Submitted by: Bart Solomon, President BoT
As many have you have probably heard we will be losing our wonderful DRE, Kay McCurdy, next year as she will be moving away from Chattanooga. It seems just yesterday that I served on the committee that hired Kay but it was way back in 2009. For all these years we have been blessed with Kay’s remarkable talent, love and passion for her job. Our ministers since have all commented to me how incredible Kay is as our DRE, and having seen a dozen DRE’s, I could not agree more. We will truly miss her and replacing her is a daunting task.
Fortunately for us, Kay has graciously agreed to stay until May to give us time to do a proper search for her replacement. A DRE search committee, headed by VP Mary Lou Reed has already done great work organizing for the search. Part of their work will be to seek input from the congregation about where we want to go with the DRE position. This congregation has a long history of strong religious education programs and over the last ten years has significantly increased the financial support and professionalism of the DRE position. Can we go even further with a full time DRE/lifelong learning position or should we stay with our 3/4 position? Will the congregation support an increased financial commitment? These are just two of the many questions that the congregation will be polled about.
I thought that understanding some history of Kay’s tenure would help us all in finding answers for our future and asked Kay to write the following piece:
From 2007-2009, I happily served as the lead Nursery worker at the UUCC. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with our youngest UU’s, and with families in our church.I spent my Sunday mornings playing with trains, reading stories, and cuddling babies. Everything I most love doing with wonderful little ones, and I was actually getting paid. Sweet!
In the spring of 2009, our DRE at the time gave notice that she would be leaving the position. As a parent with 2 children in the RE program, I was already a believer in the importance of a liberal religious education. Although my background was primarily in working with developmentally disabled and mentally ill adults, I felt I had a lot to offer (love+energy) the children and families of the UUCC, and submitted my resume. The search committee took great care to find their new DRE, and I appreciated their thorough vetting process. After my final interview, I was grateful to learn that the search committee had recommended me for the position, the Board had given their stamp of approval, and I began serving as half-time DRE in July of 2009.
I was the church’s fifth DRE in five years: Beloved DRE Dolores Wood had become ill and taken a leave of absence; Maddie Kertay served as Interim DRE for 1 year; Amy Ziegler then served for 1 year; and, just prior to me, Jamie Sullivan served for 2 years.
When I began as DRE, we had 2 classrooms (K-8 and 9-12) and approximately 10-12 children and youth regularly attending. Within that first year, with more families attending, we began offering three classrooms (K-3rd; 4th-8th; 9th-12th). For 2 consecutive years, we also offered a pre-school classroom for ages 3 & 4, as well. We’ve seen weekly attendance grow to as high as 35-40 children, and dip to as low as 10 (summer attendance being historically the lowest). Currently, we are experiencing the after-effects of having so many teens graduate from our program, with attendance averaging between 15-20 on many Sundays, and occasionally welcoming 25-30.
Attendance, as any DRE can attest, often fluctuates wildly from one year to the next. As a DRE, the curriculum and classroom prep I perform each week is the same, whether 5 or 25 kids show up, and that can often feel discouraging. But, just as we have experienced change as a program, our families have also had to adapt to the world around them. 21st century families have a staggering number of demands on their time, and what we once viewed as “regular” church attendance (3-4 Sundays per month) has now become 1-2 Sundays per month. Two working parents, shared custody, extracurricular activities, academic enrichment: these are just a few of the reasons our “at church every Sunday like clockwork” family is now often our “at church once a month” family.
A bit of what we’ve accomplished since 2009:
- Began offering the UUA’s Our Whole Lives sexuality education curriculum. (This is especially meaningful, as this program was long championed by UUCC founding member and RE superstar, the great Helen Solomon.
- Children and youth attend annual Youth Conferences at The Mountain.
- We create and lead three RE Sunday services.
- UU Kids summer day camp.
- Moved DRE position to 3/4 time.
- Opportunities for community service and social justice activism for our children and youth.
- UUCC youth served as Youth Caucus staff at UUA General Assemblies in Portland and Columbus.
- RE Family trips, with our most recent being to visit the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, and an upcoming trip planned to visit Native American sites in North Georgia.
- UU Beach family dinners in June.
Over the past nine years, our program has grown and evolved, and carried out the mission of this church through our work with children and families. The credit for this growth and evolution must be given, first and foremost, to the tireless volunteers who staff our classrooms. Without them, our program simply would not exist. It is equally important to give credit to the congregation, whose financial support, and commitment to the children and families of our church, has kept us not only afloat, but thriving. Our church Board never ceases to amaze me with their willingness to go the extra mile to insure that RE has the resources needed for not only the present, but the future, as well. I’ve been extremely lucky to work with three ministers during my time as DRE: Jeff Briere, Pam Rumancik, and Cathy Harrington, all of whom made RE a priority in the life of the church. And last, but certainly not least, the children and youth who participate in our program, and invite us to grow in faith right alongside them.
Respectfully submitted,
Kay McCurdy
Director of Religious Education for Children & Youth
UUCC