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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20070430APPROVED 6/26/2007 MINUTES WORK SESSION Orange County Commissioners Orange County Board Of Education Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education April 30, 2007 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a joint session with the Chapel Hill- Carrboro Board of Education and the Orange County Board of Education on Monday, April 30, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Valerie P. Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs, and Mike Nelson COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey, and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Dennis Whitling, Vice-Chair Ted Triebel, and Board Members Elizabeth Brown, Debbie Piscitelli, Anne Medenbleck, AI Hartkopf, and Susan Hallman. Superintendent Shirley Carraway was also present. ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS ABSENT: CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO CITY SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Jamezetta Bedford, Vice Chair Pam Hemminger, and Board Members Jean Hamilton, Lisa Stuckey, Annetta Streater, and Mike Kelley. Superintendent Neil Pedersen was also present. CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO CITY SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS ABSENT: Elizabeth Carter Chair Carey made reference to the handout on school collaboration efforts. CHCCS Board Chair Jamezetta Bedford said that this is a very lengthy agenda, and she hopes that each item will be given a time limit sa that everything can be done. Dennis Whitling said that they have some full and frank discussions at the school collaboration meetings and he appreciated the Board of County Commissioners listening to them. Chair Carey said that this meeting is generally not designed for decision-making, except far talking about the next steps an a particular item. Chair Carey said that Commissioner Gordan may be here later and Jamezetta Bedford said that Liz Carter might be here later also. 1. CountylOCSICHCCS Matters a. School Construction Standards Policy Laura Blackmon said that the collaboration group is working to update these standards. All three boards have seen an early draft in September 2006. The current draft is the 4th one, and there have not been any changes from the initial one. She said that there are three things that are relatively new that have to do with non-traditional schools, Smart Growth initiatives, and trying to deal with the increasing costs of school construction. Also, there are some issues about capital funding, and the standards will play an important part on how to develop the capital investment plan for the next ten years. There will also be an update on the impact fee, and there is a contract in the works with a consultant. Commissioner Gordon arrived at 7:44 PM. Debbie Piscitelli asked about start up costs and if a school is expanding or adding on, would the start up costs be incorporated. Budget Director Donna Coffey said that they did not discuss expansion of facilities, but mare construction of new schools. She said that the collaboration group could discuss this at a future meeting. Debbie Piscitelli said that from the OCS standpoint, they are looking at building new schools versus expansion and she would like to know where the start up costs come in. Donna Coffey said that non-personnel start up costs have always been a part of construction standards. Dennis Whitling said that it looks like the numbers have changed. Donna Coffey said that appendices 1-4 are the numbers from the State DPI model. Jameszetta Bedford made reference to page 17 and said that the language has changed about the generators. It used to say "might include," and now it says, "all will include." She was not at the last collaboration meeting, and she does not know if this was a deliberate decision. Donna Coffey said that this was a topic of discussion at the last meeting, and that is the wording that the group decided on. She said that though they may make new schools generator-ready, it would depend on the Red Crass as to which schools would be shelters. Commissioner Gordon said that she appreciated the staff getting her a draft of the information. She made reference to the traditional versus non-traditional and said that the traditional has not changed much. She asked about the definition of anon-traditional school. She asked if it was acase-by-case basis and all agreed. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 13 and the last bullet in the middle of the page, "Accommodate the expanding number of middle and high school athletic teams eitheron- site oroff-site. " She said that with Cedar Ridge and Carrboro High Schools, they were started with core facilities and a core amount of students and then expanded to build the bigger facility. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 15 and "Future Maintenance of Facility.responsibility for future facility maintenancelrepairs and energy usage guarantees can be assigned to the developer and not the school system." She asked if this was completely in the bill and Donna Coffey said that it was. Commissioner Gordon asked about page 17 and the possibility of a School Capital Review Team consisting of County staff and representatives from each school district. She asked about the County staff. Laura Blackmon said that this is what was talked about with Jeff Thompson. Commissioner Jacobs said that this is a definite improvement and the non-traditional is on acase by case basis. He made one edit on page 12. Instead of "As the availability of land becomes less and less," he suggested "decreases." Regarding possibilities, he would like to include co-location of a library every time a school is built. Commissioner Gordon said that there is a memorandum of understanding about co- locating facilities, and this mechanism is already in place. Chair Carey said that the next step is for all is to take this document back to the boards to adopt as presented. b. Landbankina History and Goals Laura Blackmon said that this is an outgrowth of school construction standards and siting schools in the future. Chair Carey said that the intent was to step up the engagement of the towns and the County in working with the staff and the two school systems to make sure that school sites are identified and preserved. The collaboration work group asked that a letter be sent to the towns to this effect. There has been a response from Carrboro only. Dennis Whitling said that the OCS Board met with the Tawn of Hillsborough and discussed this topic, and the two boards were on the same page. He said that OCS is moving forward with the Town of Hillsborough on some ideas. Chair Carey asked about a proposed meeting with the Town of Mebane and Dennis Whitling said that there are plans to do this. Superintendent Pedersen asked about next steps after they get responses and contacts and who would take the lead in this process. Chair Carey said that the Board has not discussed this yet. He said that once contacts have been identified then Orange County staff could facilitate the first meeting with all the entities. Commissioner Gordon made reference to a handout she distributed at the County Commissioners' meeting on March 27th. She said that the general idea of these groups getting together was implemented by the Schools and Land Use Council years ago. The SLUC initiated the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. She said that she supports this general idea of land banking. She said that there was a school/parks reserve fund atone time, where the County Commissioners had set aside one cent on the property tax for land-banking, but the Commissioners eventually stopped allocating money to it. She said that if this group meets, there should be discussion about how the sites will be purchased. Commissioner Jacobs suggested that OCS get with the Planning Department, who did a fiscal analysis of the Collins property. The developer has not committed to any commercial density, which may convert to more residential density and would have more of an adverse impact on the school system. Chair Carey asked the Manager and Planning Director to share this document with the school boards. c. Capital Funding Policy, Including Lottery Proceeds Laura Blackmon said that on April 24th the Board of County Commissioners approved the capital funding policy, which included the updated position on the lottery proceeds. The Board decided to came back in the fall and do the ten-year capital improvement plan. The Board approved budgeting the lottery proceeds in arrears for renovation projects or debt service. Chair Carey said that this policy, as it relates to the lottery proceeds, has been discussed in the school collaboration work group at least twice. Ted Triebel said that he did not see before now that the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (page two} has said that the County could request lottery funds before actually spending them as long as the County anticipates making the expenditure within the fiscal year. He said that he understands this to say that they are going to get funds and bank them far a year, and then expend them. He asked for clarification on this. Donna Coffey said that by statute the lottery commission is to make four deposits into the account in any format that they want -not necessarily every quarter. She said that the County can request as much money as it wants, but it will not get it until the money is in the account. The funds need to be expended within the year. She clarified that the funds do draw interest at the state level. Several school board members asked clarifying questions, which were answered by Donna Coffey and Laura Blackmon. Jamezetta Bedford thanked the Board of County Commissioners for giving the school boards the flexibility on how to use the funds. She made reference to page seven and the construction management function. She asked if there was a fairer way to allocate funds rather than the number of students. Dennis Whitling agreed. Chair Carey said that this document has already been adopted, but the Board can amend it later. d. Fund Balance Policy Laura Blackmon said that since 1986 the school systems have maintained a fund balance. The CHCCS has maintained 5.5% and OCS has maintained 2.7%. She said that there have been no changes implemented in the policy since 1986. This is on the agenda for discussion to see if changes need to be made to this. Dennis Whitling said that this may be something the school collaboration group can look at for review and/or updating. Superintendent Pedersen said that CHCCS is using $500,000 from fund balance for Elementary School #10 and $500,000 for startup costs for Carrboro High School. He said that there has been a struggle with the budget far Carrboro High School, and they have identified $500,004 for one-time purchases for startup programs far the new school. Chair Carey thanked Superintendent Pedersen for making the Board aware of this far the first time. He thinks that the County Commissioners would like to think this over. Superintendent Pedersen said that there is a need for cash reserves to cover payroll when the school system is not collecting any district taxes. He said that CHCCS has looked to the Board of County Commissioners for assistance in the past when this has happened. He said that he is comfortable with the 5.5°~ fund balance. Commissioner Gordon said that if either school board has anything to mention about their fund balances, then please let the County Commissioners know, such as if the targets are not right, what to use it for, etc. She said that there has been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue. Dennis Whitling said that in OCS, the creation of a fund balance is a savings from year to year that accumulates. He said that he understands the concept of using fund balance for non- recurring items. He said that when their operation budget is not fully funded, then money must be taken from the fund balance. It is also a judgment that the school board has to make about funding programs or waiting. Debbie Piscitelli said that when spending occurs between now and the end of the fiscal year, this can make people upset, and this should be addressed. Commissioner Jacobs said that the larger the County's fund balance, the better the bond rating, and they want to build back their fund balance to increase the bond rating. He said that when schools need money, the County takes it out of its own fund balance. He said that as long as the County has a good fund balance, everyone has a good fund balance. Ted Triebel asked about a target goal for the County and Donna Coffey said that the Local Government Commission recommends 8%. The County's internal target is 15%, but it has not been this large in a tang time. Jean Hamilton asked about the County's band rating and it was answered Triple A. Chair Carey said that the bond rating agencies do not tell entities what they need to boost or lower the band rating. Laura Blackmon said that band raters are looking for consistency. Chair Carey said that the school collaboration work group will discuss this topic. e. Fair FundinaJEguity Laura Blackmon said that the joint boards had looked at this topic last year. Attachments E-1, E-2, and E-3 were the minutes from the Fair Funding Work Group meeting in May 2006, the recommendations, and the goal statement with regards to the recommendation of the Fair Funding Work Group. Commissioner Gordon said that the school collaboration work group should take this topic up. Dennis Whitling said that, on the capital side, OCS has done what is listed, such as the lottery proceeds. He said that the operating side is stickier. He said that he thought he saw a memo about the 48.1 °~ target, and this is integral to the recommendation. Chair Carey said that it is important to keep the issue of fair funding on the agenda. He suggested having the school collaboration work group discuss it again. Liz Brown said that the OCS Board has talked about this, and she thinks that with the talk of no tax increase, that the work on the fair funding was pointless. She said that getting more equity is different from getting more funding far the schools. She said that it seems that this year is a year that the County Commissioners should look at giving more money to the OCS children. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners have said that they want to target the tax increase at the level required to cover the debt service from all of the capital projects that the schools and the County have. He said that the Board will go through the process of adapting the budget as always, and will do the best it can for both school systems. Liz Brown said that she differs with the subjects that are discussed in the school collaboration work group because it seems that they have spent a lot of time discussing buildings and tax increases for buildings, which will not be for OCS. She said that OCS needs mare money far programs. She would like to see the whole County work together at discussing that issue. She said that they have spent four years dancing around this issue of fair funding. Chair Carey said that the recommendation from the work group came forth in May and the Board of County Commissioners raised the tax rate six cents to try and accommodate the needs. He does not think that the Board can raise the tax rate another six cents this year. Jamezetta Bedford said that the CHCCS is presenting a budget to the Board of County Commissioners that meets their schools' needs. This budget has been cut from the budget that was presented to the school board at their February Board retreat. She said that it is millions more than the Board of County Commissioners is planning to cover. She asked about the realities here. Chair Carey said that the budget drivers included the $800,000 and that would not be at risk. Dennis Whitling said that what is driving OCS next year is the construction costs and debt service. He made reference to the budget public hearing on May 31 Sc and said that OCS has offered the use of one of the school auditoriums. Ted Triebel said that there are serious concerns about the OCS operating budget and CIP. He said that they are trying to look after their youth in the long range. Mike Kelly asked for an explanation about the payment of debt service and said that he would like to look to avoid this in the future. He said that he would like to understand how they came to this point - to not increase taxes past paying for debt service. He said that this is a transient problem and debt service is supposedly going to ga down. Commissioner Jacobs said that the cost increase between Gravelly Hill, Carrboro High, and Elementary School #10 caused a bump of $10 million beyond what was anticipated. Also, the Governor raised State teachers' salaries. He said that the County gets indirectly penalized for this and they still raised taxes 12 ~/ cents over the last two years. He said that the County Commissioners are trying to address County needs. He said that this was a confluence of circumstances that were not within the County Commissioners' control. Liz Brown said that she does not think the fair funding discussion should be in the school collaboration group because it is a waste of CHCCS's time. She would like to see a separate meeting of the Board of County Commissioners and the OCS, without the CHCCS. Chair Carey said that anytime you talk about funding, decisions affect all of the groups, and he does not see a conflict with the school collaboration group discussing it. Ted Triebel said that they would be discussing this in a partial vacuum if they did it between the County and OCS only. Dennis Whitling agreed with Ted Triebel that this is a global issue and all boards should discuss this. Chair Carey said that with these discussions, transparency is important. Superintendent Pedersen said that this is going to be an unusual year budget wise, and he wants the Board of County Commissioners to understand the CHCCS's concerns. He said that the total request is $7 million, and $5 million is for salary increases, opening Carrboro High School, and utilities. He said that he is not sure how not to do these things. He said that they are having some serious meetings about how to reduce the budget, but they are looking at cuts in the millions, if they take what the County Commissioners say seriously. Superintendent Carraway said that OCS's situation is similar and half of their requests are mandates. She said that they would be listing things that they will have to cut, and the majority of that will be people. She said that this is the first time since she has been here that there has not been increases in the per pupil. Jamezetta Bedford said that CHCCS did not offer contracts to their employees as of yet, and they are taking this very seriously. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners understand this and the school systems are wise to have discussions about the various scenarios. He said that the County Commissioners will always da the best they can for the schools. He said that he hopes that the schools are asking their legislative liaisons to work with the legislature to pass the Medicaid relief and Real Estate Transfer Tax for counties. This would relieve a lot of pressure. f. School Health/Day Clinics Proposals Chair Carey said that this is informational. Superintendent Carraway gave some highlights of this PowerPoint presentation. Working Together to Improve the Health & Academic Success of Orange County School District Students Shirley Carraway, EdD Superintendent, Orange County School District Rosemary L. Summers, MPH, DrPH Director, Orange County Health Department Why? • There is a direct link between students' - physical health - mental health - academic success • Compared to students experiencing physical or psychological health problems, healthy students - have better school attendance - are better learners - are more academically successful - Have a better chance of graduating - have a better chance of making a smooth transition to a healthy, happy, and productive young adulthood What are we currently doing? School Health Advisory Council • School Board Representative • School Staff and Administrators • Health Dept. Staff and Administrators • Local Physician • County Agencies • Community Members • Parents CDC Coordinated School Health Program For example, we now have.... • Nurses in every school • Social Workers in every school • PE teachers in every school • School Improvement Plans for every school • Healthy Active Children Policy for every school • District school nutritionist • District safety coordinator • Health education programs • Staff health promotion • Family-focused after-school programs What do we want to consider next? What about health services? We know our students have unmet health needs..... From Orange County Schools' 2005-2006 School Nurses End of Year Report Kindergarten through High School Screenings • Dental - 1826 students screened (Of the 191 students referred far outside care only 36°10 followed through.) • Hearing - 860 students reached (Of the 24 students referred for follow up care only 38% of them completed the referral process.) We know our students have unmet health needs..... The Healthy Carolinians and Advocates for Adolescents Committee Assessment on Mental Health Needs of Adolescents in Orange County, October 2006 ^ Children and adolescents need more education about mental illness and mental health. ^ Children and adolescents need more knowledge of when and how to seek mental health services. We knave our students have unmet health needs..... From OCS Spring 2006 Communities That Care Survey • 17.78% of 6t" graders (450 students surveyed), 18.63 % of $t" graders (408 students surveyed), and 19.47% of 10t" graders {457 students surveyed) reported having their first beer before the age of 11. • 2.44% of 6t" graders, 5.39°~ of $t" graders, and 5.69°rb of 10t" graders always threaten to hurt people. From Spring 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey • 27°~ of OCS 8t" graders seriously considered suicide in the previous year. • 35% of OCS 8t" graders reported that they had felt so sad ar hopeless for 2+ weeks in a row that they stopped doing their usual activities in the last 12 months. School-Based Health Centers? (SBHC) We propose cone-year exploratory process to determine whether it is desirable and feasible to develop aSchool-Based Health Center (SBHC) at CW Stanford Middle School ... as a first step in a system-wide strategy to address unmet health needs of students in the OCSD. Propose a Steering Committee Leader: OCSD Superintendent Co-Leader: OCSD Health Dept. Director Members: Director, OCSD Student Services Director, OCSD Healthful Living Director, OCSD Adolescents in Need Director, School Exceptional Children Program Leader, OCSD School Health Advisory Council Steering Committee Members (Continued) County Commissioner Chair, or designee Health Dept Board Member OCSD Board Member DSS Board Member Local Physician Director, Piedmont Health Services UNC Adolescent Medicine Physician OCSD Nursing Supervisor OPC Mental Health Consultant Juvenile Justice representation CW Stanford Middle School Principal Many Questions far Steering Committee to Address... • Is SBHC desirable? • Is SBHC feasible? • Which students and which services? - Students without medical homes? - Urgent care so kids can stay in school? - Helping medical home serve students with chronic care needs? - Synergist coordinated services around high-need students? - Convenient, centralized, coordinated, comprehensive services? - Safety-net services? - Mental health/substance use services? How to Best Use SBHC to Improve Important Outcomes..... ! Better school attendance • Better academic achievement • Lower drop out rates • Better access to high quality health care • Better health We are enthusiastic about moving forward! • ASCD Health Schools Community Grant awarded! • Would like to convene Steering Committee summer of 2007! She said that the next step is to convene a steering committee (including a County Commissioner representative) to begin to discuss and evaluate the potential for such a center at C. W. Stanford Middle School. They would like the support of the Board of County Commissioners before moving forward. Commissioner Gordon asked how this fits in the grim budget situation. Shirley Carraway said that this steering committee will look at funding and the possible sources. She said that they visited one in Wayne County, and some of it is funded through reimbursable dollars and private insurance dollars. Lisa Stuckey said that she attended a conference and the speaker from South Carolina spoke about how this could be self-funding. Commissioner Faushee said that she heard this presentation and she would like to refer this to staff to bring back a formal proposal in concept for Board approval. Chair Carey said that he is familiar with school based health centers throughout the state and they serve a great need. He said that it is na"ive to think that we can depend on reimbursements to cover the costs. He said that OCS is not asking the Board to commit to funding, but to a concept. He asked haw this relates to what is being done now. Betty Compton said that this is the next natural step in services for children. She said that she has worked in the OCS for a long time. She said that they have not finished the job, which is getting these children the help they need when they need it. Anne Medenbleck suggested that the steering committee tap Duke or UNC for grants. g, Middle College High School Update Superintendent Neil Pedersen said that this is an update and is a collaborative effort between the two school systems and the Durham Public Schools also. This is the second year and there are 14 students from OCS and 10 students from CHCCS. He said that the program could have as many as 50 students each, so they are under enrolled. He made reference to the overview in the packet. The program is for juniors and seniors. The Durham Tech courses are offered free of charge to the students and the credits are transferable. He said that this is not for students who are involved in athletics or for students who are reluctant to leave their social groups. Superintendent Carraway said that as students continue to participate, they are going to be the best advertisement for this program. There will be three students graduating from this program in May. Commissioner Nelson asked the OCS about the proposed merger of Hillsborough Elementary and Central Elementary. He has been getting emails from citizens who are concerned about this. Dennis Whitling said that there was amini-session in February and then it was discussed later at another meeting, and he appointed athree-person committee of the board to come up with a process of exploring this issue. This process was discussed at the last OCS Board meeting about a week ago. He said that they are in the process of scheduling a meeting {four-hour retreat) to be facilitated by Andy Sachs of the Dispute Settlement Center to discuss this process. The timeline has been discussed, but there have been no decisions. He said that all meetings would be open to the public. There will be a public hearing down the line and possibly a panel discussion with some experts to talk about the socioeconomic issue. He said that the issue is that there is a year-round school of choice with 14°1o having free and reduced lunches versus another districted school a block away with 70°Io having free or reduced lunches. He said that the proposal is to have 100 students to move from Central to Hillsborough Elementary. He said that the school board is committed to exploring this. Commissioner Nelson said that this process sounds fair and open. He said that there was a group of people that came to the Human Relations Commission meeting about this. There were some issues raised about race and class. Chair Carey said that AI Hartkopf left a message that he had other commitments tonight. Chair Carey made reference to the list of bills that the school boards are asking the legislative member to support. He asked bath school boards to write the legislative delegation supporting Medicaid relief and the Real Estate Transfer Tax. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Real Estate Transfer Tax can generate $10 million for Orange County if approved. He said that, having been through a merger discussion, he would like to commend the OCS for taking on this issue of merging two schools and for the process. Ted Triebel made reference to the letter about the bills and said that it was also sent to three or four other legislative representatives. He suggested that joint letters to the legislative representatives {two school boards and the BOCC) would have much more "throw" weight. The boards agreed to do a joint letter. With no further issues to address, the meeting was adjourned at 9:44 PM. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board