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any system fail? Are any of the two systems so problematic so that we need to gather together again and again to fix them? The answer is no. Both systems have been successful. The teachers and the students have been successful. So they are successful. Why don't let the success continue? And why don't we let the tradition continue? Merger will slaw dawn the performance improvement. Merger will damage it. Merger will hurt students, parents, and teachers. In summary, the merger proposal is against people. Therefore, I, on behalf of my family, my neighbors, and my friends strongly oppose the merger. Thank you. Eugenie Kamives: I'm a parent of two Orange County school district children. My name is Genie Komives, and I'm here to speak in favor of merging the two Orange County school districts. This past week both districts published information that again demonstrates the ongoing impact of the current funding disparity. With $1,100 less per pupil per year, we are asked to do more with less. We have twice the percent of children on free and reduced lunch, indicating a much larger number of children who are at risk for starting school disadvantaged. Without the reading recovery teachers that went unfunded this year, their chances of catching up to their City school peers are significantly reduced. On the SAT, our students scored an average of 170 paints less than their City school counterparts with only 75°!0 of them even taking the test, compared to 90°lo in the City. Our class sizes in critical subjects like math and language arts are larger. Middle and high school math classes in the County have averaged 25 students per class compared to 20 in the City. Our 2002 dropout rate was three times higher. Yet, we are not all that different. Bath districts have involved and committed parents; witness the turnout at the meeting here tonight. Bath districts have children with special learning needs that are not being entirely met in their current district. Just because we live outside of the City school district, I refuse to believe that our children are capable of less achievement if given equal opportunity. I would challenge you to take five random elementary school kids from each district and shuffle them up and then be able to tell them apart. Yet we fund them differently. You have an awesome decision before you. Opponents of merger come from both sides of the imaginary line that divides our County. And each side has some very legitimate concerns about the impact of merger on their children and their way of life. I've been disappointed, however, at the leadership, particularly by the school boards, in trying to address same of these concerns. Instead, we get literature distributed in the City schools that emphasizes the number of children that could be redistricted and accuses the Commissioners of bad math in determining the impact of merger on their tax rates. Why are they not focused on offering solutions to the concerns that their parents have and in trying to da the best for the children? So here's an idea. I would propose that we put a moratorium on redistricting of students across former district lines in any merger plan that is developed for a period often years. At the same time, schools currently planned for construction in each district get built. This will reduce the capital savings of merger, no doubt. But I would submit that under such a plan, we are na worse off then we are if we didn't merge at all. This plan will allow time for the former County schools to improve educational opportunities so that moving district lines in the future will not be seen by the City residents as such a threatening prospect. Meanwhile, the merged district school board will have ample opportunity to develop the special programs,