Agenda - 09-17-2024; 8-a - Minutes

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16 1 Rachel Kline said she is a teacher at McDougle Elementary. She said that there have been 2 many concerns discussed, especially the impact of displacing the most vulnerable ones. She said 3 that as a teacher she is all for funding schools. She said there is an impact on the children with a 4 safe and comfortable environment. She said there is a high likelihood that she and her fellow 5 teachers will not be able to continue working together. She said she has a wonderful team of 6 people that she works with. She said it is challenging for schools to find teachers and it will be 7 hard to hire high quality equity focused teachers when they are unsure of their future. She said 8 that the plans suggest that they will get to stay but there is no definitive answer on how. She said 9 there is no set plan for how they will be distributed as staff. She asked the Board to ask the 10 CHCCS district to look into the plan and make the adjustments necessary. She said that until they 11 are sure that this plan puts equity first, she will vote no on the bond. 12 Kari Hamel said neither Orange County nor the school districts have adequate internal 13 controls to reasonably protect the taxpayer's investment on the bond. She said that there is other 14 debt that does not get talked about either. She said that she has expressed concerns and asked 15 questions that have not been responded to on the 2016 bond. She said that some of those 16 questions are about change orders and disregarded disclosure requirements about those change 17 orders. She said that the county's accountability over the school system and other funding 18 recipients is abysmal. She said that there are recent revelations of overtime abuses and subsidy 19 amounts to the Soccer.com center that may be more than half of what is allocated to non-profit 20 direct service providers in the county. She said that the Soccer.Com center is next to the school, 21 and she read an excerpt from the capital outlay policy that the commissioners have the intent to 22 evaluate all new schools for all future community uses including parks and recreation facilities. 23 She asked if the two elementary schools that are planned will be designed and constructed the 24 same and will the elementary schools also be constructed at the same time to save funds. She 25 asked why a debt oversight committee has not already started to meet to review current debt 26 spending in anticipation of the bond plus the additional non-voted debt. She said that the Gravely 27 students had no math teachers for over a year. She said that there should be a debt committee. 28 She said the collapsed light-rail project and the impact on Orange County taxpayers has not 29 resulted in any oversight to spending or policy changes in the county. 30 Mary Lobo said she is an Estes Hills parent. She said that they moved to the neighborhood 31 and loved the school being so close. She said that there is a real sense of community. She said 32 there are negatives to consolidation besides economics. She said when the schools are bigger, it 33 becomes less personal. She said that Estes has started a "bike bus" and a "traffic garden" that 34 are bike and pedestrian friendly for the kids. She said facilities are not all there is to a school. She 35 said that people want to support schools but that a lot of people feel that if they vote for the bond, 36 they are voting to close their school. 37 Joe Hicken said he is a McDougle Elementary parent. He described what makes a 38 community in a school. He said this is the first time that the community has been heard or listened 39 to. He said it is concerning to provide all of this cash. He asked if it was the facilities of the schools 40 or the people that made the impacts on them as adults. He said that his neighbors look at the 41 plan and scratch their heads. He said it erodes fundamental aspects of community. He asked 42 the Board to use formal and informal instruments at their disposal to communicate that they should 43 be intentional about plans and not bake in uncertainty. He said they could build an Orange County 44 that really is excellent in comparison to the rest of the state. 45 Kendall Schenkenberg said she grew up in Chapel Hill and had the greatest education. 46 She said she moved back to the area to give her kids the type of growing up that she had. She 47 said her kindergartener is slated to attend Carrboro Elementary and Frank Porter Graham 48 Elementary, both of which are slated to close. She asked the Board to talk to the Orange County 49 School Board and ask them to change the plan and to find a better way to support children. 50 Liam Kennealy said he is a student at McDougle Middle School. He said that he would not 51 be able to walk to school and that he would have to be bussed when there are already issues with