CH Evening & Wknd Schedule Changes

An open letter from Ann Koonce, owner of Jazzercise of Chapel Hill and Durham:

Dear Jazzercisers,

I am writing to let you know about a big change that is coming to the evening and weekend classes in Chapel Hill. We have been holding Jazzercise classes in elementary schools in Chapel Hill for the past 13 years. For the first 10 years, we secured our facilities through a partnership with Chapel Hill Parks and Rec and the Lincoln Center. When the Lincoln Center changed their financial policies with Parks and Rec, we were able to secure a rental agreement directly with the Lincoln Center. Last fall I was notified that the terms of our rental agreement would end at the end of this school year. As a result, I have been looking for a new space for our classes.

As you know, we have had two facilities on opposite sides of town. Knowing that we needed a new space for our classes gave me an opportunity to imagine how we might fashion a new schedule that would make all of our classes more accessible to as many students as possible. I looked at a map of Chapel Hill and started looking for facilities in the middle of town, hoping to find a single location that would split the difference between Ephesus and McDougle. I am very excited that I found such a facility and have secured rental space.

Our new space will at Amity United Methodist Church, on Estes Dr at the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. Amity has a great Fellowship Hall with a built-in stage, high ceilings and lots of windows. The flooring is commercial carpet, similar to Parkwood. If you are on Estes Dr looking at Amity, the Fellowship Hall spans the left-end of the church, overlooking the playground. Due to availability of Amity, as well as my desire to expand our weekend offerings, our new schedule will be:

- Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings from 6:00-7:00 pm. (Note the time change, and no Wednesday class)
- Sunday at 4:00 pm (Many of you have been asking for this!)

We are tentatively set to begin this schedule on Monday, March 22, but I am awaiting confirmation.

So, the next question is “What about Saturday morning classes?” I am also excited to tell you that the Community Center Gym will be available on Saturday mornings beginning March 27th. This gym is the largest of all of our facilities and will allow us to go back to a single class on Saturday mornings. Due to the hours at the Community Center, our new Saturday class time will be 8:45-9:45 am. We have been guaranteed this space through the summer, and will hopefully be able to negotiate the space through basketball season as well. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!

Change of any sort is hard, and while I know this will be a very positive move for most of you, I am particularly sensitive to those students to whom this will pose a challenge due to class time and/or geographical location. Please know that I value all of you and your presence in our classes, and I do not take these changes lightly. I am hopeful, however, that overall this will be a great move for us. And one of the first benefits will be that we don’t have to cancel class during CHCCS spring break!

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will confirm the start date as soon as I know for sure, and I look forward to this next chapter with you!

Sincerely,
Ann


P.S. If you are a CHCCS employee and have not received communication from me about how this will affect you, please notify me and I will forward the e-mail. Thanks!