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Orange County, which is the same template as Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill. This is also six years later, so it is really not $2 million less, but more than that. This $2 million could have been spent on many worthwhile programs that are under funded. She asked if we were paying for frills in schools instead of programs. She asked the Board to consider, not just how much is going into the budget, but how well we are spending the money. She said that Orange County students do not expect a lot, but they deserve it. Rick Kennedy is a parent in the OCS. He spoke about an experiment at UNC that parallels the experience of Orange County citizens who have the misfortune to care about public education. In the experiment, a rat was thrown into water and had to swim to survive. There was no hope of any rescue for the rat. He said that OCS has no hope of any rescue year after year and swimming against the current of what will be. Some people in the County are treated as less than worthy. He said that they are no closer to equal opportunity then they were ten years ago. He said that he has seen the board of education restrict public comment to just one meeting a month, and he has seen a chairman stop a citizen from speaking her mind about the board's performance, and the other board members let him get away with it. The board has also moved public comments to the end of the meeting, hoping to minimize the effect of dissent. He said that they have padded the central office at the expense of academic programs and have enacted policies regarding nepotism that apply to everyone in the school system except themselves. And now the chairman has plagiarized the graduation speech far the seniors. He said that Chapel Hill makes us all understand the first law of local politics -what Chapel Hill wants is what Chapel Hill gets. He said that the second law was what they do not want, they give to us. He said that the County must accept a massive economic burden for Chapel Hill's benefit. He said that the Board of County Commissioners trumpets the importance of quality education for all, rather than provide it. He said that this County is segregated by socioeconomic status, and no amount of debate will change that. He hopes that on July 20t" we throw the bums out and constitute a new board worthy of his trust. He asked that the Board reduce the tremendous gap created by the special district tax. Ruth Pershing lives in Chapel Hill. She is a middle school teacher at McDougle Middle School. She currently teaches highly gifted students in the 7t" and 8t" grade who are accelerated by two years in math. She is concerned about the dire situation of the schools' budget, both in the County and City, and its impact on the math classes. Her current assignment is a part-time temporary position carved out of a small allotment of what is normally funded for teacher assistants. Her job is considered only a 60°lo position and carries no benefits. The position also has no security and is likely to disappear entirely in the coming year. If her position were discontinued, her accelerated classes would be taught by regular team teachers, and the result would be that all other math classes would get significantly larger, and teachers would have bigger planning loads. She said that the gifted learners should be celebrated and encouraged, not merely shunted aside to take an advanced class with apart-time teacher stretched to the breaking point. She spoke in support of a full-time position for accelerated math and remedial math. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker