Minutes - 20031023 - Laserfiche WebLink

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opportunities that both County and City students have, in attempt to reach consensus, a consensus that would be best far all students. We are joining together to bring greater understanding to this issue and hope that others will also move toward working together to solve this issue for the benefit of all students. Ronglin Vllang: Well, I don't speak English well, and if you have a problem understanding speech......... I am here tonight to voice my objection to the proposed merger. That equal funding will yield equal performance is an untested assumption. According to North Carolina Educational Alliance 2002 Report, U. S. per student expenditure ranks the highest in the world, and its performance is on the bottom of the 21 most developed countries. In North Carolina itself, there is a three-fold difference in the cost benefit per ratio among all the school districts. While an idealistic philosophy will only serve to kill the center of excellence. This proposed merger to me is nothing more than a massive transfer of wealth from the City schools to the County schools. The quality and the reputation of Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools even the perceived devaluation of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools will have disastrous consequences to the City, to the County, and to all the communities nearby. So in the end, we are all going to lose. Thanks. Sarah Ringel: Hi. I'm Sarah Ringel, an Orange County resident who attended Glenwood Elementary School in Chapel Hill decades ago, and am now a mother of triplet fourth graders at New Hope Elementary in Orange County, and I'm a local Hillsborough family doctor. I've been really happy with New Hope. The teachers, staff, and principal are great. It's clear that everyone there has one main priority -the best education for all of our children. I challenge you to also hold this priority highest as you weigh your options. We citizens want you to lead us to a better future for our children. We want you to do the right thing, to be open minded and caring. We want you to forget about yourselves and your future and think of what's best for all of the children involved. I've pondered this situation we're in and realize there are no easy answers. It seems clear to me that the solution must permanently solve the unequal funding of our two school systems. It must continue to support the education of the diverse population our County is fortunate to contain, hopefully facilitating individual students to pursue a style of learning which best meets their needs, not one which suits their neighbors. It must be efficient and affordable. It must set our County up to be able to best adapt to the many challenges we are likely to face in the future. The solution cannot be so complex that it is mare expensive than our current structure. It cannot only band-aid the problem so we have to keep repeating this discussion. Obviously, that's happened before. It cannot ignore needs of groups of children. I feel that the only solution, which will fit these criteria, is merger. I realize that it requires courageous leadership on your part. Knowing that you are deciding to take a direction in which many disagree with, but you'll be able to sleep well at night knowing that you did the right thing. Our children will benefit and you'll be designing a system to best serve the future of our whole County. Thank you for listening and serving us in these difficult times. Thank you. Karl Knapp: I'd like to comment on several statements that have been made during the merger debate. In one of its fliers, Fair Funding in County Schools stated that the