Minutes - 09-25-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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half are used as classrooms and half as support activities. It was confirmed by Neil that the 105% capacity was not counting the use of mobile classrooms. John Link said that even though mobile classrooms are not counted as permanent space, we still need to count them and use them. Commissioner Jacobs would like some information on how many mobile classrooms are used. Orange County Schools: Superintendent Randy Bridges said that there would be a pre-K class at Pathways. Orange County Schools is also looking to reduce class sizes in grades 3, 6, and 9. They have a continued need to provide Spanish in the Elementary Schools and they have been able to provide that at Grady Brown Elementary School. Commissioner Gordon asked about the actual and the target class sizes far grades 3, 6, and 9. K-5 classes are allowed 21.5 students per class and grades 6-12 are allowed 25 students per class. The target class sizes are 18 students for grade 3 and 20 students for grades 6 and 9. Chair Carey asked why school nurses were not in the list of priorities. Keith Cook said that providing school nurses was still a high priority. They try to add one nurse each year. Elizabeth Carter said that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System uses their school nurses to let them know how things are changing and the needs of the students as the population changes. They have ahalf-time nurse at each of their Elementary schools and middle schools and a full-time nurse at each of their high schools. Susan Halkiotis said that, as the County Commissioners know, the Orange County Schools have taken a step back this year. They look to the County Commissioners for some resolution to the issue of nurses in the schools. Commissioner Gordan asked about the Chapel Hill-Carrbara Schools class sizes and targets and Neil Pedersen said he would provide their opening school report to the County Commissioners. He said that the class sizes were 22 students in K-2 and 24.5 students in grades 3-5. The sizes for grades 6-9 fluctuate from school to school. The class size is 23 students for grade 9 and 26 students for grades 10-12. In terms of targets, there is a report that is a couple of years old and the emphasis was more on Elementary and Middle Schools. Commissioner Brown asked about the number of assistants in the classrooms. Neil Pedersen said that they have full-time assistants in grades K-3 and one assistant for every two classrooms in grades 4-5. In the middle schools, there is one assistant per 100 students. There are no assistants in the high schools. Randy Bridges said that Orange County Schools have full-time assistants in grades K- 3, one assistant for grade 4, and one assistant for grade 5. Chair Carey asked how the school nurses were funded. Neil Pedersen said that one nurse was provided through the County and the others were funded through state and local Schaal funding. Randy Bridges said that Orange County Schools lost the County-funded nurse. Commissioner Jacobs suggested that the Orange County school Board meet with the County Board of Health to talk about school nurses. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the frontline of defense for healthy children in America was in the schools. He said that the State of North Carolina made a deliberate decision about 12- 14years ago to give school nurses to the schools through the Boards of Education, not through the Health Department. He said that if the Health Department wants to do it, then they should fund the nurses for bath school systems and put a nurse in every school and stop the debate. The bottom line is that this has not happened and both of the school systems have used local dollars to provide nurses for the schools. c. Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Development Commissioner Brawn made reference to the Memorandum of Agreement on pages 11 and 12 and suggested that everywhere it says, "designate a lead jurisdiction in designing common