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7 <br />County, like the rest of America, the HispaniclLatino population will continue to grow. The <br />students will need to became even mare proficient in speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish <br />than ever. She understands that the Board cannot do anything about the allocations, but when <br />she looks at the Fair Funding Reserve and the Mental Health allocations, she thinks how much <br />they could save later in these areas by investing in the children's future today. <br />Trish Hussey, Director of Freedom House Recovery Center in Chapel Hill, said that they <br />have been providing services to people that are suffering from the disease of addiction. She <br />said that this past year they worked with the Criminal Justice Partnership Program in Orange <br />and Chatham Counties and they were asked to consider becoming a resource center. Shortly <br />after writing the grant, the legislature chose to make a cut in money coming to Orange County <br />and she thanked the Board and Manager for recommending the increase in their local support. <br />She encouraged the Board to approve the Manager's recommendation. <br />Jennifer Roth is the parent of two elementary-aged children in CHCCS. She said that <br />she and her husband were drawn to the school system because of the many exceptional <br />programs, including world languages and gifted services offered. Significant cuts are being <br />considered that will have a dramatic impact on the quality of these programs. She urged the <br />County Commissioners to consider the impact that this will have on the children. She said that <br />the world language program serves as a made) for the entire country and was recognized <br />because of its continued effort to provide quality instruction to the students. This model could <br />be seriously compromised if the number of teachers is reduced. She spoke in support of full <br />funding for CHCCS. <br />Andie Young is the Vice President of Programs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the <br />Triangle. This program provides one on one mentoring services for kids between 6-14 who <br />reside in Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties. Their services are provided through a <br />community-based program with volunteers interacting eight hours a month with a child. The <br />other program is the school-based program where volunteers enter an elementary school <br />system to mentor a child for an hour a week. All of their volunteers are trained and screened, <br />and have ongoing support. She thanked the Board of County Commissioners and said that she <br />appreciates the Manager's recommendation. <br />Kathy MacKinnon is a world language teacher in Chapel Hill. She said that she was <br />happy with the outcome of last year's budget process, as she was able to continue working full <br />time as an elementary world language teacher. She said that she is trying not to become too <br />discouraged about the possibility of cuts to the program. She expressed concern since critical <br />programs are in jeopardy of receiving cuts that would have a detrimental effect and cause <br />reductions in staffing. She realizes that the County Commissioners will not make decisions <br />about her program, but she asked that they give the CHCCS every possible consideration to <br />fully fund the budget request. She said that, in a world that is becoming increasingly multi- <br />lingual, this would be an unfortunate time to cut language programs that serve elementary <br />school children. <br />Mitch Cox said that he has been a teacher in OCS for 24 years and a citizen of Orange <br />County. He is grateful for past support of the Board of County Commissioners for education in <br />Orange County. He encouraged the County Commissioners to consider the funding request for <br />bath school systems. He knows that OCS has encumbered current funds to upgrade its middle <br />schools during the construction of the third middle school. As a longtime faculty member at <br />Orange High School, he can attest to the problems that the facility faces because it was not fully <br />upgraded at the time of the construction of Cedar Ridge. The problems and costs associated <br />with the decline of the facilities at Orange High School have multiplied since Cedar Ridge was <br />constructed. He urged the County Commissioners to support the budgets of the school systems <br />so that the County can ensure equity for all of the County's children. <br />Gary Wallach said that he shares the sentiments of other speakers of the hard work that <br />the Board of County Commissioners do and he is in support of both school systems. He said <br />