Rockville Centre Herald

Letters to the Editor

Posted

An explanation from St. Mark’s

To the Editor:

Please allow me the opportunity to attempt to give some perspective to an issue that has garnered much attention in our community.

Recently, after much prayer and discussion among our board of trustees and church council, St. Mark’s United Methodist Church came to the difficult decision to decline the renewal of the business relationship regarding space in our church building being leased to the St. Mark’s Cooperative Nursery School. 

We know that this is not an easy change for any of us to make, but ultimately we believe it will be in the best interests of our church, the school itself and the children and families who attend the cooperative nursery school.

As you may know, in order to secure our survival as a house of worship and community center and to provide for our future, St. Mark’s sold part of our property, which contained our former parsonage. 

One of the results of the sale was the pressing necessity of building a new parsonage to house pastors and their families now and in the coming years. It is mandated by the general church that pastoral housing be provided. But it is more than a physical dwelling or meeting a mandate: it embodies the hope of the church moving forward. 

Pursuant to Rockville Centre zoning code, the only plot available is the property on which the playground now resides. To replace the old playground, our church offered to provide an area of 4,000 square feet and stock it with state-of-the-art equipment. It would have cost $75,000. 

Unfortunately, the nursery school has told us that it requires a much larger area. We simply do not have enough property to allow for this while retaining the character of the St. Mark’s property that we know the community values. 

Our position and offer was once again relayed to representatives of the school in September 2014. We asked for a decision. Since that time we have had no response from either the school or its counsel.

Given that we can no longer adequately meet the needs of the cooperative nursery school, it seems best for all parties that we terminate the relationship so that the school can find a home that better suits its needs. In light of the above, the board of trustees and the members of the congregation that comprise our church council have decided that the best course of action to allow for growth and opportunity for the congregation of St. Mark’s going forward is to regain and open the space which is now utilized by the nursery school. 

We are in the process of developing several missional visions in this regard and will share our plans with the community when we know more about the programs we can offer. 

We wish the school every success as it seeks to relocate and, where possible, we will do whatever we can to be of assistance.

Rev. Robert Grimm

Pastor, St. Mark’s United Methodist Church    

From the nursery school’s point of view

To the Editor:

Pastor Grimm’s letter claims that our school demanded a much larger area than 4,000 square feet for the new playground. His distorted perspective neglects key facts related to the playground issue. In fact, Pastor Grimm was present at the initial July 2013 meeting and has been copied on the subsequent emails by his own president of the board of trustees, Brian Birk.

His letter fails to disclose the church’s conditional offer that its congregation would share the use of the new playground. Our nursery school never asked for more than 4,000 square feet. The only expectation was for the church to follow through on its word.

The church leadership states that St. Mark’s Nursery School is a separate entity, yet they have repeatedly refused to enter into a formal lease agreement with the school, opting to accept our monthly rent as a donation. On Jan. 28, Pastor Grimm sent a certified letter to our school’s director, Shirley Perri, notifying the school to vacate from its home of 47 years by June 30.

As a separate entity, the school pays for its own insurance, which covers its students. When this was cited as an issue with regard to their congregation’s use of the playground, Rick Spoering, the church board’s former chairman, proposed the idea of having the church find coverage for both the church and the school’s use of the playground. When the school followed up with this proposal, insurance and liability was never again mentioned.

St. Mark’s Nursery School is bound by licensing and registration requirements set forth by the Office of Children and Family Services and the State Education Department. These requirements exist for the safety of the students in the school and those authorized to use the playground.

In addition to the regulated square footage requirements, any equipment installed must be age-appropriate for children 2 to 5 years old. At a meeting last June 17, we provided a letter to Brian Birk outlining these regulatory requirements. We even offered to help fundraise and donate our own equipment to help the church save on costs.

On July 18, we received drawings of the proposed playground from Brian Birk. The allocated space for ages 2-5 was approximately 1,700 square feet, containing only our own donated equipment. On July 22, we responded that this area was too small to allow even our smallest class of 10 children to use the playground at the same time. Their response was that under no circumstances will the amount of square footage change. Pastor Grimm and Rick Spoering were both copied by Brian Birk on all of the aforementioned correspondence.

The issue with the playground was not mentioned as a reason in their vacate letter. We believe that Pastor Grimm’s letter distorts the facts in an attempt to blunt the public outcry from the community over the pending displacement of St. Mark’s Nursery School.

Alison Spahn, Jeannie Evans and Shirley Perri

St. Mark’s Nursery School Administration

And the Oscar goes to…

To the Editor:

Rich McQuillan, the broker/owner of Exit Links Reality in Rockville Centre, deserves an award for creating “We Care.” His organization involves local young people who volunteer in various community service projects around town during the year.

Rich is especially aware of the challenges facing seniors who may need some support in order to maintain their homes. He created a task force of approximately 20 teenagers within his organization, called “We Dig Seniors.” One of their projects has been to help Rich shovel the driveways and sidewalks of seniors. How great is that?

So the award goes to Rich McQuillan, who deserves to be acknowledged for not only creating and carrying through his “We Care” vision, but for inspiring our youth to realize that appreciation and thank-yous are often more valuable than financial or material rewards.

Naomi Schoen

Rockville Centre