Minutes - 20070531 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sandra McKee spoke in support of fully funding the OCS. She is a product of the OCS and has three students who have graduated from Orange High School. She has also been a teacher in the OCS for 30+ years. She asked the County Commissioners to fully fund the budget as requested by the OCS Board. She asked the County Commissioners not to cut funding that could directly affect students. She said that one specific suggestion for reduction if the budget is not fully funded has been in the area of staff reduction that could occur in the areas of the academically gifted and exceptional children, and English as a Second Language. Two of her children were in the AG program and her other child was served by the exceptional children's program. Without the extra help in the early years from specialized staff, school would have been much more difficult for this child. She said that there has been an influx of Hispanic children in Orange County, and many times these children come without knowing any English. Losing any position in these areas would be a hardship on those who are left. She said that another proposed cut would be the elimination of all middle school and JV athletics. She said that she will be retiring at the end of this school year, but her heart will still be with the students and the teachers. Michele Rivest, Executive Director of the Orange County Partnership for Young Children, thanked the County Commissioners for past support and the County Manager for her recommendation to continue funding childcare subsidies through the Department of Social Services. She said that these funds are critically needed and provide many benefits. Childcare in Orange County is about $1,000 per month per child and this is beyond the reach of many working families. She said that in a study that her organization did last year, it was found that over 200 employers in Orange County rely on these families far their employees. She said that the County funds were also used this year to leverage support for the local More at Four program. She said that her board will stand by the County in supporting early childhood education. Tracy Weeks, Director of Instructional Technology and Media for CHCCS, said that, given the potentially drastic cuts in the current budget, she is expressing her deep concern regarding the instructional support teachers that will likely be lost due to the lack of anticipated funding for the 2007-2008 school year. She said that the North Carolina State Board of Education has directed the schools to generate future-ready students for the 21St century, with the goal that every student use technology to access and demonstrate new knowledge and skills needed to be competitive in a constantly changing international environment. She said that literacy in the 21St century requires students to employ information and express ideas compellingly. The school media centers and the library and media specialists are best equipped to work with the students to develop these necessary skills. Since 2000, the schools have had library media assistants, which allowed media centers to operate under a flexible access model. She said that the media assistants are vital to this model. She said that if the funding for next year remains as planned, they will likely lose all of their elementary media assistants along with many other vital teaching and assistant positions. This will have a direct impact on the literacy development of the students. She said that this funding is necessary to only maintain the level of quality instruction and not to enhance it. Isabel Garland said that her daughters attend Cedar Ridge High School. She said that she is pleased with education in OCS. She said that they only have three ESL teachers for 11 schools. She said that this limited service could not help students to learn English. She asked that all of the ESL positions be restored. Gwyn Esch is a parent of children in OCS. She pointed out the representation of teachers and parents from CHCCS and OCS and said that they take education very seriously. She said that cutting teacher assistants and permanent subs is a concern and takes qualified teachers out of the classroom. She said that these positions are more than just luxuries, but an absolute necessity. She said that the budget cuts the County Commissioners are forcing the school boards to make directly affect the functioning of the schools by increasing teacher