Agenda - 03-07-2019 8-a - Minutes

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9 1 2 WHEREAS, long summer breaks can also negatively impact child nutrition, as low-income 3 children who have access to regular meals at school through the free and reduced priced 4 meal program may not have access to regular meals at home; and 5 6 WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners encourages the school districts 7 to develop and continue to expand their year round educational programs; and 8 9 WHEREAS, with little flexibility built in to the calendar, scheduling make-up days is 10 extremely challenging; and 11 12 WHEREAS, major hurricanes and severe winter snow storms have caused Orange County 13 Schools to miss 17 school days over the past three years; and 14 15 WHEREAS, major hurricanes and severe winter snow storms have caused Chapel Hill 16 Carrboro City Schools to miss 16 school days over the past three years; and 17 18 WHEREAS, fall sports and band begin August 1, schedules for extracurriculars have not 19 changed to coincide with the State-mandated school calendar; and 20 21 WHEREAS, local boards of education are best equipped to understand the balancing act of 22 meeting the community's needs and maximizing student success; and 23 24 WHEREAS, restoring local control of school calendars will allow local boards of education 25 to best meet the calendar preferences of the families, educators, and businesses in our 26 community while allowing for innovative experimental approaches to improve student 27 achievement. 28 29 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners 30 expresses its support for local boards of education and the restoration of local control of 31 school calendars and requests that the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor 32 Roy Cooper adopt and ratify legislation returning school calendar responsibility to local 33 school boards of education. 34 35 This the 191" day of February 2019. 36 37 Commissioner Dorosin suggested adding the following language after the 38 comments about the summer: "WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners 39 encourages the school districts to develop and continue to expand their year round 40 educational programs". 41 Commissioner Marcoplos asked if Commissioner Dorosin wants this as an option. 42 Commissioner Dorosin said yes, to encourage school districts having the option to 43 establish or expand year-round learning programs. 44 Commissioner Marcoplos asked if Commissioner Dorosin was encouraging every 45 school to be year round. 46 Commissioner Dorosin said, personally, he thinks all schools should be year round, 47 but he is not suggesting that for this resolution. 48 Chair Rich asked if the school system needs approval from the General Assembly 49 to become a year-round school.