[Nordskogen] Clarification on the Wednesday meeting site

[Giovanna]

Greetings to the Barony.
   
  I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify some things in regards to our Wednesday meeting site before the rumor mill got too far out of hand (and actually considering some of the things I heard last night it may be too late.)
   
  #1) We no longer have access to the large gym for our rapier practice on Wednesdays.
  This decision was made by the principal of the school Tuesday afternoon.  As far as I am able to determine this was an arbitrary decision on her part and not because of any wrongdoing by us or anyone else.  She decided to restrict the use of the large gym to school personnel only.  This effects not only us but other organizations who have rented this space.  Let me repeat: the decision by the administrators of this facility to limit the use of the large gym to school personnel only affects other organizations as well as the SCA and was not based on anything that we or other people have done.  
   
  #2) The large gym was never on our permit.  Our permit allows us access to the auditorium, cafeteria and a classroom.  It was amended to include the Large Gym until the auditorium could be cleared of it's debris.  The piles of chairs and tables have gone away as well as the greenhouse pieces.  The last communication that I received from the community ed was that we would be allowed to use the Large Gym until "further notice".  Well I guess the further notice happened last night.  The Principal contacted the St. Paul School permit office Tuesday afternoon and changed our permit back to it's original space. Unfortunately no one bothered to contact me or the Community Ed office to let us know that this had been changed, despite the fact that both of our names and contact numbers are listed on the permit. 
   
  #3 Our permit is good through the end of the school year.  It is my opinion that this should be our last year in this space and I have already contacted the Community Ed office about using a different facility within the St. Paul school district for the 2007-08 school year.  I would suggest that if anyone has an idea for a meeting space please contact the Seneschal, Lady Ellen. ladyellenthewise at yahoo.com
   
  #4 What now?  I'm not sure.  I do not think the cafeteria is a suitable solution for anyone and I do not want to see the rapier fighters put down there and I don't want to have to meet down there (although there are worse things).  The custodian brought to my attention that our permit simply says "a classroom" and she suggested that if there was "a classroom" that would work for our general meeting area/ hang out space we could use that and the rapier fighters could use the auditorium.  While I admit this is not a perfect solution, it may be the best we can do at this time.  I have already contacted Steve Baldwin at Community Ed to make him aware of the lack of communication from the permit office and to request that we be allowed to use the Media Center for our meeting space.  This is the area that is now the library and used to be the old gym.  If this can be done we should have just as much space to socialize and the rapier fighters (while having a reduced space) will
 still have a suitable location for their weekly practice and no one has to sit in the cafeteria.  I'm waiting to hear back from community ed to see if this can be arranged.  It is possible that the social space may be down in the cafeteria next week, depending on how quickly things can be worked out.  
   
  May I be the first to offer my apologies to the rapier community for the inconvenience last night.  Obviously if I had been made aware of the change in our permit I would have informed Faelen.   Unfortunately the communication from the permit office was not forthcoming and we were all left with a rude surprise when we arrived.  It is my hope that using a different facility will alleviate such disruptions.
   
  When the weekly meeting was discussed at December's business meeting it was decided to use the community parks for the Summer as we did last year.  I would suggest that we consider starting this in May, instead of waiting until June.  This leaves us 13 more weeks at LEAP, probably less since Spring Break is in there somewhere and we won't have access to the school that week.  May 2nd could be our first outdoor meeting and we could begin at the Veteran's Park in Richfield.  Too bad our weather does not allow us to use public spaces all year long, it would be so much easier....
   
  I hope to hear back from the Community Ed office this week and will work with them to make suitable alternative arrangements.  I will keep the Barony informed of all discussions.  If you have any specific questions that I have not addressed please feel free to contact me.  
   
  Giovanna

 
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