Minutes 04-29-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chair Bedford said 12-14, and Gerri Martin said Orange County has around 20 students. Commissioner porosin said this is a particular opportunity for students who are not necessarily going on to a 4 year traditional university model. He said this is a population that has historically been underserved. He said the schools may need to do a better job of selling the advantages of this. Commissioner Price said Middle College is also for youth who are a little advanced or more mature. She said Durham Tech is sending a lot of students on to a four year school to finish. Chair Jacobs referred to the issue of kiss and go lanes. He said there is an environmental issue with having people line up in cars and run them for 15-30 minutes every morning and afternoon. He asked if there are any school districts that have looked at alternatives, such as fare free busing. Todd LoFrese said this has come up before, but this is a tall order. He said they are currently in the process of looking at the walk zones in order to create policies or guidelines. He said the goal is to encourage students to walk or bike to schools. He said there is also a partnership with the Town of Carrboro to promote walking and biking. He is not aware of other approaches to limiting parent drop offs. Chair Jacobs said he would be interested in having this looked into. Mia Burroughs said many parents are fearful about putting their children on a bus. She said a lot of people also do not like adding extra time for commuting. Commissioner Rich said it would help if there were more sidewalks. Commissioner Pelissier said there are parents that feel the commute is their quality time with their children. She said if a parent feels this way, it does not matter what other options are available. Chair Jacobs said we need to test the assumption that this is the way things are and the way things always will be. James Barrett said it is good to continue the conversation on public transportation. 3. Charter School Enrollment and Fundinq Clarence Grier said a topic at the recent collaboration meeting was the impact of charter schools on school enrollment. He said the County, since 2002 has held the number of charter school students at the same level. He said the numbers for 2013-14 and the projected numbers for 2015 show those numbers going up substantially. He said these numbers may change as Pace Academy did not have their charter renewed. Tom Forcella said Pace Academy serves a different type of student population than some of the other schools. Geri Martin said the abstract lists only two charter schools in Orange County, and OCS pays money to 15 charter schools on a monthly basis, for 343 students that attend charter schools. She said this costs the district $1.2 million, and this number is expected to increase as a new charter school (The Expedition School) opens in August. Debbie Piscitelli said The Expedition School's website shows numbers to be higher than projected. Commissioner McKee asked if the districts are required to provide extracurricular activities to charter schools. Both answered no, not yet. Chair Bedford said charters that have been denied will have another opportunity to apply for opening next August. She said there are 37 of these. She said the opposition is only