Minutes - 12-09-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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made reference to the report from the Manager about bringing in a playing field at Smith Middle School for $90,000. He would rather wait to bring in a playing field if it is going to cost $90,000. Commissioner Gordon feels we are making a big step forward in having standards for construction of new schools and following the standards, but the standards do not apply to existing schools. She made reference to her proposal about substantial equivalency far older schools. She said that there should be some way to make older and newer schools substantially equivalent. She said that the gap is between the newer and the older schools and not between the schools in each district. Commissioner Brawn made reference to maintenance and said that the school systems should have an ongoing maintenance plan in place to maintain the facilities. Chair Halkiotis made comments about maintenance of buildings and how difficult it is to retrofit a building for air conditioning that was not built for air conditioning. He said that there is a lot of jealousy between the older and newer schools in both school systems. Commissioner Carey said that the idea of substantial equivalency did not resonate very well because there was a suggestion of compensating the staff in a way that might bring in some inequities on the operating level. He said that we have to be careful about comparing older and newer schools. Commissioner Gordon clarified that she did not mean to say anything negative about the older school buildings but wanted to emphasize ways building improvements could support this curriculum. Commissioner Jacobs pointed out that within the amount that is budgeted for the schools, the school systems can make a determination about how they want to address their existing facilities. Commissioner Carey said that, in the area of recurring capital, there should be some clear expectations of the school systems. Commissioner Brown would like to see a tracking of ongoing maintenance far each of the new school buildings to see how well the buildings were built. Commissioner Brown said that she did not understand the programming issue. The standards include after school programming and she would like to see a list of those schools that provide before school care and after school care. Human Services Regarding the HispaniclLatino Relations goal Commissioner Gordon suggested changes to make it more readable. Also, Commissioner Jacobs' name should not be put in the goal for translating signs into Spanish. Commissioner Jacobs has a question about the multi-lingual hiring policy and the analysis of the Los Ninos report on page 5. Commissioner Brown would like to understand all of the efforts going on in all of the County departments. Commissioner Gordan pointed out that Spanish was not the only other foreign language that was represented in Orange County. Elaine Holmes will work with Commissioner Brown, Commissioner Jacobs and John Link on a report showing what is going on with foreign relations in the County. Joint Master Aging Plan Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 8 of the Master Aging Plan and asked if reports had been made to other elected boards. Department on Aging Director Jerry Passmore said that they have presented the plan to the Carol Woods Retirement Center. It will be presented to the Chapel Hill Town Council next week and to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Hillsborough Commissioners in January. Commissioner Jacobs would like to see a realistic schedule for implementation of the plan so that it can be incorporated into the budget cycle. Public Health Emergency Preparedness