Agenda - 09-24-2001 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Akkv*,� �. - . Orange County August 21, 2001 Board of Education Orange County Board of commissioners P. O. Box 8181 Hillsborough,NC 27278 Randy Bridges Dear Commissioners: Superintendent The Orange County Board of Education would like to congratulate Bond Members: the members of the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force for their Brenda Stephens,Chair work in recommending a bond package to the Orange County Dana Thompson,Vice Chair Commissioners. The task force was faced with many funding Robert Bateman -consensus that served the Keith Cook requests, but succeeded in reaching a Susan Halkiotis needs of citizens across the county. We appreciate that the David Kolbinsky commissioners are now deliberating this issue deeply, so that wise Delores Simpson decisions can be made. It appears that some uncertainty remains how to allocate the 200 Fast King Street school portion of the bond so that we are best prepared to meet Hillsborough,NC 27278 future enrollment demands throughout the county. Some Telephone: 919-732-8126 questions that have been posed recently are: FAX: 919-732-8120 1) whether Orange County actually needs a new middle school, 2) whether Chapel HM-Carrboro will need additional high school capacity before OCS needs new middle school space, and 3) whether the $18 million currently allocated for an OCS middle school should be redirected to funding a new Chapel Hill-Carrboro high School, or the funds split between the districts and used to In's acquire land and plan for each project. As presented during the task force meetings, we have numerous reasons to support building a new middle school in Orange County. However, we do not believe that it would be productive to pit our school district against Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Instead, an alternative idea exists that may prove to be win-win for all involved. The Orange County Board of Education would like to propose a solution that will benefit both school systems, as well as make the best possible use of taxpayer revenues. We invite the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School system to discuss with us the option of using existing high school capacity in OCS to serve students from the city district. We propose having discussions about an International Baccalaureate program, or some similar academic magnet program currently not being offered in either system, at Cedar Ridge or Orange High School. orange County schools "Providing eduawonW opponmaesfor successful futures.