The Board thanks everyone who came to the Mid-Winter Meeting. Those attending did some good work and had a good time doing it.  Lynn Jacobs has typed up all of the notes from the suggestions made for the Covenant of Right Relations Task Force to use.  Three people have volunteered to work with me on the Task Force and we would like to have a couple more.  If you are interested in helping to compile the suggestions for the Covenant of Right Relations into a document that we can work with over the next couple of months, please contact me by eMail. It should take just a few meetings to complete our work.  Then the draft will be widely shared for discussion and suggestions.  Our goal is to have a completed Covenant of Right Relations for approval by the congregation at our Annual Meeting in June. 

As we promised at that the December 18th Listening Session, the Board has reviewed the comments made at the Listening Session and other comments that have been shared with us regarding the Disruptive Behavior Policy.  At our January meeting, we made revisions to the original policy and hope that you will read it on the UCN website by clicking here. 

The Disruptive Behavior Policy is quite different from the Covenant of Right Relations that we began at the Mid-Winter Meeting.  A Covenant of Right Relations is an agreement among all members on how we will treat each other.  It reflects our highest aspirations for the beloved community that we desire and each person’s role in creating that community.  

The Disruptive Behavior Policy is a process for the Board to follow if we are presented with an extreme situation involving individual behavior. These situations have arisen very infrequently, but a process needs to be in place to deal with the rare problem that may arise. There are several steps involved in the process.  When confronted with such a problem, the Board will form a committee to work with the person. The committee gathers as much information as possible about the situation and meets with the individual to define the problem and work out behavioral parameters that will help guide the individual and hold him/her accountable for his/her behavior. After working with the individual, the committee makes a recommendation to the Board regarding the action to be taken. The behavioral guidelines established with the individual may be sufficient to allow the person to continue to be a full participant in church activities. In some cases, the committee may recommend that the individual be excluded from some church activities but participate in others.  When an agreement cannot be reached or the behavior poses a serious risk for others, the person may be excluded from all church activities.  The person remains a member of the congregation and can petition the Board at a future date to participate again. In that case, a committee would again meet with the person to develop behavioral guidelines for his/her return and make a recommendation to the Board. This process has been followed several times in the church’s history and has now been made a part of our Policies and Procedures Manual. 

We all care deeply about our UCN community and aspire to be the beloved community that we envision. Thank you for everything you do for the Unitarian Church of Norfolk.

Karen Forget, President