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Li Xu: I'm here on behalf of my family and all my friends who live in Chapel Hill. We live in Chapel Hill because we like the schools there. My family recently maned from Seattle. There are six independent school districts in the county where Seattle is. All but one has the size similar for Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district. Both educators and the parents believe bigger is not better. Smaller is a more efficient way to get things done when it comes to your children's education. This county is the most ethnically and social economically diversified County in Washington State. Among these six school districts, same have higher test scares than others. However, nobody ever proposed ideas such as merger. Almost everybody agrees that a smaller school system with community schools are the best for their children. Districts with lower test scores put more of their resources in identifying and solving the problems. They put children in education or after school activities. They also rely on the school community far many volunteering work to give the children in need more tutoring services. I went and signed up far helping children with math. Every district has the confidence that children are best served in a tighter knitted caring community. That attitude pays off. Last year, among all states that have half or mare students took the SAT test for high school graduates, Washington State ranked number one in test scores. Among all counties in Washington State, this County, with its six school districts, scored highest. This is a success story for community based school systems. This kind of school system makes it a lot easier far parents to work with teachers and be involved in their children's education. Merger will make it harder far parent's involvement in our schools. Merger will bring unnecessary disruption to existing school systems and our children's education. The whole process merger wastes human and financial resources that could be used in mare meaningful ways for our children. Merger also promises nothing for both school systems. Solutions for problems of any system lie in the heart of that system. Please dear Commissioners, before you use this law that requires na public referendum to make a decision affects almost everybody in this County, think of other alternatives to merger. Be clear that there are other ways to solve the funding issue, and that combining two school systems is definitely not the answer to the real problems. I was told that the merger of Durham City and County schools bring down the whole system. I would like you to provide a successful merger story that is comparable to the passible merger here. Please be responsible to the public you are supposed to represent. As a new American citizen, I would like to see the democratic process that is regarded as the only way to handle public issues in this country. Thank you. Jennifer Jansen: Goad evening. My name is Jennifer Jansen and I have a third grader and a first grader at Seawell Elementary School, plus a preschooler. I would like to focus on one of the consequences of a potential merger of the two school districts, and that would be redistricting. My neighborhood sits in the northern corridor of Chapel Hill and children in this corridor have been targeted to be redistricted to Orange County schools in the event of a merger. I have same experience with redistricting that I would like to share. Last year I participated in the City school redistricting process on behalf of several neighborhoods. I attended every meeting open to the public and listened to hundreds of speeches. Redistricting sends a shudder of fear through most parents in Chapel Hill because it is disruptive to our children's education and to our relationships with the schools that we have so carefully cultivated. It is an incredibly divisive process