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Commissioner Gordon feels we need to make a statement for planning purposes. There are <br />five different projections. Some methods would tend to be preferred by one system and another <br />preferred by the other school system. One way to get around this is to take an average of the five <br />projections. <br />Chair Halkiatis agreed that we need to look at all of the proposals over a period of time. <br />However, we paid $50,000 for a consultant, Mr. Tischler, who did some labor intensive work with bath <br />school systems in bringing everything together. He said that the paramount issue is not what adults <br />want or what adults may think is the best thing for either school system but the best possible educational <br />opportunities for all children in this County. He said that the issues of great financial disparity between <br />the two school systems is growing bigger and bigger. The County Commissioners have tried to close the <br />gap. He has always voted for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district tax. He said that the County <br />Commissioners were responsible for worrying about equal opportunity far all children in the County. <br />Commissioner Gordon agreed with Chair Halkiotis about equal opportunity. She said that no <br />matter which projections you use, they show needs in both systems. They also Shaw that the Chapel <br />Hill-Carrboro City Schools are more crowded than the Orange County School system. She said that, <br />according to information provided by staff, in 2001 the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system has a <br />deficit of 140 student seats and in the Orange County Schools there are 550 seats available. Pathways <br />Elementary School, when it fully opens, will have 600 student spaces. This means that there are 742 <br />empty elementary school seats in the Orange County system, which is equivalent to more than one <br />elementary school with empty seats. She also read off the number for 2003, which showed a surplus in <br />the Orange County School system of 1795 seats. She said that, looking at the projections {any of them <br />or the average) there is a need in the next few years for two elementary schools and a high school in the <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro City system and a middle school in the Orange County system. If the County <br />Commissioners are saying that the school systems need to share facilities, then that means that the two <br />elementary schools in Chapel Hill should be an the band and a promise should be made to build the new <br />middle school in Orange County and the new high school in Chapel Hill. She suggested putting money <br />an the bond for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools to buy land and start planning for construction of <br />the third high school. Similarly, for the Orange County Schools, money should be put on the bond for <br />land and planning for the new middle school. This would also allow more money an the bond for needed <br />renovations to older schools in both districts. She worried about the unfairness to the Chapel Hill- <br />Carrbora City Schools because they are not getting the third high school that they will need, and instead <br />are being offered only the possibility of sharing high school facilities. In contrast, the other system will <br />have hundreds of extra seats. The staff figures show that there will be 1795 extra seats systemwide in <br />the Orange County schools, which is the equivalent to two to three schools. <br />Commissioner Brown made reference to four years ago and the bond referendum, which <br />provided the money for the schools that have been built or are being built. At that time, the County <br />Commissioners were determined to catch up in both districts and not have over crowded schools. <br />She said that there was an astonishing increase in the number of students in the last four years in the <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro system. Just over the last few months, she has also begun to realize that <br />countywide there is an enormous surplus of seats in all levels. She said that a lot of people are thinking <br />that now is the time to bring the two school systems together to seriously share their facilities. <br />Something the school boards need to do is to work together to use these very expensive facilities. She <br />feels that this Board could show some leadership in that direction. It needs to be pointed out to the <br />citizens the advantages of sharing these facilities. Both school systems can work together and show <br />how this can be accomplished. She would like to hear from the school systems on how they could use <br />the facilities we now have to the advantage of the children. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not believe that all the projections are created equal. <br />It is a mistake to average the projections and embrace the shorter-term projections. We have said <br />several times that we would like to see this cooperative effort move forward to make better use of the <br />facilities. He would be willing to work with the Chair to come up with a proposed group to start getting <br />together and talking about things like cooperative programming, cooperative facility usage, greater <br />efficiencies, looking at DPI standards for acreage requirements, etc., and looking to see how we can <br />move away from spending money on buildings and spending money on students. We need to look at <br />how we can work more cooperatively with the two school boards. He made reference to the merger <br />report from 15 years ago and said that it is time to revisit the report and see what has been <br />