Minutes - 05-31-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hispanic Parent Association at the EI Centra Latino to work with the school system. Also, EI Centra Latino is offering off-site registration far schools. Alex Washburn, interim Executive Director of EI Centro Latina, updated the Board of County Commissioners on the activities at EI Centro Latino. Some of the activities include ESL classes, driving classes, a women's group, and case management. There are 64-75 volunteers. They also collaborate with UNC on same things. Suzanne Gould said that she has worked for ten years in the Hillsborough school system and eight years in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system. She had a big orange cloth sign. She encouraged the Commissioners to examine some alternatives for redistributing the wealth between the two school systems. She said that her class at this time is in a locker room. She works full time at her school and has taught art and is a reading resource teacher. She said that her principal told her that if the Manager's budget were passed, the literacy program would be gutted. She thinks there is a mistake in the figures that were given by DPI. She urged the Commissioners to look closely at the projections of only 14 students next year in the Orange County schools. She also urged that the widening of Homestead Road not be done this year because the money could be spent on the schools rather than making the road an Indy 500 for Chapel Hill High School students. She also urged the merging of the two school systems and a taxing of all of the land at a fair rate. She asked the Commissioners to fund the full budget for Orange County schools. Chair Halkiotis said that there was no County money expended to widen Homestead Road. Joel Dunn is from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools Technology Advisory Committee. He spoke about the need to fully fund the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School system, especially because he lives in southern Orange County. But he is also supportive of his friends from the Orange County school system. He said that the Technology Advisory Committee has worked to develop a strategic plan, and one of the important things was a request by the staff within the Schaal system to create a reliable infrastructure supported by adequate human resources to enable them to effectively use the information and technology in which the Commissioners have already invested. As a taxpayer, he asked the Board of County Commissioners to raise the district tax to whatever is necessary to fully fund the recommendations. He said that effective use of technology by and for our students is crucial. Cindy Dillehay is an employee of Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools and a parent and taxpayer of northern Orange County. She asked for funding of both school systems. She said that the amount of money that the County Manager has recommended would fund only the absolute necessities and some of the state mandates. The proposal does not leave funds far other critical needs such as data managers far the elementary schools. Since July, she has been working with the Department of Education and those in the system who agreed to pilot the new North Carolina Wise software to be used throughout the state when approved after the pilot program. She said that it is the plan of all schools to run only North Carolina Wise software next year for the final stages of the pilot program. She said that the data manager must always be available to go into the classrooms at the teachers' convenience to teach and to troubleshoot. Attendance, all cumulative information, testing information, and exceptional children's information must be kept current and accurate in the new system. She said that all information that is given to DPI is asked for from DPI for state funding, statistics, projections, and EOG testing accountability. All of this information comes from the information that is entered into the North Carolina Wise at each school site. She said that as a student moves from school to school within the state, the records will be sent electronically to the next school. She said that North Carolina Wise is an extensive software system that you would have to see to fully understand. Data Managers are critical to maintain the NC Wise system. She stressed that the amount of money recommended by the County Manager would not be enough to fund positions like data managers, along with other state mandates, rate increases, and expenses related to growth. She asked that the Commissioners increase the County Manager's recommendation for both school systems far the full budget. Teresa Smith, Director of Family Support Programs at Childcare Services Association, thanked the County Manager for recommending $50,000 for childcare subsidy this year. Harvey Goldstein, a resident of Orange County for 20 years and a parent of two children in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school system, made three points. He applauded the County Manager's