Agenda - 09-04-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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15 1 the Board of County Commissioners has consistently been supportive of education in Orange 2 County. 3 Commissioner Dorosin asked about the required process if a student in OCS wants to 4 take a class or extracurricular activity that is only offered in CHCCS. 5 Mike Kelly said the sharing of classes arrangement was proposed after the first 6 collaboration meeting in the early 2000's. He said this option was offered, and only one student 7 took advantage of this. He said this process is very challenging and requires students to 8 transfer for half the day, which most of them do not like. 9 Commissioner Dorosin asked if transportation is provided if a student wants to do this. 10 Mike Kelly said he does not know if this was proposed or not. 11 Commissioner Dorosin said transportation could be significant impediment. 12 Steve Halkiotis said that a recent report showed that CHCCS students have come to 13 OCS schools to take the IB program at Cedar Ridge High School, and these students have not 14 been charged to attend this program. 15 Chair Bedford said this charge was waived, and administration made these decisions. 16 Mike Kelly said it was his understanding that OCS gets state and county allocations. 17 Steve Halkiotis said the important thing is that the kids were warmly welcomed and 18 received an education. 19 Commissioner Dorosin said each of these districts has responsibilities to their students 20 and they each do an outstanding job. He said the County Commissioners are the only Board 21 that is charged with the responsibility of every student in the County. He respects the fact that 22 the County has chosen a dual system, but he wants to be sure every opportunity is available to 23 every student, regardless of their school assignment. 24 Chair Jacobs asked if Commissioner Dorosin would like the school collaboration group 25 to re-visit this issue. 26 Commissioner Dorosin said yes. 27 Chair Bedford said this type of issue has been discussed at the last two collaboration 28 meetings. She said Middle College is one example of this, and transportation is an issue here. 29 She said the hope is that there will be an extension of the Orange County branch. She said 30 there have also been discussions about the possibility of a collaborative dual language school. 31 Commissioner Dorosin said there are also online possibilities. 32 Chair Bedford said they hope to pilot an online program for dual languages in August if 33 the funding is available. She said this could be expanded for other classes. 34 Chair Bedford said their policy is to allow AP classes to be taken online through NC 35 Virtual if the class is not offered in the district. 36 Commissioner Price asked about the minimum number of social workers needed. 37 Geri Martin said there are currently 4 social workers employed, but the additional 8 are 38 needed to cover the 13 facilities. 39 Commissioner Price asked if that number will be sufficient or if the schools would prefer 40 to have more. 41 Gerri Martin said this is a conservative number to maintain their current level of service. 42 Chair Jacobs asked how many students are attending Middle College, and how much is 43 being paid for this. 44 Mike Kelly said the allocation is 25 students per district and $50,000 is being paid. 45 Chair Bedford said about 12 are attending per district. She said the students who go 46 there probably have higher per pupil costs, but they are graduating. She said undocumented 47 students can get 1-2 years of college for free. She said this is a very successful program. 48 Chair Jacobs asked if there have been discussions with Durham Tech about moving into 49 Hillsborough now.