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This is Barbara's 4/25/03 response

Response to List – Ownbey and Room 109

   1)       Size of Room 109: On Monday, April 28 at 6:30pm options for new spaces will be presented and determined based on Seniority of classes and size. 109 is not to be considered a space appropriate for the Ownbey class.
   2)       Noise of Unit: Everything that can be done on the unit and surrounding area has been done. Because of the air flow requirements no additional buffers can be added. Because of moisture problems a doubling of glass or plexi-glass window was not considered.
   3)       Heavy curtains were considered but because of the small size of the window it is felt impractical and would darken the room with a closed in feel. Per Wayne: “As for blinds and/or shutters, we are working with a contractor to purchase and install blinds for numerous locations. Once we find the necessary money we will proceed with the rooms in the order they have been requested.”
   4)       Whiteboards – Barbara just can’t find time to make that decision for all the spaces and would prefer to hold off until room assignments for the coming year are   made.
   5)       Bulletin Boards – Barbara can’t find what she wants to have hung in the spaces. I am looking for a finished (self-healing background (not cork)).
   6)       Washing Outside Windows – see word from Wayne. “The window for the entire new facility are coated with the mortar from the stone work. To clean all of them at this point before the new mortar dust and material has completely been washed away will unfortunately be futile for a while longer. We will attempt to what we can.”
   7)       Parking – Starting times for services is a decision of the Senior Pastor. I have already passed this recommendation on to our incoming Senior Pastor for his   consideration.
   8)       Web Site -   Look forward to seeing your class on the church’s web.
   9)       Time Overlaps – see above parking response
   10)   Atmosphere and furnishings – I am having book cases built for each of our new spaces. One that is complete is in room 105. One like this will be provided for your class in your new space.
   11)   Misc. – issue of hole in the wall has been passed on to Wayne Harrison and will be addressed; for piano tuning – let’s wait until you move into a more permanent room and then Les will have it tuned.

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Ownbey Sunday School Class

3720m Park Road

Charlotte, NC 28209

March 4, 2003

To Rev. Barbara Barden

List - Ownbey and Room 109

Below isthe list of items fortheOwnbey Class and room 109.Weare fortunate to be inthis wonderful new building, and our interest is to make it an even better spiritual environment and experience for our members.

A more complete discussion of the list is attached. We have not commented on whether the costs of the recommendations are budgeted and will need to rely on you for guidance in that area. Our class and officers are open to discussing this list with you and proceeding as you feel appropriate.

Thank you for you encouragement.

List summary:

1) Size ofRoom 109:

· Recommendation:Ownbey move from room 109 to either the Fellowship Room (110) or the Library, or to another location.

2) Noise of the air conditioning units:

· Recommendation: Room 109 needs very heavycurtains, thicker glass, shutters, perhaps hooded buffers toward the room as are attached to the othersides of the air conditioning, or some combination to cut down the "whine" of the air conditioning and to block the air conditioning view when needed.

3) Unattractiveness of the air conditioning view –

· Recommendation:Heavy curtains and / or shutters.

4) Whiteboards –

· Recommendation:Decision on the whiteboards can wait on room decision. In the meantime, we could use a movable board if there is an extra one.

5) Bulletin Boards - .

· Recommendation: Place bulletin boards to the left entering room. Couldbe installed no matter the decision on our room location.

6) WashingOutside Windows.

· One Solution:Memberswashthe windows if can be near air conditioning machinery.

7) Parking –

· Recommendation: Change starting times for various services and spread them out.

8) Web site –

· Your team has made afine start. Ownbeyappreciates being allowed to experiment.

9) Time Overlaps with Sunday School Hour –

· Recommendation: Consideration ofkeeping thehour open forSunday School classes and adjustingtimes for Church in the Round.

10) Atmosphereand furnishings in the Ownbey Class Room –

· Recommendation: Repairpresentitems. Search the basement and other church areas for suitable unused furnishingsbefore considering buying new ones. Membersvolunteered to check their attic.

11) Miscellaneous:We arelooking for a Bible given in honor of Dr. Peck and four hymnals.An openhole in the wall in 109 should be closed. A light fixtures needs alignment. The piano needs tuning.

Donald S Redding

President Ownbey Sunday School Class

Ownbey Sunday School Class

3720m Park Road

Charlotte, NC 28209

March 4, 2003

Rev. Barbara Barden

Ownbey and Room 109

We are excited to be in the Parish Life Building. As we discussed February 14, several items remain to be resolved; and as you askedwe are listing them along with solutions we considered or recommend. We have not commented on the costs of the recommendations and will rely on you for guidance in this area.

While this list concentrates on items needing possible correction, we recognize there are many wonderful aspects ofthe class room area ofthe Parish Life Building. It is new and fresh, inspiring and conducive tospiritual growth, conducive tobecoming acquainted with more church members,easier to get to, close to other classes our age, close to the Education Department and other departments, etc., and even the coffee service isworkingwell. The library will be wonderful when it is open as a place to study before or after class Sundays or other days.

Here is the list:

1) Size ofRoom 109:

· Recommendation:Ownbey move from room 109 to either the Fellowship Room (110) or the Library, or to another location.

A) Lou Bledsoe wrote recently," I thought it was obvious Sunday that our classroom is too small. The present classroom used by the Fellowship class is ideal and that room is too small for them. Hopefully you will point that out to Barbara and she can move them to a larger room ( such as the library) and let us have their room where we enjoy fellowship without feeling like we are sardines. Not trying to be cute but I believe we're going to grow in size and need to have a room where we can feel comfortable with growth."

B) Sydnor Thompson said as he got up to teach oneSunday that he supported a move involving Fellowship / Library as "this is a little tight." With those two logical minds thinking the same thing, I believe we have a point.

C) We had 59, 46, 29, 55, and 56 the Sundays in the new building. The room can handle 30 satisfactorily, but over that it is too tight as welearned on four out of five Sundays.Last year we averaged 30.8 but some Sundays peaked with many more. For the last few years our average has been :

1997    36.14
1998    36.16
1999    36.18
2000    36.12
2001    34.77
2002    33
2003 in old building 33.33
2003 in new building 48.8 (a 30% increase over 2002)

D) We have older records we could search and calculate, but the above suggests we are going to average over 30, with higher peaks, even when the newness of the Parish Life Building wears off. Much over 30 and the room is tight.

E) Our preference is to stay in the Parish Life Building, although some members (including Jack Copeland Sunday)asked if we could go back to the old room.

F) The enthusiasm for the new building probably is attracting larger class attendance. It could wane and the numbers drop. Even so Ownbey attendance would have to drop below our historical figures for the room to be sufficient. A study by Bill Pearce disputes this assertion somewhat; I am basing my assessment on having been in the room every Sunday since it opened..

G) Bill Pearce made some size estimates which probably should be confirmed.

1) It does not appear Fellowship would get more space if they moved to theLibrary. If we moved to Fellowship we would pick up 100 square feet or12.5%, a modest increase butrelief, and we would be away from the air conditioning whine.

2) Bill Pearce quotes someone's rule of thumb saving the Ownbey space should handle 100 people, but I believe with 100 wewould not have room for any open space or furnishings otherthan chairs.

3) Sizes are:

(a) Ownbey – 800 square feet

(b) Library – 900 square feet

4) unless the above figures are wrong, we do not see Fellowship moving.

H) Use of room 109 as the Library would not require the same ability to hear over the air conditioning as a discussion class requires. A problem withmoving the library to 109 is the loss of a closet. There are closets on the other side of the wall in 109 toward the elevator and, as in our old room,a door could be cut through. Costs money, of course.

· Recommendation:Ownbey move from room 109 to eitherthe Fellowship Room (110) orthe Library, or to another location.

2) Noise of the air conditioning units:

· Recommendation: Whatever the use for room 109, it needs very heavy
curtains, thicker glass, shutters, maybe hooded buffers toward the room as are attached to the othersides of the air conditioning, or some combination to cut down the "whine" of the air conditioning and to block the air conditioning view when needed.

A) We have experimented with four major seating arrangements, and the noise is a problem in all. It is a problem because the whine becomes worrisome and it can be hard to hear the teacher, though so far ours have compensated well. At times it is not easy to hear comments from class members in our discussions butacknowledge all of that is not the fault of the room. We try to be a discussion class, not succeeding at times, and we need to be able to hear well.

B) Turning down the fan in the room does not help reduce the sound (much), the main noise coming from outside.

C) An architect member of the class says that doing a buffer to muffle satisfactorily the sound would be hard. Here are his comments:

· "However, may I say my second major in college was Acoustics and I can tell you right now that we will not resolve the air conditioning problem without major fenestration application of, at the very least, another layer of insulated glass for further isolation or very thick drapery ...”

D) You mentioned use of a microphone. I am not sure how that works in a discussion class. We would have the whine of the air conditioning. I notice Fellowship has one, but then heard it is going back to another class.

E) The Fellowship class also has an air conditioning whine but not as loud as 109.

· Recommendation: Room109 needs very heavy curtains, thicker glass, shutters, maybe hooded buffers toward the room as are attached to the othersides of the air conditioning, or some combination to cut down the "whine" of the air conditioning and to enable the air conditioning view to be blocked when needed.

3) Unattractiveness of the air conditioning view – theissue mentioned at the beginning by the Gourleys –

· Recommendation: Shutters and / or curtains.

4) Whiteboards- We would like more board space for writing by the teachers than we had in the Youth Building. We prefer permanent boards for several reasons, including ease of use, but a mobile one similar to the one in Fellowship would work until we know whether or not we will move. We use a flip chart now,loaned by a class member, but we need more room to write..

· Recommendation:Decision on the whiteboards can wait on room decision. In the meantime, we could use a movable board ifthere is an extra one.

5) Bulletin Boards - Need large ones.

· Recommendation: Place Bulletin Boards to the left entering room. Couldbe installed no matter the decision on our room location.

6) WashingOutside Windows. We can open the window, just one side will open, but we cannot wash the outside from the inside through the one opening.

· One Solution: Should we members of the classwashthe windows? We will try if ok for us to get near the air conditioning machinery.

7) Parking - is hard and hard to solve, especially for some of our less healthy folks.The handicapped places fill quickly, as do other spaces close by.

· Recommendation: Change starting times for someservices and spread them out. We know this is a tough one. We have no solution, otherwise. We have been through this exercise several times and know starting times arehard to change.

8) Web site –Your team is making a fine startresolving this issue for the church. Ownbeyappreciates being allowed to experiment.

You can see what Ownbey has on the church site athttp://www.mpumc.org/ownbey/home. More would becompleted, but it takes a while to learn the program. We will tell Patrick when we are ready to link to the church web site.

9) Time Overlaps with Sunday School Hour –In the last month, there were several eventsduring Sunday School hours –the ushers’ meeting, the columbarium meeting, Dr. Jones, the Al Staggs / Bonhoeffer session, the Communion Services, etc., and Church in the Round running late..

A) These overlaps present a dilemma to people wanting to support their Sunday School classes but also want to the attend the extra event. They hurt attendance in Sunday School, and overlook the importance of the efforts of the Sunday School teachers in their preparation. We had the smallest attendance the day of the Al Staggs session. True there was ice that day,but many Ownbey members were at the Staggs event, and we had 29 in Ownbey.

B) The late exits of Church in the Round and late entry to Sunday School Classescause some disruption inthe Sunday School classes.

· Recommendation: Consideration of the need of keeping the Sunday School hour open forSunday School classes and ofadjusting the times for Church in the Round

10) Atmosphere and furnishings in the Ownbey Class Room - The class enjoyed our previous room and the members were fond of it. It was, however, not an attractive room,andit could have passed for a commercial conference room.That was our fault as no member did much about it. I now learn others had the same thoughts. With the new facilities, we have higher hopes for keeping it attractive and conducive to its purpose. We do not want to junk it up,and we are considering some tasteful drawings and other items for the walls and room.We like having Rev. Ownbey with us, thanks.

The furnishingscould add more to he atmosphere. Maintenance found and replaced one table with a smaller one but was unable to replace the other.We need both tables because of no Bulletin Board, but one, primarily to leave space for seating, probably would suffice with a bulletin board were we to stay in the room,The coat rackis unattractive,takes up seating space,but is needed as there is no provision for coats in the class rooms area. A table is wobbly, and has a wadded up sheet of paper under a leg trying to keep it steady for the class secretary. The speakers stand is wobbly and sometimes falls apart, which maybe I can repair and will try. Storage space is limited even with the cabinet obtained from our old room.

· Recommendation: Repairpresent items. Search the basement and other areas for suitable unused furnishingsbefore considering buying new ones. Class membersvolunteered to check their attic.

11) Hymnals - we have 37 and are supposed to have 40. We will keep looking.

12) Bible given the class in honor of Dr. Peck is missing.We will keep looking.

13) Miscellaneous An open hole in the wall should be closed or an electrical outline installed. There are no wires andit is not a safety hazard. A light fixture needs alignmentt. The piano needstuning. I hear that process has started.

Donald S Redding

President Ownbey Sunday School Class

March 4, 2003