Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Brown wanted to understand how the yellow sheet will be pursued and <br /> how it is related to collaboration and the next step. <br /> John Link said that this is a good initiative to pursue and he will call Dr. Boyle and set <br /> up another meeting. He asked if the Board would like to expand the group and include others. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that they would make a proposal to the other three boards from the <br /> smaller group and then let the other boards (Orange County Schools, Board of County <br /> Commissioners, and Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools) decide who else could meet. The <br /> proposed scenario has the governing boards endorsing this in October, which would mean that <br /> there would have to be another meeting and recommendation within the next few weeks. <br /> Commissioner Brown made reference to the survey and said that it was based on the <br /> student's interest and gaining a varied education and finding students who want to attend a less <br /> crowded school in the county system. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that this was brought up in the meeting with Dr. Boyle to make some <br /> short-term success before grappling with the big things that might turn everybody off. Presumably, <br /> it will be in the mix at some level. <br /> Elizabeth Carter referred to item 7 on the yellow sheet and said that this is a starting <br /> point. She said that we need to have these conversations about what the intent is. <br /> Dana Thompson said that she found reassuring that Dr. Boyle was interested in this <br /> and in helping us get to this point. <br /> Commissioner Carey said that it sounds to him that Elizabeth Carter is suggesting that <br /> the work group come up with short and long-term objectives before they send anything to the three <br /> boards for consideration. He thought this process was designed for the consultant, Dr. Boyle, <br /> working with all of the parties to do this. <br /> Elizabeth Carter said that she might be the only one that does not understand in which <br /> direction we should be going with this collaboration. She just does not know the target for <br /> collaboration. <br /> Valerie Foushee said that in response to Commissioner Brown's suggestion, that <br /> several committees discussed this topic. She referred to the minutes of the May 13`h High School <br /> Planning Task Force where Susan Halkiotis reminded us that even though we talk about these <br /> possibilities and providing the best educational opportunities for all of the students in Orange <br /> County, it is not how the students think. She read from the minutes as follows: "There may be <br /> some students who would cross district lines, but only a handful." Most students think about other <br /> things than what is going to be best for them in terms of courses offered, etc. She said that it <br /> should not be a forced collaboration, but it should be marketable to students and families. She <br /> said that in the meeting, they all agreed that the outcome should be that what we offer is the best <br /> for all of the students in Orange County. <br /> Susan Halkiotis said that, if she recalled correctly, the discussion of collaboration began <br /> with the idea that we could try to identify every efficiency possible by working between the two <br /> school systems. She said that the benefit of collaboration is that students would have more <br /> resources available to them for education. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that it was almost operating on two different levels. One is how to <br /> make as many opportunities available to students as possible and the other was how to proceed in <br /> a way that we do not scare each other off. He said that Dr. Boyle was counseling that we look at <br /> what we want to achieve before getting into the details. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that there are some schools that we are figuring how to <br /> fund and that process will proceed. This is a parallel process that will be designed to get the <br /> maximum efficiencies and the maximum collaboration. She verified that one process would not be <br /> dependent on the other. <br /> c. Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance— Timeline & Outstanding Issues <br /> Planning Director Craig Benedict was asked to give the status of the timetable for adopting <br /> the SAPFO. He said that this has been worked on for three years. The Schools and Land Use <br />