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F'~ that his family came to the area because of the services available. He supported the request for additional teacher aides for the multiple handicapped children stating there is a need for additional teachers and teacher aides in the handicapped program. He has fought for six years to .get his son into the program. 51. JEANETTE JONES, parent of two children, President of the Orange County Parents with Special Needs, and an Orange County "underpaid" bus driver, spoke about the total budget request and asked that it be the number one priority of the Commissioners. Without the quality teachers and staff, there will be no quality education for those presently attending school or those who will attend in the future. She asked that the school budget be passed as requested and not to accept the County Manager's "hatchet" budget as presented. 52. NORMAN HAITHCOCK , member of the Orange County School Board, spoke on behalf of all the children in Orange County. He stated that it must be recognized that we live in a society where there are handicapped children and children with special needs and a desire to participate in extracurricular activities. He spoke in favor of the pay-as-you-go glan and asked that the Board consider a three cent increase in the property tax to be placed in a school fund with the interest given to the. schools to help pay in advance for the buildings that are needed for the future. The school budget affects every person in Orange County. He asked that the budget be approved as presented by the School Board. - -53. PEG PARKER , teacher aide, spoke in favor of the salary supplement for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro classified employees. She listed the adult contacts that a student may interact with during the day. She _ talked about the poor pay and how difficult it is to feel good abaut''~~~° yourself with the little pay received. It is hard to have respect for: yourself and help others develop the same when the pay just covers thee:-~_ essentials of living. She indicated that the classified employees have high standards and asked that the Board do all they can to insure that these employees stay with the system to give the students the obvious benefits of continuity in their daily multiple adult contacts. 54. JACK TOMKOVICK representative of the Grady Srown PTO, spoke about the growth that is coming and noted that preparation needs to be made now. Two schools will lose assistant principals under the proposed County Manager's budget. He talked about the realities of the school system. The school has several mobile classrooms and inadequate furniture for the students. He spoke in support of educational excellence but noted that more needs to be done. The fourth and fifth grade teachers do need aides. 55. DR. E. W. VAN STEE President of the Animal Protection Society, stated that the Animal Protection Society has submitted a budget request for $180,000 and the County Manager has proposed $109,000. Three areas account for this difference: (1) staff conditions, (2) salary increases and (3) the APS cash contribution to the operating budget of the shelter. He talked about the need for one fulltime position stating that when the shelter is fully staffed, they are short one fulltime position. The actual days worked per week by the Executive Director are seven. The actual days worked. by the Manager is also seven days per week. The remainder of the paid staff works six days per week. He noted that the shelter is short twa people at the- present time. They cannot fill the positions because qualified people are reluctant to work for such low pay. With respect to the APS which has contributed tens of thousands of dollars per year to the operation of the shelter, the County was notified last year that the APS