Minutes 05-28-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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privilege, which he came up with on his own. What amazing reading instruction! (Thank you very much Common Core!) But when fully funded, schools are teaching kids how to be people who will lead us one day. They are teaching kindness, compassion, and empathy. They can spend the time to teach kids about getting along with others. They can give the kids vocabulary like tolerance, grit, and diversity, in a way that helps them to understand the world. This is the kind of community that will help to close the achievement gap. This is what a school should look like. This is what can continue when the CHCCS budget is fully funded. Without that funding, the choices are extremely difficult and more than anything, they cost time spent directly with kids. And it might have cost this child an amazing revelation that will hopefully mean one more member of our community will become a tolerant understanding citizen one day, thanks to our public schools Thank you for your continued support and dedication. Jill & Daniel Simon 203 Westbury Drive • My son is a student at Glenwood Elementary School this year, and I am very concerned about the budget cuts that Chapel Hill public schools are facing next year. The schools would likely have to let go of several teachers or assistants next year, which would make class sizes bigger and result in the students receiving even less help--help that is critical in the younger years especially when they are expected to learn so many things and need help adapting to the classroom setting. If our schools continue to decrease in quality it will impact our county and our state for decades. Please consider investing more in our schools so that they can continue to meet the educational needs of our children. Sincerely, Marcelaine Tanner • Dear Orange County Commissioners: I am writing to ask you to fully fund the 2015-16 budget requests of the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools. As you know, the budgets from Raleigh have forced our schools to trim away the "fat" from their budgets year after year; there is nothing unessential remaining to be cut away - the proposed budget shortfall for CHCCS will directly impact students in the classroom. This comes at a time when the pressure on public schools to "perform", feed hungry children, welcome first-generation Americans, and fully include students with disabilities (mine included) has never been greater. When the BoCC decided to fully fund our schools last year, it affirmed to the residents of Orange County that our local elected officials share our values. I think it is important to remember during difficult budget decisions that high quality public education has always been a core value of Orange County. It is one of the cornerstones of our identity as a community, locally, statewide, and nationally. It is no secret that the excellence of our two public school systems is a key factor in drawing and keeping the best and brightest to Orange County. With the fluidity between the different regions of the Triangle, our top quality public schools are often the deciding factor when people decide where to live and set down roots. Many Orange County residents are willing to pay higher housing costs, pay higher taxes, and commute further