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2 1 2 TERESA WILLIAMS, an Orange County resident and Chapel Hill Carrboro school system employee, spoke 3 in support of fully funding the school system's budget request. She mentioned the success that the Achievement 4 Via Individual Determination (AVID) program has had this past year. That program will be cut if funds are not 5 available. 6 7 DIANE JACKSON, President of the Federation of Teachers, spoke in support of fully funding the School 8 System's budget request. She felt the budget request emphasizes programs that will directly impact students. She 9 spoke of the need for more school nurses, science specialists and staff development opportunities. A copy of her 10 comments, in their entirety, are in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. 11 12 RALPH KARPINOS, PTSA Culbruth Middle School president, spoke in support of fully funding the school 13 system's budget request. He agreed that the resources mentioned by other speakers were, in fact, necessary for 14 the education of our students. A copy of his comments, in their entirety, are in the permanent agenda file in the 15 Clerk's office. 16 17 CHARLES FINLEY spoke in support of fully funding the science programs. There is a need for a 1/2 time 18 science teacher as well as an elementary science teacher. These science programs are very important enrichment 19 programs. He mentioned that he felt that these programs need to be made permanent. 20 21 MARY GRAY LEONARD, the media specialist at the high school, spoke in support of fully funding the 22 school's budget request. As an example of important services that would be dropped at the County Manager's 23 suggested funding level, she mentioned that media specialists would not be funded for the additional two weeks 24 after school officially ends. The additional funding would allow the media centers to open on time, stay open the 25 entire year as well as offer additional services during the school year. 26 27 LINDA CARVER, a member of the Federation of Teachers for the Orange County school system, thanked 28 the Board of Commissioners for their funding of the Orange County Schools. She also requested that the Chapel 29 Hill School System be fully funded so that they are better able to meet the needs of their students. 30 31 ED BEDFORD, an Orange County resident, member of the Ephesus School PTA and the Autism 32 Organization, spoke in support of fully funding the schools budget request. Children with disabilities need for this 33 money so that their educational needs can be adequately addressed. He mentioned that if the funding is not 34 increased, they will need to make additional cuts simply to meeting the increased utility expenses. 35 36 ADAM LEVINSON, a therapist with KIDSCOPE, thanked the Board of Commissioners of their past funding 37 support. He spoke in support of the increased KIDSCOPE funding request. The program works to provide 38 specialized care for children aged one to five. These children have no other source of help available to them. 39 40 FLORA DUNBAR, a staff psychologist for the KIDSCOPE program, explained why this need exists in this 41 young population. She pointed out that there is a brief window of opportunity to provide this professional help and 42 the children on the waiting list are swiftly moving through that window. These behaviors are treatable at this age 43 and untreated that are a precursor to later violent and depressive behavior. 44 45 JEAN WAKEFIELD, a day care provide with the WEE CARE Day Care Center, indicated that she service 46 children funded through Smart Start and frequently calls upon KIDSCOPE to work with the children at WEE CARE. 47 She pointed out that these children, and their families need this help and KIDSCOPE is the only resource available 48 to most of them. 49 50 DEBORAH VANDYKEN, an domestic and family law attorney, spoke in support of the KIDSCOPE program. 51 This is the only free program in the County offering support to both the children and parents. They are in desperate 52 need of this program. She requested that funding be increased. 53 54 SUSAN MC CLANAHAN, spoke in support of increasing the funding for the KIDSCOPE program. She 55 mentioned that the family transition learning classroom is the only one of its kind in the County. This classroom 56 serves DSS children only and they are all children will special and pressing needs. 57