transistion between wards’ primary

[Anonymous UserParticipant]

So here's my dilemma.

We have two wards in our building – meeting at 9 and 11 am.

We end our Primary at noon – the other ward's sacrament is to end at 12:10 pm.  When I was first called – the other ward's primary presidency would come in right as we were dismissing our classes.  They stated they needed time to set up for their primary – I concur, but it was causing difficulties for our primary to clean up – their closets are over ours, they were picking up our stuff and moving it, etc.  Finally we worked it out that we would make sure the chairs were straightened, the smaller chairs set up and they would wait a few minutes.

Well in the last month – twice their Bishop has released their congregation early – resulting in primary children coming in before we've had a chance to send ours out.  The first time I was out of town – but I contacted my bishopric to ask them to handle the issue.  When it happened again this week – I was livid and although I acknowledged I felt the Bishop was responsible – I was upset at the other Primary Presidency.  They said none of their children came in but I sent one out that I knew was from their ward.  It took me until 12:10 to vacate due to having to trip over extra bodies. They feel they should be allowed to come in immediately as soon as we dismiss our children.  Since being called I expect the children to straighten chairs, clean up and sit quietly – so it may be a minute or two after noon that they leave the room.

Other ward buildings that I know of with only two wards – meet at 9 am & 1 pm – no problems.  And I've served in the presidency before where we had 3 or 4 wards overlapping and I don't remember this being an issue.

The Stake Primary pres was spoken with and the Bishops talked – resulting in their Bishop telling my Bishop I needed to be more tolerant & Christlike.  Our presidency & music leaders have been bending over backwards to have the chairs straightened, room clean, our stuff put away – and all I get are demands for more time for them to prepare.  I'm even planning to have the children exit by the side door to help alleviate the traffic that piles up.

How do other ward primary's deal with this?  Do you have to deal with this?

[Jenny SmithParticipant]

It is difficult to have two units overlapping.  It sounds as if both groups are dealing with frustrating circumstances.

If circumstances around you aren't going to change (like stopping the time overlap), you will have to adjust your expectations or schedule to work with your goals for your Primary students.  Since you have an expectation that primary children clean up, and that expectation causes traffic issues with the other unit, it seems reasonable to include that as part of your closing exercises.  In other words, the closing prayer is given at 11:55am, allowing 5 minutes to clean up. During that time, students are not released to parents, but they are helping you clean and tidy up.

Can the placement of items in cabinets be moved around so that you have columns of storage instead of rows?

Can you ask each teacher to choose a class president who cleans up their row when class is over each day?  Can older children move the smaller chairs?  What other ways can you use the children in Primary to tidy up the messes they make?  Many hands make light work, right?

In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor annoyance. Be very cautious that you don't allow your frustration to affect your relationship with other servants in Christ.

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