop-off point in the Library?

* How can we help preserve the centered atmosphere developed in the classroom as we move toward and into the meeting room?

• How can we minimize a kid-jam outside the door, with the attendant jostling and distractions?
  • PROPOSAL: Teachers can ask for extra adults to accompany the class to the meetingroom doors.

* What about kids who are not ready for “Worship Together”?

• Do we staff a room for kids who are not ready?
• What if much of the class has got a “thing” going, and the teacher expects they would be a disruption in the meeting room?
  DEFAULT: It’s not the teacher’s responsibility after the kids are inside the meetingroom. Then, it’s up to M&C.

* How can we encourage opportunities for adults to talk to kids about “what just happened in worship”?

Issues by individual Classrooms

Preschool

Are Preschoolers included in WT?

Kindergarden – First Grade

Second, Third & Fourth Grades

Fifth & Sixth Grades

Middle School

High School

Not included?
Optional? Might come at least once a quarter?
Should feel invited.

The WT-3 version outdated on Aug. 30

1. IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15

M & C will take responsibility for what happens with the children when they arrive at the meeting room door. They have agreed on a draft plan and are writing it up. They will try it the first week and then revise it, as necessary. Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.

We will post the M&C plan here, when we get it.

* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?

• Some kids will want to sit with their parents.
  • When a family knows ahead of time that the children will want to join the parents, where should the parents sit?
  • How should they reserve a seat for the child, if they think it will be needed?
• Most FDS Classes will enter the meeting room as groups. Shall we reserve group seating?

Comments from Teachers:

• In Texas, children came in at the end. The teachers come with special chairs.
  And in Durango –a smaller meeting– children sat with another adult that wasn’t a parent.
• I like the idea of kids staying with the teachers.
• I don’t like what I’ve seen in other meetings, when kids crawl around in a designated area.

* How will youth enter the meeting room?

• What weeks will we see children?
  • Do we assume every class will be present every week?

Current Plan: The Ministry & Counsel member who will be closing meeting will open the doors at the right time, and welcome the children in.

• Older classes first?
  A semi-formal procession?
  An order that has a logic for the kids, and that they recognize how to play their part in?

One teacher writes:
I hope the time period for entering meeting is not frozen at 11:45 when the doors open and masses pour in like clockwork.
May we leave it more gradual and at the discretion of teachers so that students are slipping in little by little with timing at the discretion of teachers?”

* What is considered “appropriate behavior” for kids during meeting for worship?

• What guidance do we give kids about standing and sharing in worship?

Comments from Teachers:

• We gave kids paper and pencils and what they wrote was beautiful.

• It isn’t about silence but respect for a sacred space. Even it a kid hasn’t yet grown into an ability for silent worship, they can learn respectful behavior. I want them to have a positive experience of meaning.

* What if a child feels she needs to leave worship, to go to the bathroom or for another reason?

• Will we have a list of “situations” like this, with suggested responses, to give interested parties?

* Will announcements after worship be made as they are now?

• One class a month might introduce the class members to the meeting.

* What if a child is disruptive, or a group of children?

• Who’s responsibility is this?
  The M&C member who is closing meeting?

* What if a teacher can tell that a child is upset by something during worship?

• An expression of grief or other strong emotion by an adult worshiper?
• a generic sharing by an adult that the teacher knows is likely to touch a sensitive spot for a particular child?

* How, after the handshake, can we encourage children and youth who have done well, sitting in worship?

One teacher writes:
Kids who sat through meeting got a certificate In the “Black Hat Society.”

———————————-

* How will FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT?

CURRENT PLAN:
There will be a table during the Fellowship time each week, and people will be encouraged to take their ideas there. Email and phone calls will also be encouraged.

* What if you, an adult, are bothered?

• Are there any guidelines for judging
  • “this is my problem, a challenge to my spiritual growth” vs.
  • “this is a problem our community needs to address” ?

2. ISSUES IN THE TIMES BEFORE & AFTER “WT”

(In roughly the order they will occur on a Sunday:)

* Will there be a handout for parents outlining how this is expected to work?

• Will a handout offer suggestions about what to say to kids (of different ages) about what to look for, and how to behave?

* How do teachers handle pre-class preparation?

PROPOSAL: We start by having child-care available from 10:30 to 10:50 where teachers can drop their kids while they prepare for class.

* When do teachers need to be in their classrooms, ready to receive students?
PROPOSAL: Teachers are ready for students at 10:45, with a “hard start” to structured activities at 10:55 and the expectation that parents will have dropped their kids and gone by then.

* How do we handle the likely “drop-off drift”?
As we know all too well, families tend to run late.
Setting a tone, “you won’t want to be late for this,” is good.

• What other things can we do so that latecomers disrupt our efforts as little as possible?
  Latecomers go to “childcare” rather than their FDS classrooms?

* How many ways are there, that a new start-time can be publicized?

• Large sign in the entry way,
  prominent notice on the website,
  as well as newsletters, announcement sheets, changes to the FDS brochure, etc.

* What sort of positive preparation for entering worship do teachers give the kids?

• Can teachers and others make suggestions about what might teachers say, generally, about meeting for worship?
• What would it be good for teachers to say in the moments before the class gets up to go to the meeting room?

* How much discretion can we give to individual classes, especially the teachers, about whether they come to Meeting for Worship on a given day?

• Can we encourage a feeling of choice? A “yes, let’s go!” feeling, at least for the teachers and classes who need it?

* CURRENT PLAN: children do NOT bring work done in class to the meeting room if it is bulky or potentially messy.

* How can we help preserve the centered atmosphere developed in the classroom as we move toward and into the meeting room?

• How can we minimize a kid-jam outside the door, with the attendant jostling and distractions?
  • PROPOSAL: Teachers can ask for extra adults to accompany the class to the meetingroom doors.

* What about kids who are not ready for “Worship Together”?

• Do we staff a room for kids who are not ready?
• What if most of the class has got a “thing” going,
  and the teacher expects they would be a disruption in the meeting room?

* How can we encourage opportunities for adults to talk to kids about “what just happened in worship”?

Issues by individual Classrooms

Preschool

Are Preschoolers included in WT?

Kindergarden – First Grade

Second, Third & Fourth Grades

Fifth & Sixth Grades

Middle School

High School

Not included? Optional? Might come occasionally? Should feel invited.

The WT-3 version outdated on August 28

1. IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15

* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?

• Some kids will want to sit with their parents.
  • When a family knows ahead of time that the children will want to join the parents, where should the parents sit?
  • How should they reserve a seat for the child, if they think it will be needed?
    Paper plates on seats where a child is expected?

• Most FDS Classes will enter the meeting room as groups. How shall we reserve group seating?

* How will youth enter the meeting room?

• What weeks will we see children?
  • Do we assume every class will be present every week?
  • What about children who are “not ready to enter silent worship” on a particular day, at 11:45?
• Issues around HOW children enter
  • Who determines that “the coast is clear,” that no one is currently speaking out of the silence?
    • How long might children be asked to wait, while a speaker finishes?
  • Older classes first?
    A semi-formal procession?
    An order that has a logic for the kids, and that they recognize how to play their part in?

* What if a child feels she needs to leave worship, to go to the bathroom or for another reason?

• Will we have a list of “situations” like this, with suggested responses, to give teachers (& parents)?

* Will announcements after worship be made as they are now?

* What if a child is disruptive, or a group of children?

• Who’s responsibility is this? (When kids come in at 11, they are under the care of their parents.)
• In “Worshiping Together” would the responsible adult be the teacher the child came in with?
  The M&C member who is closing meeting?

———————————-

* How will FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT?

• Will feedback from youth and parents be actively solicited by teachers?
• How do teachers get feedback to FDS Committee or M&C?
• How will adults who are not teachers or parents make suggestions or register concerns?

* What if you, an adult, are bothered?

• Are there any guidelines for judging
  • “this is my problem, a challenge to my spiritual growth” vs.
  • “this is a problem our community needs to address” ?

2. ISSUES IN THE TIMES BEFORE & AFTER “WT”

(In roughly the order they will occur on a Sunday:)

* Will there be a handout for parents outlining how this is expected to work?

• Will it offer suggestions about what to say to kids (of different ages) about what to look for, and how to behave?
• Not just a bunch of “don’ts.”

* How do teachers handle pre-class preparation?

• Some teachers have been using 11:00 to 11:15 as preparation time. What will they do?
  • Can there be a place for these teachers’ children, before 11,
    allowing the teachers who are also parents a chance to prepare for their class?

* When do teachers need to be in their classrooms, ready to receive students?

* What sort of positive preparation for entering worship do teachers give the kids?

• Not just a bunch of “don’ts.”
• What might teachers say, generally, about meeting for worship?
• What would it be good for teachers to say in the moments before the class gets up to go to the meeting room?

* Does a child bring work done in class to the meeting room?

* How can we help preserve the centered atmosphere developed in the classroom as we move toward and into the meeting room?

• How can we minimize a kid-jam outside the door, with the attendant jostling and distractions?

* What about kids who are not ready for “Worship Together”?

• Do we staff a room for kids who are not ready?
• What if most of the class has got a “thing” going,
  and the teacher expects they would be a disruption in the meeting room?

* What if a teacher can tell that a child is upset by something during worship?

• An expression of grief or other strong emotion by an adult worshiper?
• a generic sharing by an adult that the teacher knows is likely to touch a sensitive spot for a particular child?

* How can we encourage opportunities for adults to talk to kids about “what just happened in worship”?

* How, after the handshake, can we encourage children and youth who have done well, sitting in worship?

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: What we expect the next few Sundays to look like, before further tweaking.
  
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience. THIS IS now THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

Updated on Sept 26

Every Sunday through October we will have a “WT Discussion Table” during Fellowship time

Here’s the Sunday schedule through the end of the year, with commentary:

* September 26

Our first attempt was a great success!

“All the children & teachers in the room with everybody else, awesome!”

* October 3 – Family Meeting

(No Worshiping Together” in the meetingroom)

*** Oct. 10, Oct. 17 & Oct. 24: Three WT Sundays in a row

* Lesson from 9/26: The kids made themselves name tags. We need to develop a system for keeping them where they can be found.

The guideline for all teachers is

• Bring your students to the doors of the meetingroom at 11:45. However,
• All teachers have some discretion, for instance
  • Teachers of younger students might want to wait a bit later, until some of the congestion in the hall has cleared, and so that their students are expected to sit quietly for a shorter time.
  • A teacher may choose not to take the class to the meetingroom, keeping students in the classroom until Noon.

ADVICE TO TEACHERS: While we respect and encourage the autonomy of your class, we are also concerned about the living wholeness of the entire worshiping body, students and adults, sitting in worship together.
Therefore, while you may feel your class is “not ready,” it may still be important to bring them into worship at 11:45 or 11:50. When the class enters the meetingroom it will affect both the class and the body already sitting in worship. We need that. The class may be quieted; the adults energized. Or something else. It is the living wholeness of the worshiping community we are looking for here. The whole point, eventually, is to get everyone in the room together, where Spirit can work on us all at once, as a whole. So we encourage both your efforts to have your students’ experience be as good as possible and also a letting go, on your part. There is mystery here, and our striving and our relaxing are two arms with which it embraces us.

OUTSTANDING ISSUES, to be considered in light of October’s experience:

• Will Advancement Committee door tenders make efforts during the initial 10:55-11:00 seating to ensure that there are a large number of fairly-accessible seats near the doors?
• Do we want to arrange the chairs so that the aisles leading in from the main doors are broader?
• Might a class decide to enter the worship earlier than 11:45?

* Oct. 31 – Inter-generational Worship
* November 7 – Family Day

Two weeks in a row, no Worshiping Together” in the meetingroom.

* Nov.14

Another sequence of three WT Sundays.
Having skipped the two previous Sundays will require a little recovery.

* Nov. 21

* Nov. 28

* Dec. 5 – Family Day

* Dec. 12

A WT Sunday. Classrooms are likely to be focused on preparations for their presentations next week.

* Dec. 19

FDS classes make their holiday presentations. These songs and skits are presented in the meetingroom starting about half way into the worship hour.

* Dec. 26

A WT Sunday

* How much discretion can we give to individual classes, especially the teachers, about whether they come to Meeting for Worship on a given day?

* SCHEDULED EVALUATION:

We should have a time limit (one year?) for giving it a good-faith effort.
With a commitment to do an evaluation at the end of that period.

Out-dated on Sept 16

“Getting-Ready” Timeline
Sketched in so far.

In September

Every Sunday, during Fellowship time: a “WT Planning Discussion Table”

9/11, Saturday, 9AM-Noon:

• FDS Teacher Orientation
  (Yes, that’s at the same time as MWB)

9/12, first Sunday after Labor Day:

• Adult Ed program, on experiences in other meetings.
• Draft “edit-or-implement” Plan available

9/19, Sunday:

• First day of FDS classes (Families meet with teachers in the Fellowship Room at 11AM)
  No children attend adult worship this day. Kids come into meetingroom at Noon, as in the past.

9/26, Sunday:

• Try draft plan or consult on remaining issues

* What additional meetings or consultations do we want to have in advance, and when?
A special meeting for FDS teachers (in addition to the 9/11 teacher orientation)?

How do we decide on what Sunday this starts?

* An FDSC member writes: I’d suggest the kids not go into adult worship in the beginning weeks.

• Teachers set the scene for what is to come. Maybe do an in-classroom “practice” at 11:45.

• On a Sunday that may only have been determined a week ahead of time at least one or two of the older classes come in.

* At M&C it was suggested:
During the weeks of preparation for WT, adults from 11:00 worship might come to each of the FDS classes and “invite” them, and explain why (that particular adult) was excited to have the class coming into worship near the end, instead of at the beginning.

* How long will children be in worship?
The assumption has been 15 minutes, just like before. Do we want to revisit this assumption?

PROPOSAL: Each class decides on the week they are “ready to start going to the meetingroom.” The teacher would present the idea and the class would discuss it, perhaps for more than a week. The class would know that, if they wanted to go in, they would need to be outside the doors at 11:45, when they would be invited in.

One parent asks:
“When our children read these messages on the topic of children in worship at TCFM, will they feel loved? In other words, will we as a community remember to write as those who are blessed with children (“children” equals “ones who are becoming young adult Quakers of tomorrow”) in our shared life together?

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: What we expect the next few Sundays to look like, before further tweaking.
  
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience. THIS IS now THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

* How can we help preserve the centered atmosphere developed in the classroom as we move toward and into the meeting room?

• How can we minimize a kid-jam outside the door, with the attendant jostling and distractions?
  • PROPOSAL: Teachers can ask for extra adults to accompany the class to the meetingroom doors.

* What about kids who are not ready for “Worship Together”?

• Do we staff a room for kids who are not ready?
• What if a significant part of the class has got a “thing” going, and the teacher expects they would be a disruption in the meeting room?
  DEFAULT: It’s not the teacher’s responsibility after the kids are inside the meetingroom. Then, it’s up to M&C.

* Don’t we want to have classes of children coming in as groups and sitting together?

Both to minimize the disruption associated with a bunch of kids selecting among scattered seats
and also the pedagogy of “we talked about this in class, as a group, and now, as a group, we are observing it.”

One FDS Committee member wrote:

It is probably quite important for the kids to enter the meeting and to sit with their classmates, instead of going over to their parents. This is less disruptive. But more importantly, it communicates to the children they they are unique, valued individuals with identities of their own (and not just as appendages of their parents). Hopefully the seating arrangement can communicate to kids that they, not just their parents, have a place in the meeting community. This could communicate to them a kind of respect that the larger meeting has for them, which could feel empowering and encouraging of their developing spirituality. … The parent with who I spoke was interested and very receptive in particular to the idea that kids would sit with their class instead of going to be with their parents, because it might give the kids the empowering sense of having their OWN place at meeting, and not just being at meeting because their parents were there.

* How do we handle the likely “drop-off drift”? As we know all too well, families tend to run late.
Setting a tone, “you won’t want to be late for this,” is good.

* How do teachers handle their pre-class preparation, before 11AM?

PROPOSAL: We start by having child-care available from 10:30 to 10:45 where teachers can drop their kids while they prepare for class. This ends with group singing, which starts at 10:45.

* What if you, an adult, are bothered? Feel free to bring up issues at the WT table during Fellowship, or with someone on FDS or M&C with whom you feel comfortable.

* What is considered “appropriate behavior” for kids during meeting for worship?

• What guidance do we give kids about standing and sharing in worship?

Comments from Teachers:

• We gave kids paper and pencils and what they wrote was beautiful.

• It isn’t about silence but respect for a sacred space.
  Even it a kid hasn’t yet grown into an ability for silent worship, they can learn respectful behavior.
  I want them to have a positive experience of meaning.

* What is considered “appropriate behavior” for kids during meeting for worship?
OUTSTANDING ISSUE:
What guidance do we give kids about standing and sharing in worship?

* M&C intends that announcements after worship will be compressed.

* What if a child is disruptive, or a group of children?
CURRENT PLAN:
If the child has chosen to sit with her family, the family members are responsible.
For children not sitting with their parents, the M&C member who is closing meeting is responsible, along with other M&C members present.

* How can we encourage opportunities for adults to talk to kids about “what just happened in worship”?

* What if  a child is upset by something during worship, an expression of grief or other strong emotion by an adult worshiper?

• DEFAULTS: The child will find help from a trusted source. An adult who has some context with the child may approach him or her.

* How, after the handshake, can we encourage children and youth who have done well, sitting in worship?

One teacher writes:
Kids who sat through meeting got a certificate In the “Black Hat Society.”

Recent Unaddressed Comments:

* I think Fifth Sunday worship would work better if it were semi-programmed. And if all present were invited to contribute, it would be a way for adults and kids to know bits of each others’ spiritual lives.

* One class a month might introduce the class members to the meeting.

*Do we assume every class will be present in the meetingroom every week?

I hope the time period for entering meeting is not frozen at 11:45 when the doors open and masses pour in like clockwork. May we leave it more gradual and at the discretion of teachers so that students are slipping in little by little with timing at the discretion of teachers?”

* I think everyone who has thought about children and youth entering worship for the last quarter hour has recognized that this raises the bar of community worship in several different ways. One is that when the kids were there for the start of worship, adults could deal with any sense of irritation by saying “It’s just part of the settling in process; they’ll be gone soon.”

Old comments,

considered and assimilated into the plan (or not)
Arranged by date, newest on top:

Comments from Teachers, late August:

• In Texas, children came in at the end. The teachers come with special chairs.
  And in Durango –a smaller meeting– children sat with another adult that wasn’t a parent.
• I like the idea of kids staying with the teachers.
• I don’t like what I’ve seen in other meetings, when kids crawl around in a designated area.

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: What we expect the next few Sundays to look like, before further tweaking.
  
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience. THIS IS now THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

• Perhaps the adults will actually focus better in worship before the children arrive because they feel the need to put on a good show for the kids.

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• :

• Caption reads:
  With a sigh, or a squeak, or a grunt, or a groan…
  The Spirit inspireth every one.

• :

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• :

• WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
• WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
• WT-3: What we expect the next few Sundays to look like, before further tweaking.
  
• WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
  
• WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience. THIS IS now THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS
• WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
  
• WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.

Wow! What a ride!

My assistant clerk, Anne Supplee, and I celebrated out last day on the job on August 31.

We had a running query through our term which I believe we repeated to each other monthly: “Are we (still) having fun?”

The shared answer has always been “yes!” And it was “yes!” again this week.

Not that it hasn’t been a challenge. Being asked to form up an ad-hoc committee to oversee the repair of our sick building, and receiving a challenge to the meeting about giving up a Friend in Residence, in order to have more classroom space, are the top two that come to mind.

And WE, dear Friends, we have handled these challenges well. As you Quakers know well, the clerk makes a contribution to our shared work by trying to anticipate what will need to happen, and encouraging meeting members to address the issues in a timely fashion. The clerk’s role IS very important, but it is the membership who actually make the spirit-led decisions, and we community members are the ones who step up to the plate and do what needs to be done.

Thank you, thank us all!

And it has been fun. I think probably the most important part of that, for me, given my personality, has been that I have always been clear on your affection, or at least your respect. Even those of you who have complained to me (many of you will remember who you are) you have complained to me affectionately, or at least you have respected that I have been doing the best I could.

Since I wasn’t in it for the money, your love has been crucial.

And, I must say, it has been a spiritually-enlarging time for me. I originally said “yes” to Nominating Committee in response to something within me that felt larger than my conscious self, and I have tried to stay aligned with that “larger” purpose, putting myself “in the place of TCFM,” as I tried to understand the right way forward at crucial moments. Your respect and concern, your support, both careful and casual, have made a big difference in my not having to fall back into “little-me-self-protective mode.” We have all done well.

And the icing on the cake has been this “Shake the Piggy Bank” mini-fund-raiser, that started and ended just in the last two weeks. I saw we were coming up on some tough choices with less than enough information. I put out the word, and plenty of you responded quickly enough that MOMSAH was able to confidently make choices which will bring this construction to a close in a durable and beautiful fashion, with a minimum of loose ends that would soon be claiming our attention, AGAIN.

And for those of you who were out of town, or for other reasons missed a chance to contribute, fear not! Development Committee will be informing us in the months ahead that retiring the mortgage we took out to finance the construction will require the contributions of EVERYONE in our community, if we are to pay it off in a timely fashion. A huge amount of work has been done, and done well, and quality work doesn’t come cheap.

Except when it’s free. The leadership of MOMSAH has been exceptional, and I guess I should note that that has been another source of inspiration and strength to me, during my term as clerk. Every time I would finish a load of clerkly work, getting some Quaker ducks in a row, I would be in a position to notice another large bunch of careful, knowledgeable, patient work being done by MOMSAH members. I never felt like Anne and I were “doing all the work, or at least a lot of it.” Far from it. We felt ourselves part of a community, with people on MOMSAH and on many other committees giving that community wonderful devotion-filled work. Thank you, thank us, all! It has been a wonderful time.

“And for my next act…” That will have to wait a bit. Betsy and I are off to the Oregon coast for what promises to be an amazing workshop, and will miss the September MWB. On my return I’ll eager to dive back into the life of the meeting, as the Gaia Troubadour, and as Richard, member of First Day School Committee.

Happiness!

“How much more money?” That’s a chicken and egg question.

The construction which is being supervised by MOMSAH continues to go well, and the end is mid-October, the date promised by Whole Builders all along.

The TCFM “Design Team” and the volunteers it coordinates (and maybe the subcontractors it hires) will finish up the work. This may take longer than mid-October, but hopefully the work that remains will not prevent us from using most of the building.

The “chicken & egg” problem I am bringing to you is that we are running out of the money we have budgeted, and we don’t know how much we should change gears and “make do,” with what is left.

We can “make do” just fine, but we will sacrifice some quality, convenience and efficiency. If the TCFM community has more money available, we can continue to invest more now in work which will save us money and disruption in the long run.

So I’m asking, please pledge what you can, or just send money.

We need to know, no later than next Sunday, September 6, how much money you think you can offer.

I’m talking extra money here, beyond what you already expect to give to the Meeting this year.

Please send your money to:

Treasurer

Twin Cities Friends Meeting

1725 Grand Avenue

Saint Paul MN 55105

Please note on your check: “Extra for construction”.

Pledges of extra money you can contribute this year can also be sent to the treasurer, or you can email them to

clerk@tcfm.org

The response to this appeal in it’s first week has been very gratifying, and here’s an example of how that money has made a difference:

We recently discovered that parts of the library window had rotted away. In “we can make do” mode, we might have patched the rotten areas. If the patches didn’t hold, we notice, and work on them some more. And we would have saved the meeting a chunk of money, this year. However, several professionals have been clear this is not advisable. For the over-all health of the building it is much preferable to get a whole new bank of four windows that will be trouble-free for years, with a full warrantee. Because of the money that was pledged last week, MOMSAH felt confident to order the new windows.

We have several choices like this, and it is hard to make them when we are in the dark about how many extra $$ the community has available.

So, as Clerk of Meeting, I am asking you all to make pledges or send money, ASAP.

We don’t need all the money ASAP, but we need, quickly, to have an idea of what we can expect.

I understand that our Development Committee is launching a formal fund drive in the fall, and they will follow up on pledges, as well as reaching everybody in the community, which this appeal surely will not.

This is like shaking the piggy bank, just to get an idea of how much is in there.

Time is of the essence here, rather than completeness.

Any response from you, whether it is “I’m maxed out” or a $5 donation, will help MOMSAH and the Design Team know how much more we have available.

In closing, I’ll offer another example of how knowing what resources we have available has been extremely helpful in the decision-making process: the Meeting Room walls.

Because we know we have the money, it makes sense to patch the cracks and paint the Meeting Room walls as part of completing the project, before the sound-dampening panels go back on. Without the money that was pledged last week, we might have waited until later to patch and paint, which would have cost us more than it will now. By doing it next week we avoid the later renting of high scaffolding, which would have meant protecting the floor, moving much of the furniture out of the room, and a fresh wave of fumes making the building unusable for some, for a month or more.

Yours in faith,

Richard Fuller,

Clerk of TCFM

8/21/09

Before Any Construction

Yikes! We have to move everything out of the new addition!

The pianos,

the benches, and tables, shelving…

Empty the moldy rugs & furniture from the Grotto into the dumpster .

OK, now we’re ready for…

Getting Ready

Whole Builders (our design-build contractors) show up.

Some of the planners:

Whole Builders’ Mary Jane & Keith. TCFM’s Carolyn, EB & Mike.

This Building is Closed!

Doors are covered with schedules of meetings and maps to other locations.

Water & Mold Damage and Remediation

They began by sealing against mold contamination during mold removal before any walls or ceilings were ripped open.

The elevator and many doors and passages were sealed off.

The ceilings of several rooms were pulled down to find the mold. Walls were broken open and inspected.

Damage above stairwell.

Underside of roof deck.

Underside of roof deck

Under window and underneath floor in new classroom.

 

Window Damage 1

Window Damage 2

Soda blaster (at foot of back stairs).

Blast was so powerful it dug deep into the grain in the damaged spots, like the right corner of the window frame.

Of course the air was filled with toxic dust. This was scrubbed with an industrial air cleaner and then…

vented out through the FIR living room windows…

out of the building…

all the way past the compost piles and out to the alley.

First, get the old furnace off the roof.

Pull off the old roof membrane.

Looking down into parking lot. (That’s a roof drain in the center. It empties out by the back steps.)

The corner of the roof over the stairwell, so rotten it has to be replaced. (Don’t be confused by the roof access hatch cover, that has been moved off it’s access hole, temporarily.)

Above the stairwell in the new building, the roof deck is torn off.

New Roof

Roof decking on bad corner is replaced, extending all the way over to and around access hatch.

laying of new membrane begins.

First, more insulation than we had before, above the deck, under the membrane.

Insulation around that roof drain.

Then covered with membrane, in the corner next to the parking lot.

Of course, it’s not just the flat part of the roof…

there’s new flashing around the parapets.

The strips of membrane are sealed together with heat. (This is one of many places you are glad you paid for a high-quality subcontractor.)

That’s the top of the elevator.

We now know that the original roof, installed 17 years ago, had problems in the “bridge” area.

We are hoping for a better job, this time around.

Looking good…

View from the roof of the old house.

Happiness is a snug new roof over the Meeting Room!

Meeting Room

First, we cover the floor. (See “Fellowship Room,” below, for details.)

We don’t seem to have any photos of the ceiling coming down, and the huge amount of (suspect) insulation coming out. (Insulation was suspect because it was the same as allowed the sprinkler pipe to freeze over the bridge.)

Then, we inspect the underside of the roof.

No rotten trusses (whew)!

Only one spot of mold growing on rotten wood. (This plywood was replaced later, from up top.)

Fellowship Room

First, protect the floor (the same process that was done in the Meeting Room)

A waterproof barrier,

smoothed and taped.

Then overlaid with a hard surface, also taped.

Bring down the ceiling!

The light fixtures and water-stained acoustical tile are down.

Down comes the sheet rock and the insulation.

Underside of Meeting Room floor, above, is now accessible, almost ready for the installation of in-floor heating.

Back Steps, Adjacent Stucco and Sump Room

The area around the back steps was never sealed.

Nor was the area of wall behind the steps. There should have been stucco where you can see plywood, under the dark strip of flashing, behind the long white pipe.

This allowed water infiltration into the area just below, which happens to be the sump room.

This is the small room just behind the janitor’s closet/furnace room next to the bathrooms near the Fellowship room.

(The sump pump is supposed to keep the amphitheater from filling with rain and flooding into the Fellowship Room.)

Regular leakage from the area of the back steps over the years has increased our moisture and mold problems in the Fellowship area.

Plus some other things

Oh yeah, there’s the bridge ceiling, where the original sprinkler break was. There was water damage and mold around the windows, from rain getting in.

While we are at it, it seems important to improve the amphitheater drain. We’ve had flooding into the Fellowship room a couple of times.

Finishing the FIR apartment

The bathroom in the FIR apartment will be put back as it was before. We plan that most of the work will be done by TCFM volunteers.

The FIR kitchen will be significantly redesigned to include more storage space.

Looking Ahead

(Not including all the finish-work TCFM volunteers will be doing in the FIR apartment and elsewhere) as of mid-July, here are the major things Whole Builders still has on its list:

FIR, Trim, Casings, Base, Etc…

Flooring

Gas Pipe Union @ Fellowship Ceiling, R & R, Inspection, Etc…

HVAC Install @ Mtg Room @ Fellowship Room @ All In-Floor Tubing Install

Insulation @ FIR

Insulation @ Mtg Room

Insulation @ Fellowship Room

Mechanical Rough-ins

Mechanical Finishes, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Sprinkler, Fire Alarm, Smoke Detectors, Etc…

Plumbing, Install Sump, FIR plumbing, Remove & Replace, Etc…

Reinforce Truss, Roof Inspection-

Sprinkler Head, Remove & Replace, and Adjustments at Fellowship Ceiling and “Required Changes”

Stucco, R & R, Patching, Etc…

Window Install

Carpet Cleaning

Prime & Paint

INSPECTIONS

Project Take-down, Completion, Etc…

Punch List, Etc…

Stay tuned for the next photos.

Volunteers are needed to complement the work of MOMSAH and our contractor Whole Builders, and to reduce the construction costs. The main area of work is in the FIR apartment in order for it to be completed within the timeline of the rest of reconstruction. As such it is a finite commitment through September. Tasks are varied, and include everything from basic cleaning, painting, and staining wood to tiling and wood working. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Joe Landsberger at 651-297-9000 or jfl@studygs.net.

• A contract has been signed with Whole Builders, and they have obtained a permit for the work.
• We expect a dumpster on site and work to begin May 11. We will receive a work timetable in the next few days, after which we will be able to let Friends know what work will be done when.
• There will shortly be an opportunity to help Whole Builders lay down material to protect the Meetingroom floor, protect the Fellowship Room carpet, and remove the Fellowship Room ceiling. It is important to wait until Whole Builders lets us know they are ready for this help: a dumpster is on site, all permits obtained, the material has arrived, someone from WB can supervise, etc. If you are interested in participating, please contact Lynn Cibuzar and let her know typical times when you could be available to help. Lynn will be sending out an email to TCFM folks, inviting you to identify yourself as someone willing to be contacted to learn more about the specific needs and opportunities. Please reply to that if you are interested.
• It is really important that we follow Whole Builders’ lead when helping with this project. MOMSAH and the G-4 decision group have worked very hard to lay the groundwork for success, and TCFM cannot afford to have this work undermined. All help will be directed through MOMSAH. There will be times when no one besides WB and their subcontractors will be permitted in the building.
• Regular updates will appear in the Announcement Sheet and the website.
• Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the speedy preparation of the Mtghouse for the construction work, and for identifying the locations for TCFM to meet while the building is under construction.

Please adhere to these deadlines:

• Make requests for scholarships to Northern Yearly Meeting or Friends General Conference by priority deadline of May 1, or final deadline May 10, 2008. Those meeting the May 3 deadline will have priority. (Note: early FGC registration begins on-line on March 27-April 6, then opens up again April 11. Check registration materials for more on requesting scholarships or work grants from FGC.) Please note that TCFM funds are limited.
• All other requests need to be submitted at least six weeks prior to the event or Friends activity for which support is requested.

To request a scholarship, please download and complete the form linked below and send to Scholarship Committee, c/o Clerk, TCFM Meetinghouse, 1725 Grand Av. St. Paul, MN 55105.

• 2009 TCFM Scholarships Form

MOMSAH (Making Our Meetinghouse Safe And Healthy) was convened to select and work with a Design/Build construction firm to create a plan and implement the needed repairs. The plan is being finalized, and a construction contract will be signed with Whole Builders shortly.

Our estimated start date for construction work is May 4th, 2009. Work will continue for several months and will involve all three floors of the new addition. The building will be closed until at least the end of June. This work under contract with Whole Builders will include:

Dealing with Mold and Moisture:

• Mold remediation: FIR apt space, Stairwell and Bridge, Meeting room, Fellowship room, Furnace/sump room and Electrical room, and perhaps Library (to be determined, once FIR apt work starts). Extent of remediation will vary with the extent of the problem (the FIR apt space is in the worst condition).
• Removal of the main floor carpet.  (Replacement of it will be TCFM’s responsibility.)
• Repairs to the sump, and a new concrete floor in Furnace/sump room to keep out moisture.
• Sealing (moldy) ventilation ducts in concrete floor of Fellowship room.
• Repairing the Roof and Improving Insulation:
• Replacement of the roof membrane on the new addition, and evaluation of roof trusses.
• New highly energy-efficient insulation under this new roof membrane (requiring removal of ceilings of Meeting room, FIR apt, Bridge and Stairwell).
• Repair of the stucco walls if needed.
• Insulation of all exterior walls in the FIR space.

Upgrading the Heating and Ventilation Systems:

• New highly energy-efficient natural gas heating and ventilation system for FIR space.
• New highly energy-efficient natural gas system for heating and ventilation of the Fellowship room, Library and main hall, as well as for ventilation of the Mtg Room.
• New hot-water in-floor heating system for the Mtg Room, installed through the Fellowship Room ceiling.  This system will provide better comfort, silent operation, and energy efficiency, while giving TCFM the option later for solar pre-heating of the water.

Other Tasks:

Various tasks to finish the work will be needed, including sheetrocking, paintibng, and caring for the Mtg Room floor.  Many of these will be done in the Whole Builders contract, but several have been set aside for TCFM to do, and will be undertaken through POPSAH (Process of Proposing, Solving and Helping).

Questions about the project:    Check www.tcfm.org for ongoing updates and how to help, or contact MOMSAH co-clerks:  Elizabeth Barnard (651-776-7821) or Carolyn Carr (612-721-6021) carolynecarr@hotmail.com.

1. Decide on one or a small number of coordinators for this project
2. Decide on overall decorating scheme & arrange for purchase of non-toxic materials
3. Inventory existing appliances for suitability
4. Hang sheetrock -may not be needed
5. Tape sheetrock -may not be needed
6. Primer coat of paint – may or may not be needed
7. Paint
8. Finish bathroom
   1. install, toilet, sink & shower – may have been done
   2. tile walls
   3. lay floor covering
   4. install towel racks
   5. install lights?
   6. (bathroom exhaust fan already installed.)
9. Finish kitchen
   1. install floor covering for kitchen area.
   2. move appliances into place, arrange for gas stove to be connected
   3. Install counters, or has this been done?
   4. Wall treatments? Splash guards, etc. ?
   5. etc.
10. Finish living area
    1. Install carpet?
    2. etc.
11. Finish Bedroom
    1. Hang clothes bar in closet
    2. etc.
12. Finish entry/ storage area

Rough beginning & ending times for the work

Not yet known

Comments

In the comments area any TCFM community member is invited to enter any information you feel is relevant.

• If you think you have the time and skill to coordinate the work of others in this area, volunteer, or give us your rates.
• If you have particular skills you would like to offer to this project, let us know.
• Tell us about unused construction materials like bathroom tiling you would like to donate.
• Tell us what hours and what months you might be available to help.

Background

• When the Whole Builders construction contract is completed in the fall, a significant amount will remain to be done. (More on that in a moment.)
• Another upcoming challenge is that MOMSAH is an ad-hoc committee which is to be dissolved when its work is done. To the extent that work remains, we have always expected that it would be picked up by our standing committees, especially Trustees and Meeting House Committee. However, we are not there yet; we are at the BEGINNING of a significant and complicated process of transition.
• Because many TCFM members over the last year have said they wanted to help with construction, and have claimed that working with tools to remake our meetinghouse will be a great community-building experience, MOMSAH has left many potentially-fun tasks out of the construction contract with Whole Builders. Some of this will be the work of volunteers and some will be paid work for people who have skills not possessed by most of us.
• And who is going to coordinate this? This is WAY-too-big a one-time project, with time pressures, to dump in the lap of Meeting House Committee.
• Another layer of complexity is that while MOMSAH is focused on the “new” addition, there are projects in the old house which need to be coordinated with the new construction. For instance, it is silly to invest hugely in making the new addition mold-free while not at the same time attending to our moldy grotto.

Introducing POPSAH, the Process Of Proposing, Solving And Helping.

POPSAH is not a committee, as MOMSAH is.

POPSAH is a PROCESS that we will use to coordinate the transition from the MOMSAH-supervised construction process to the eventual resumption of regular building & repair responsibilities by Meeting House Committee and Trustees.
POPSAH is still being born, and we hardly know what it looks like yet, but it’s clear we can start by gathering information from all interested parties. So we are developing a Project List, and a Time and Skills Inventory. You can see an example of a project here: “Finishing the FIR apartment.”

For each project, MOMSAH will rough out the scope of work and then will hire a contractor or choose a coordinator or two, either paid or unpaid. MOMSAH will go over the guidelines (like, “use only NO-VOC paint”) and discuss the budget for this project.

Some projects, like “Remove nails from the ceiling in the Fellowship room” may happen during the time the Whole Builders contractors are working.

Projects & Inventories

Right now we are using the MOMSAH category of this website to share about upcoming projects and to get offers of time and skills from the community. We may change to another system for the two-way flow of information as things develop.

Generally, we will outline the the tasks that need to be done and we will have a way, like the “comments” section, for community members to provide input. For any project listed any TCFM community member is invited to enter any information in the comments area that you feel is relevant.

• If you think you have the time and skill to coordinate the work of others in this area, volunteer, or give us your rates.
• If you have particular skills you would like to offer to this project, let us know.
• Tell us about unused construction materials like bathroom tiling you would like to donate.
• Tell us what hours and what months you might be available to help.

Comments to this post:

On the individual projects, like “Finishing the FIR apartment,” we want ideas and offers like those listed just above.

For this post, please comment on the general idea of how we share information about work to be done and who might do it, that is, please share your ideas about the POPSAH process itself.

Most of the 22 attenders at the meeting expressed a clear preference, and all who did said they would like to see a Friend in Residence (FiR) living in the building. All those not present who sent their opinions also wanted a FiR.

Interesting facts that emerged:

• TCFM gets about $12,000 in revenue from outside group donations. We named 18 groups off the top of our heads, including AA, Friends and Families of Suicide,  the Royal Scottish Dance Society and Spiderwomen.
• Meeting House Committee had had a special meeting-long discussion in November and recommended we have a FiR. (The notes from that meeting are available from Meeting House Committee or Richard Fuller.)
• The FiR works 50 to 60 hours a month in exchange for a place to live, which works out to less than $10/hour, at current rental rates.
• Many churches do NOT have caretakers in residence.
• Our building is not compartmentalized so that outside groups can be limited to public space. Once they’re in, they can go almost anywhere. Most of those churches who rent have buildings designed so that whole wings can be locked off, denying entry to the general public. This offers them greater security than we would have, with low or no staff on site.
• If we have a FiR, unless the FiR is a family, there will be many hours of the day that the building will not be occupied. Whoever lives there also needs an income, which likely means working off-site.

Points of full agreement:

• First Day School (FDS) needs more adequate classroom space and the adult activities in the building would also benefit from more space. We would like to rebuild in such a way that more room is available for such meetings.
• Having someone living in the building provides a friendly presence, which includes

o    Convenience and ready answers for many questions, for both strangers and meeting members,
o    A sense of warmth,
o    Security.
A non-resident manager CAN perform the duties specified in the FiR job description, but something important is lost.

• The primary purpose of our building is to house meeting activities – First Day School, committee meetings, etc. Housing a FiR and hosting community groups come after that.

• No matter what we decide this spring, to advise MOMSAH of Meeting’s priorities, we must continue to work on the questions of how to provide more adequate space for children and adults.

Points of difference, discussion & concern:

Is what we want from a FiR realistic, or good for them?

• Is being FiR is a nourishing experience spiritually & economically?
• Being a full-fledged FiR is part ministry to the Meeting, and part exchange of services for remuneration.
• You need clear boundaries to protect your sanity. Requires certain stamina to put up with various interesting discussions & attitudes that sometimes come by.
• It can be a rich and rewarding experience.
• Who can tell the FiR what to do, everybody? One early FiR felt much put upon.
• It makes a lot of difference who is on Meeting House Committee and how they can support you.
• It depends a lot on the person in the job.
• It’s in the domain of loving service, and if you don’t feel it, you shouldn’t be there.
• Because WHO the FiR is, is important, we should accept that we might decide to have the apartment and then not fill it when the right person doesn’t show up. We could have a FiR apartment and use an outside manager for some time if that’s what works.
• The apartment is small with or without the extra room. There’s a limited amount of space to drop your stuff.
  On other hand, it’s part of a nice big house.
• What we offer to a prospective FiR doesn’t have to be either-or. We might offer more than the living space as compensation for services.

Do we return the FiR apartment to its original one-bedroom size?

• (Legally the room that was annexed to the apartment in about 1996 cannot be called a “bedroom” because it does not have a closet. Legally, it was called a “living room.”)
• The 1996 expansion provided more that just the “living room” for FiR use. Moving the apartment’s exterior door closer to the stairs also added valuable storage space in the new entryway. The original apartment had very little, even for coats and boots.
• Sometimes the “living room” was convenient for overnight guests. We might want to design the extra room as easily convertible so it could be part of FiR space when it made sense, and available for FDS under other circumstances. Perhaps a hybrid used by both FiR AND FDS?
  Regardless of decision on primary use of that room, we can ask MOMSAH to make that space as flexible as possible. Much agreement on this.
• Can the apartment be rebuilt to expand it into the big empty area over the stairs? [A little, but because of the fire-rating called for in stairwell walls, it would be expensive to do much. -Whole Builders.]
• Offering a one-bedroom apartment is minimal, but that’s true for other aspects of Meeting life. First Day School classrooms are minimally satisfactory, or not even that, depending on who you talk to.
  “What we can get away with” is kind of what the entire conversation is about – we ask the same questions re FiR and FDS. We hope not to shortchange anyone too much.

How do we meet all or most of TCFM’s needs within the confines of our current building?

• Whatever we decide this spring, we may need additional space- e.g., in Ramsey School or the Council of Churches building – the future needs of meeting are unknowable – FDS may be at its peak. We know there are ebbs & flows. There’s no final solution to the building’s limitations.
• If the FDS population is at peak, it’s because there is no more space. Some sensitive members of the FDS community might hear that as not welcoming or nurturing of children; FDS committee can’t be viewed holding ALL the responsibility for our kids. We need to think of the whole meeting’s responsibility to kids.
• We’re talking about values we hold. We want to be friendly to neighborhood, and FIR helps us project this warmth. AND we want to care for our children. This IS a community-wide concern, not just FDS committee’s job. The fact that the building doesn’t seem large enough to do everything we’d like is a meeting-wide challenge.
• We need to question the idea that we necessarily need space outside of our current address. The building as presently configured isn’t working well, but our current real estate may be able to adequately support the number of FDS kids who actually come each week.
• How can we grow Quakerism without growing the building?
• Has community gotten too large for this space? (The “bud meeting” question.)

o    The group as a whole is open to have either WB’s environmental contract consult the project or Lane’s.

*Concerns/questions related to Whole Builders proposal:

o    HVAC:

• Will the two zone system located in the lower level still be as loud (or louder) then the existing furnace?
• What are the cost options if we leave the existing Roof Top Unit and only add a new unit to the FIR and new unit to the lower level?

o    Action: Jeremy and Mike will meet with WB and their Mechanical sub this week before Business for Meeting to better understand their mechanical approach.
o    Ceiling in the Meeting Room and FIR apartment:

• Minimize sheetrock removal
• Are we open to ceiling replacement with an acoustical suspended system allowing
  • Increased acoustics
  • Future access i.e. inspection, wire additions, any need for access
  • Less costly to install and replace/maintain
  • Down side – commercial appearance if not tastefully installed.

o    Why so much sprinkler removal work

• Mike and Jeremy will follow up

o    Roofing selection

• Would like additional quote
  • Mike and Jeremy will follow up with Kevin Neals contact at Dalsin Roofing
• Question – what makes this proposed roof any different then our existing 15 year roof?

* Mike and Jeremy plan on meeting with WB to review the new and improved Phase I list that the group decided on and hopefully put numbers to each item before the Meeting for Business this coming Friday.

In anticipation of that meeting the team of  Carolyn, EB, Jeremy & Mike got the following two documents:

1. An updated “Cost Summary Report” from Whole Builders.

wb-report-090206

An earlier version had been the subject of much discussion with Whole Builders, and this was their attempt to summarize our mutual understandings, at that point.

2. The next step in thinking about Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) from Whole Builders’ HVAC subcontractor, Sayler.

saylerproposal4

Both of these documents are merely installments in the ongoing discussion, and probably will be of little interest to most folks. Still, we are talking about large sums of money, and MOMSAH clerks felt even these interim documents should be posted so people can inspect them, if they wish.