The
commissioners plan to discuss several factors about the school systems,
including how the school calendar is organized and the lack of
flexibility that goes along with it.
Modern day school calendars
are based on tourism schedules and what times of the year coincide with a
student's ability to work and increase profits made through the tourism
industry.
Jeff Nash, spokesperson for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools, said the calendar flexibility forces the school districts to
make tough choices.
"They tell you when you can start and when you can finish. Well, within those dates there is not enough time," he said.
"The
school board is put in a tough spot when deciding whether or not to
come on Saturdays or Memorial Day or other holidays. If we could just
simply add a few days or have the freedom to select when we start our
school years, this issue goes away and it wouldn't be a problem at all."
According
to Jacobs, if a school system should want to change their calendar for
situations regarding weather or religious holidays that don't pertain to
Christianity, the school system should not be held back by their
current restrictions.
3. Expanding broadband capability
to underserved areas of North Carolina in attempts to foster business
and farm development, along with the creation of new jobs.
Commissioner Penny Rich explained that the commissioners are pushing to make broadband and internet access a utility.
"The folks that can have it and have access have a different level of intelligence," she said.
"Just like everything you use on a daily basis, the internet should be a utility."
According
to Jacobs, there are locations throughout Orange County that don't have
any broadband access or the speed of the internet is extremely slow.
"One
of the things we added was to have a minimum standard," he said. "So
you can't claim a speed which is not available to everybody, it either
exists or doesn't exist."
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Jacobs said the addition of broadband
networks to areas that don't already have access will also lead to the
creation and development of businesses and jobs.
"In order to be
competitive, business needs to be able to move at speed through the
internet and if it takes a while to download anything, you're obviously
at a disadvantage," Jacobs said. "You can accommodate people working at
home, which allows for more small businesses to operate and keeps down
the miles to travel, which improves air quality and quality of life."
According to Rich, residents can't live in the more rural areas of Orange County and be successful without access to broadband.
4.
Seek legislative action that will provide all North Carolina
governments the authority to include sexual orientation and gender
identity as protected classes to protect them from discriminatory
practices.
"It's self apparent. We believe in equal
treatment and social justice," Jacobs said. "We don't believe in
singling out anybody to not be protected by the law."
According to
Jacobs, the board passed a resolution, before the legislature held its
session, and asked the legislature to "leave alone the rights of local
governments to make decisions that they think best fits the wishes of
their constituents."
"I think it's important to not accept
discrimination without speaking up against it, even though you think you
have no chance to change minds that are closed," Jacobs said.
"If you don't speak out, then you're acquiescing. There's too much of that in history to not learn a lesson."
The commissioners are asking for a repeal of House Bill 2 with addressing this topic at the general assembly.
5.
Clarify that farms on which production of crops and livestock is the
primary use are the only properties that qualify for previous zoning
exemptions.
Orange County saw a difficult situation as a
couple registered their property under the federal government as a
working farm, but instead of using the space as an area for crop or
livestock production first, they turned their farm into a wedding venue
and grew flowers on their property to keep the title and protection from
zoning laws.
"There are all sorts of benefits to having a farm that the federal governments gives to people," Rich said.
"If
you are a functioning working farm, you are allowed to have a secondary
business on your land. This is a way to get around Orange County zoning
rules to create a party space where a party space doesn't belong."
Rich
said the commissioners are addressing this issue to make sure it does
not keep happening and the secondary farm usage does not become the
primary reason for the property.
"If people are buying farms, they should be functioning farms," she said.
"It's
not so much other farmers that they're affecting, it's the surrounding
neighborhood. What used to be a quiet dirt road is now a busy dirt road
with a lot of noise until late at night. In all aspects, it's not the
way Orange County wants these numbers to be used."
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