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resources available to more people. When my wife and I moved here about 11 years ago, I was told by several native North Carolinians that basically County schools are where the farmer's kids go and Chapel Hill is where the professor's kids go. And I was kind of stunned by that kind of comment, and at the time I didn't have kids, and I really didn't consider it very seriously, but it indicated that there was an invisible line that had been drawn a long time ago. It made me wonder why are the rural kids not worthy of the same equal opportunities as the kids that perhaps live in the City. I live in the County and I frankly don't want to have to move into Chapel Hill to receive mare equal educational opportunities far my children, and I do have a child now. And frankly, I can't afford to move into Chapel Hill, if you see real estate prices aver there. There's too many middle class people in Orange County that are well educated that simply are thinking the Orange County schools may not be for my children, and they're going to go to private schools, they're going to divert money from the Orange County school system, and they're going to take their parental commitment and involvement with their kids' education to the private school with them. And that's a big concern I have. There are many people in the County that are thinking that way. There was some discussion tonight about a lot of concern from Chapel Hill parents that redistricting will happen with the merger. And frankly, that's already happened with continued growth within the City school system, so I think, frankly, that's a fact of life whether we have a merger or not. The growth in Chapel Hill from people within the County and with people moving from other areas, it's just going to happen mare and more in the future. Frankly, I want to stay where I am. I want to support the school that I live closest to, which, by the way is not Grady Brawn where I'm districted now, but it's McDougle Elementary in Carrboro. want my daughter to have the best public school education she's entitled to, and I think it would be great if she went to school with the farmers' kids and the faculty's kids. Diversity in our schools is supposed to enrich the process of education. It's more than just racial differences; it's about socioeconomic and family backgrounds in both systems, which I don't believe are found to the fullest extent in the County and the City. So again, I urge you to go for merger, and I thank you far your time tonight, and to please consider the haves and have-Hots in Orange County and to narrow that gap. Thank you. Allison Worthy: Thank you all for staying. I'm Allison Worthy, and I have two children in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school system. And I consider myself to be representative of the average Chapel Hill parent. I'm an active volunteer in the schools and community, and am relatively well versed an school matters. I attend meetings of our board of Ed, and even the occasional County Commissioners meeting and public hearing. And I've had many conversations with other parents about the merger issue. I'm here tonight to address comments that I heard at the last public hearing at Chapel Hill High School. I'd like to go on record as saying that not once have I ever heard a disparaging comment about the Orange County schools ar students in any of my conversations. To the contrary, mast Chapel Hill parents I've spoken with are sympathetic to the needs of the Orange County schools. They may even be a little envious that you have smaller classes at the elementary level, but understand that your tradeoff for smaller class size was Spanish. We too have had to make tradeoffs in Chapel Hill. This is not about social injustice ar unequal access to quality education.