Minutes - 06-07-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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anymore, as the shooting at La Hacienda Restaurant recently proves. Evidently a customer came to pick up family photos but there was an argument and the police officer did not understand Spanish. If the police officer had known Spanish, there may not have been the misunderstanding. He urged the County Commissioners to fully fund the Orange County school budget. Julia Workman, a parent and a teacher in the Orange County schools, said that when she first came to Orange County she thought that the school system was pretty good. There were some problems, the computers were old and there was not much software or training. She said that the technology is now fabulous and the resource teachers are making a difference. She believes that the Orange County school system is on the brink of something amazing. She said that the commitment from school staff, teachers, parents and the administration is high. She challenged the Board of County Commissioners to think outside the box and find a solution to the funding problem. Deb Sievert thanked Orange County and said that she is really, really proud of the school system and thanks them for training her. She encouraged the Commissioners to fully support both school systems' budgets. She is really interested in the opportunity to vote for a referendum for a district school tax. Michael Janes, a parent of a child in the Orange County school system, said that he is very happy with Hillsborough Elementary and he cannot say enough good things about it. He is in support of an adequate budget for the schools. Libbie Hough, a parent of two children at Grady Brawn Elementary, said that she is happy that the two school systems collaborate. She said that she also spoke at last week's budget public hearing and she has been thinking of some ways that the school budget can be funded. She said that she wonders with the healthy fund balance that the County has, whether a contingency fund that could protect both systems could be put in place in years when DPI underestimates the number of students expected the following year. Regarding school nurses, it is her understanding that the Orange County system pays 70°~ of the funds needed for the nurses, whereas, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro system pays 50°~ for their nurses. The remaining funds come from the County. She wonders if it would be possible for both systems to fund the school nurses by 50°l0, which would ease Orange County's school budget about $100,000. She also proposed that a task force of citizens from Northern and rural Orange County residents be established to look at ways to take an active role in increasing funding for the schools. Anne Medenblik, a parent of two children at Hillsborough Elementary School, said that they were thrilled with the school. She is a former educator and spends as many spare moments at the school as she can. She hopes that the school can continue to teach children Spanish and any other languages. She spoke about the needs of the facility at Hillsborough Elementary. She said that Superintendent Bridges' proposed budget was not outrageous. She thanked the County Commissioners for their past support of education and requested that they consider Superintendent Bridges' proposal. Mel Snyder spoke about insufficient funds at New Hope Elementary as an Orange County taxpayer. He said that the County Commissioners have allocated a tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars to get education where it is today. He said that, if funding is slowed now, many of those dollars would go to waste. He said that he cannot fathom the thought of standing here a year from now to ask the Board of County Commissioners to fund an education disaster recovery plan. Melissa Baity said that she was a product of the school system of Orange County. She has one child in the Orange County school system. She is in favor of Superintendent Bridges' budget. She said that the Spanish program was phenomenal. She asked the Commissioners to keep the kids in mind and make it happen. Dean Zehnder, a parent of a child at New Hope Elementary School, said that the budget does not meet the needs of the students in Northern Orange County. He said that the proposed budget provides only a fraction of the needs. The advertised budget is only atwo-percent increase, which is actually a cut and requires the Orange County system to slash existing