Minutes - 20031204 - Laserfiche WebLink

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you, the Board of Commissioners, to have the courage and the leadership to erase the inequity and opportunity in funding for our County's children -both permanently and irrevocably. And in my opinion the only realistic viable way to do sa is by a merger. Thank you. Kate Faherty: I would like to join those who came before to congratulate you on the courage that it took to bring this before the County. It's a very sensitive issue, and there have been a lot of fault lines and a lot of fears. I am resident of Hillsborough, and I strongly support merger. I think that it's the only fair thing to do for the citizens. We are one County; we should have one school system. I think that bigger sometimes is better. It doesn't have to be huge, but in any event, it's really too late for the people of Chapel Hill-Carrboro to worry about that because Chapel Hill-Carrboro is growing fairly rapidly all the time. New schools have to be built, land identified for the new schools. So they are getting bigger anyway and have no way to control that except to prevent people from moving into their district, which is impossible and in fact the neighborhoods are being built just as fast as possible. So, in a sense, that is a moot issue. I feel that what I've heard is the greatest fear is the fear of travel, of bussing. And I wonder if there's any way, if we are able to came to the point of merger, that one of the first things that's done before we get there is to allay some of these fears, which in same way seem to me to be like a red flag in front of a bull. I think some of them are quite unrealistic and in fact matters of bussing seem to have been raised as a way to get people to be very emotional about this subject, when perhaps in fact, the actual relocation and redistricting could be kept to a very great minimum. As a matter of fact, it seems like they are always building schools in Chapel Hill-Carrboro and redistricting to the great distress of the citizenry all the time. So I doubt that even without merger that people in this room from Chapel Hill and Carrboro would avoid redistricting in the future for their children anyway. Alas, because nobody likes to have change and have their children to travel. But I do think that that's something that can be solved, can be addressed, and can be helped. And I urge the Commissioners to take this step. I believe it's the only fair way for all of our children in this County. And after all, we are one County. And I thank you for the opportunity tonight. Anne Lindsey: I'm an Orange County schools' parent. I have spoken in both of the previous hearings in support of merger. I applaud Moses Carey for his courageous efforts on behalf of Orange County children as indicated by the title of his proposal for Ensuring That Every School Age Child in Orange County Has an Equal Opportunity To Reach His/Her Full Educational Potential. That says it all. Tonight, however, I would like to read a statement from an Orange County parent who could not be here. James Heninger could not be here tonight, and this is his statement: "Many speakers have decried the lack of democracy demonstrated in the County Commissioners' merger research process. The charge of undemocratic process is one that should be addressed. The United States is not simply a democracy. It is a liberal representative democracy. Mostly, we do not directly vote on issues. We elect representatives who often must balance the desires of constituencies with personal moral conviction. Furthermore, we have the addition of codified civil liberties derived in our case from the Bill of Rights. These civil liberties protect the minority, not only from the tyranny, but also from the abuse, and the intimidation, and the neglect of the majority. Hence, we have a system of checks and balances. The most obvious example of this protection is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took this nation four score and seven years to abolish slavery. It took another century to desegregate. Obviously,