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themselves, if they do switch high schools, they'll be able to prepare themselves for <br />what's at that high school because they've studied it in their other high school. <br />Colleen Rogers: I share both Chapel Hill and the County. I was barn and raised in <br />Chapel Hill, I attended Chapel Hill schools under a segregated school system, I moved <br />back here five years ago, and I live in the County. As I grew up, I shared the County <br />with my grandparents in both Chatham and Orange County. 5o I can enjoy both. My <br />fondest memories are of my days with my grandparents in the County. You know, in <br />moving back, when I looked in the paper and I saw that they were thinking of merging <br />the two school systems, well I was overjoyed. You know, as she was saying, Nicole <br />went to Orange High School. Chapel Hill High School is two and a half miles from my <br />house. So I can really understand the parents in Chapel Hill concerned with their <br />children driving eight to ten miles to school because that's what had to happen with her. <br />So I still feel that the merging of the schools has to make it better in many ways other <br />than just the schools because, obviously transportation will have to improve, and I think <br />that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro students knowing the Orange County students and the <br />exchange could be good for both communities. And, you know, that's all I have to say. I <br />think merger would be goad, and I do think that my years were great. Naw that I'm back, <br />I have been very active in volunteering at Chapel Hill High School and stuff with the <br />schools, and I truly feel that the merging of the schools would be good for all of us. <br />Jim Rabinowitz: I have a unique perspective on the issue of Orange County having <br />two school districts. I've lived in both districts - moving only a short distance three years <br />ago to go from the Orange County school district, where I lived for 15 years, to the <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district. From personal experience, I can say the boundary <br />between the school districts is arbitrary, as are many boundaries in our local community. <br />For example, the boundary between Chapel Hill and Carrboro, or the boundary that put <br />part of Chapel Hill in Durham County. Having said that, I must also say that people have <br />made life decisions based on the boundary between the school districts, and any <br />change must result from careful consideration and community deliberation. <br />Unfortunately, the atmosphere related to this issue has became so enflamed over the <br />past few weeks that achieving community consensus through deliberation will take a <br />great deal of effort and a great deal of time. And therefore, I am against any irrevocable <br />move towards merger at this time. I also recognize that merger may be the best plan in <br />the future, so we should work to achieve the communal atmosphere where it seems <br />natural and is therefore easier. I know of other Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district <br />parents who feel the way I do. The immediate problem of insufficient funding to the <br />Orange County school district should be addressed. There is no way to solve this <br />problem without an increase in taxation, with or without merger. In addition to the <br />obvious solution to the problem - an Orange County school district tax, I have previously <br />proposed in another one of these hearings, is at least a temporary solution to this <br />problem that I feel is doable. Do not consider the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district <br />when considering the budget for the Orange County schools. Then fund the Chapel Hill- <br />Carrboro school district an equal amount, which you must do. But, then the Chapel Hill- <br />Carrboro school district can adjust their tax accordingly, and perhaps eventually the tax <br />will disappear. As the funding in the districts becomes more equivalent, the atmosphere <br />for merger also may improve. It has been stated that because the Chapel Hill-Carrboro <br />school district is growing more rapidly, and the funding for this growth is coming from the <br />countywide funds, the Chapel Hill school district is siphoning funding from the Orange <br />County school district. I have thought about this for a while, and there really is an <br />indication that developers are taking advantage of all current residents of Orange <br />