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to you tonight as a Chapel Hill-Carrboro teacher. If it were all about money, I would be speaking to you as a resident of Chapel Hill and as a parent of two students in the Chapel Hill district. Instead, I am speaking to you as a very appreciative member of this community; one who has chosen to make Orange County my home - a place to raise my children, make lifelong friends, to put down some roots. I know of no lovelier county in our State. I so enjoy the rural area in which I live where I can watch deer frolic in my front yard and greet the cows each morning as I drive to work. I appreciate all of your efforts that have been made that make those experiences possible. However, I also enjoy strolling down Franklin Street; cheering on the Tarheels at the Dean Dome; shopping at University Mall; and dining at Top of the Hill, Redmans, and Mama Dips. At no time during my travels across this County has anyone asked which side of the line I live on or where my children go to school. You see, I love this County, this whole County. I love, respect, and admire its wealthiest members, and its poorest ones; its most educated, and its most underprivileged; from the old well, to the Schley field; I love this County. However, I do not love what this invisible line has done to the citizens of Orange County. It has perpetuated the mindset of a village community and a share- cropping community. This invisible line has penetrated my workplace, my house of worship, and my home. Imagine my embarrassment and shock when my ten-year old reeled off what the Chapel Hill kids were like and asked innocently where the boonies ended and the city began. So I come to you a public servant and ask that you begin the tedious, painful task of removing that invisible line that now only exists in our school systems. I ask you to change the course of history -unite this County by very gently chiseling away at the prejudicial stereotypes that are in place. Unite this County by putting the children first, all children first. Say to this community that doing the right thing may be unpopular, even politically suicidal, but still right. Have your names written in the Orange County history books as the ones who cared enough to initiate change, to have realized that it was not all about money, and to acknowledge that the future of our County can no longer be hindered by a nearly century old invisible line. Thank you. Dana Thompson: Good evening, my name is Dana Thompson, and I have three children in the Orange County School system. The point tonight is for you to collect information. The irony is that most of what is said tonight you've heard before and you already know. You already know that the districts are unequal. The County district has a much higher number of disadvantaged students than the City district. You know that many of the factors that correlate with students' success -higher income, higher education level of the parents -are found predominantly in the City district, but not so in the County. You know that the tax bases are worlds apart. You know that many of your land use policies, good solid policies, aimed at preserving the rural parts of Orange County, are the very policies that limit the growth of our tax base and County district, and limit the growth in our schools. You know that every year the budget process, as well as the bond process for the schools, is a thinly veiled struggle between the districts. And you know that the battle is won every year by the school district that is bigger and faster growing. And this is what we will face for years to come. You know that you have a construction standard that makes school buildings equal between the two districts, but no standard that makes teachers equal or students equal. You know that the value of our children is infinitely greater than the value of our property. You know