Minutes - 06-01-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Natalie Hough, a student at Grady Brown Elementary Schaal, dedicated her speech to her Spanish teacher and her school. She said that her friend's mom volunteered to teach her Spanish. She said that learning Spanish would prepare elementary students for language tests in middle school. She was disappointed when she found out that other schools had Spanish classes but Grady Brown did not. Jack Nestor, a parent of children who attend Grady Brawn Elementary School, asked for the Orange County school budget to be funded in full. He said that currently all eight Chapel HiIllCarrbaro City schools offer foreign language studies beginning in kindergarten and first grade. None of the six Orange County elementary schools offer foreign language instruction. Matthew Freytag spoke in support of Spanish instruction in the Elementary Schools in Orange County. He asked that the County Commissioners support the full budget as presented by the Orange County Superintendent. He presented some statistics about the Hispanic population in the Triangle. He said that the addition of foreign language teachers in Orange County schools was not a frill in the budget. Liz Brown, a volunteer at Grady Brawn Elementary School who teaches Spanish, stressed that it was important to teach Spanish to the younger students. She said that foreign language could help in many areas of life. She has lived in Japan and China and has taught foreign language at the university and elementary level. She said that the younger students learn so much quicker than the university students do. Judy Aikins made reference to the budget presentation and the increases in the budget for education. She said that her mother was now an adult child. Ms. Aikins grew up in Hillsborough far 18 years, left for awhile, then came back to care far her elderly parents. Her father died last year. She spoke about the disparity between funding for children's education and the funding for senior citizens. Bath of her parents taught school in Orange County. She asked the County to help the senior citizens live a loving life. Martha Stucker, member of the Orange County Board of Health, said that one of the reasons that children are healthy and the elderly are living so long is because they have received immunizations from the Health Department. She spoke about the accomplishments and challenges facing the Health Department. She spoke about the four to six-week backlog in Environmental Health's well and septic programs. She said that inspections for restaurants have fallen behind 85%. The staff is being stretched and the department cannot take any cuts. Lee Werley, member of the Orange County Board of Health, said that there was not enough staff in the Health Department to do what needed to be done. He is the pharmacist representative. Janet Southerland, member of the Orange County Board of Health, made reference to the personal health and dental health services and said that far the last two years they have had to provide nurses far public shelters for natural disasters, a Hepatitis "A" response, and a meningitis response. They have provided over 35 nurse hours and 87 support staff hours outside of the regular work schedule for rubella vaccinations in the community. A major challenge facing personal health this coming year is the unbundling of the Medicaid services. This has required a great number of staff hours. She said that the dentist program has been a great success. They have nearly achieved the state goal of 50°fo of school-aged children with dental sealant. The dental hygienists have been very difficult to recruit and maintain within the department because of the competitive salaries in the private sector. She is the dentist representative and Vice-Chair of the Board. Peggy Pollitzer spoke on behalf of the Chapel Hill Museum. She said that they have a very popular educational program where the school children can visit and do reenactments of the Last Colony in costume, etc. The museum would like to extend this program to the northern Orange County schools, but they do not have the staffing. She spoke in support of funds far a prafessional- level program on a continuing basis. The museum would need a Professional Education Coordinator for part of the time to work with the volunteers. Amy Smith, a teacher at Grady Brown Elementary School, spoke in support of the budget as presented by Superintendent Bridges. She also spoke in support of the future pre-kindergarten programs. She spoke about the necessity of pre-kindergarten programs. Sue Bulfin urged the County Commissioners to support the full budget as presented by Superintendent Bridges. The resources at hand are used wisely but there are not enough resources.