Minutes - 20031016 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Chair Brown: Mr. Wilde, do you have a copy of the issues you brought forward? If you'd like to, just bring it over here or email it to us, that would be fine too. It is our adjournment time and we could take one more person, then we would have for our next meeting, and we definitely wanted to have you come to the next meeting, which is next Thursday up in Hillsborough at Cedar Ridge High School. Our adjournment is at 10:30 always, unless the Board would like to continue. Commissioner Gordon: I would like to continue. Commissioner Halkiotis: Let's just continue. Rick Kennedy: My name is Rick Kennedy. I have three girls in the Orange County schools. And I'm here to tell you, this is a turning point for Orange County. You can believe that we have a long way to go in the Orange County schools. We do a lot of things right, but there is a long way to go. And this is a chance, a tremendous chance for you to use your influence to affect the lives of countless children for years and years and open up opportunities that they are not going to see otherwise. It may be true that people in the County don't vote what they ought to vote for, but sometimes we need to step in, we need to protect the rights of minorities, despite the majority. And these kids are really suffering because of this. When I went to the college fairs at Cedar Ridge and Chapel Hill East, it was never more clear in my life what we're telling these kids when they walk out those doors. It is not the same folks, I am telling you. The possibilities for these kids are completely different. The message they get is completely different. That's why I'm here tonight. This is not about finding the right answer. The right answer is to merge and work together and educate all of our children. This is more about finding the courage to do what you know is right. And that's hard to do. It is hard to stand here when you have a room full of people saying that you're wrong. Imagine for a moment what it would be like if we don't merge. Because we cannot go back the way we were. With this discussion, we have changed everything in Orange County. Every election for County Commissioners will be about protecting Chapel Hill schools, protecting Orange County schools, avoiding that merger -different people, different reasons. But those kids in Orange County will suffer because of that. You can't get a word in edgewise for the County Commissioners if you're from Orange County because Chapel Hill will run those elections. That will be the one and only issue. When Orange County has a district tax, the school board elections will be nothing but a tax referendum every two years and all the energy and all the trouble, all the funding will go into that one issue. Educational issues will be out the window and those kids will get stuck in the middle. That will happen. For all these things people talk about that might happen, who is going to do that? A merged system has the majority of people from Chapel Hill constituting that board. You're not going to let those things ever happen. I don't think anybody wants that to happen. I don't want to make Chapel Hill kids suffer; I want to make people in the County step up to their responsibility to pay to invest in education like they should. And the only way to do that is through merger. A district tax is not going to fly, and they cannot find any other way to make it happen. And not only that, but you'll miss opportunities to unite this County and work together instead of working at