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APPROVED 1217199 <br />MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />REGULAR MEETING <br />May 4, 1999 <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, May 4, 1999 at 7:30 <br />p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom, Hillsborough, North Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Alice M. Gordon, and Commissioners Margaret W. <br />Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Stephen H. Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs <br />COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod <br />Visser and Albert Kittrell and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified <br />appropriately below) <br />NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE <br />AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING <br />WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. <br />1. ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA <br />Commissioner Brown added a Resolution Regarding Civil Discourse in Orange County. This <br />Resolution was added as item "3-E". <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked to have the Board discuss a matter of procedure regarding the structure of <br />the agenda. Chair Gordon indicated that there was a proposal on the agenda that Board Comments be <br />heard after reports but there does not seem to be unanimity on this suggestion. There was a consensus on <br />the Board that "Board Comments" be returned to its original position on the agenda. <br />2. CITIZEN & AUDIENCE COMMENTS <br />a. Matters on the Printed Agenda <br />Chair Gordon stated that citizens who have indicated a desire to speak on an item that appear on <br />the printed agenda will be recognized at the appropriate time. <br />b. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br />Ms. Rea Kobota, Assistant Professor in the UNC School of Education and a member of the <br />Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools English as a Second Language (ESL) Task Force, spoke in support of the <br />Task Force's recommendations. She said that ESL students bring rich cultural and linguistic resources to the <br />community. It takes between five and ten years for limited English proficient students to develop skills at the <br />same level as their peers, however, these students are required to participate in the statewide testing after <br />two years. She stressed that helping these students with academic development is crucial for the countywide <br />educational process. Research clearly shows that ESL programs, based on sound educational theory, are <br />far more effective than submerging these students in regular classroom with no language support. The Task <br />Force's proposal is in line with the compliance guidelines of the Office of Civil Rights. She asked the <br />Commissioners to adopt the recommendations of the Task Force. <br />Commissioner Brown asked Ms. Kobota to discuss the difficulty older children, particularly high school <br />children, is having. Ms. Kobota said that older children have a larger academic gap between the English <br />speaking peers and themselves. Sometimes older children do not have the educational background from <br />their home country which causes an even wider gap. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis noted that at budget time, the County Commissioners would set the tax rate <br />and decide on a budget but that the County Commissioners do not approve or disapprove individual items in <br />the schools budget. The school board decides how to spend the dollars that they get. He asked Ms. Kobota <br />to encourage the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City School Board to adopt ESL as one of their priorities. <br />Q \19990504A.a