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authority in referendum, we are compliant now with our current system, and yet we're not leaning on that as a reason not to make change and not to make creative change. This is a divisive and disrespectful issue for our communities. My chauffeur is not out there waiting to take me to my mansion here in Chapel Hill. I have a great deal of respect for my Orange County counterparts, and I am supportive of what they wish to accomplish through this effort. I'm not saying that we should not discuss, debate, or consider merger periodically. I am saying, however, that this is not the time to proceed with merger of the two school systems. I also would challenge you, as was done with the first speaker, I don't think the County Commission has the public support or credible platform to consider this issue and make a decision on it at this time. You were not elected with this openly a part of your term agenda. I've checked the relative election statements, and none of those speak to school merger. Therefore, the public did not have an opportunity to consider this in electing the Commissioners, who are here to represent all constituencies. And lastly, with all due respect, I do note that none of the Commissioners have students in any of the public schools in the County. Thank you. Vicki Hill: One main reason that my family moved to Orange County was to attend the year round school and to live in the country. We are 15 minutes away, and for six years have driven my daughter to Hillsborough Elementary, and we've picked her up. Hillsborough Elementary, being a year round school, has a very limited bus system. You cannot compare Hillsborough Elementary's end of grade scores with Grady Brown. They are different schools, their sizes are different, their resources and humans are different. Every school in Orange County makes a big effort to help educate their children, but they're all autonomous and very unique. I've been very active as a volunteer at Hillsborough Elementary. I've coordinated volunteers and I'm involved in the community. Being there for six years, I've gotten to know the faculty and staff and the administration. My daughter has been an academically gifted child in class since 2nd grade. So from 2nd to 5t" grade, she was receiving academically gifted coursework outside of the classroom. There was one AG teacher -the school was 390 kids. That teacher in 3rd grade, when my daughter was in 3rd grade, had 13 children learning algebra. She said she'd never had that many children learning algebra at one time before in 3rd grade. The next year and the year after, she did get an assistant. And each year that possibility of keeping her assistant has been challenged. So that's one AG teacher for a school of 390, and each year the enrollment, and the children being recommended to academically gifted classes at that school has increased, but the resources weren't. There are children who fall through the cracks and that's not fair. When parents come in as volunteers and help raise those end of grade scores like they've done at Hillsborough Elementary, which has been named for two years as a school of excellence, some of the other children fall through the cracks. There's an alternative school that has yet to open this year, I believe, in Orange County Schools. That alternative school has children who are high school level and they are not able to go to school for some reason during the daytime. This alternative school would meet at night, and in the past when it's been held, it met at night, and the teenagers would have computers and maybe one human to interact with them. The alternative school in Chapel Hill, as I understand it, is a daytime driven school and there is more than one person there to help the teenagers interact and learn. I urge the Commissioners to