Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County School Board Work Session, Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Place: Fairfax County School Board, Virginia
Length: 1h 13m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J5pgBUJZfw
Official School Board page (FCPS): https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/leadership/school-board

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-11-02. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:01] - One, two, three, we have enough. So thank you everyone for being here. I will just give a quick framework for this discussion. We certainly want to hear board member comments and concerns or whatever.

[00:00:22] But first, I really want to thank staff for working with us over the last couple of years, I believe, the Comprehensive Planning development committee has taken up work i think another committee worked on it before and had an opportunity to work on the process of how we handle facilities and making sure that the community is appropriately engaged and with a meaningful opportunity to do so during that time period staff has worked to get feedback from the community

[00:00:57] we've also incorporated numerous people from the community in our cpdc meetings and a few of our board members have come in with their facility questions and and have been able to sit with the committee and also provide input so this is the result of two years of that work and it will hopefully provide a system or a process by which future board members will be able to maneuver

[00:01:30] this very difficult process with fidelity and allow the community to have an idea of what to expect in the process so with that perspective i will turn it over to our capable staff members who i think have have done a really great job so thank you sorry thank you ms keys kamara members of the board and dr reed i'm i'm sorry i forgot to say the goal forgive me for interrupting so

[00:02:03] today is your opportunity to give us some input um we'll certainly take that into account without objection this will be on the consent agenda for the december 4th meeting yes ma'am so i i did not

[00:02:32] come up with the process that is what has been suggested by our leaders that is what we would be discussing today ms seismorheiser thank you hi i'm christy scott i'm the director of community relations here at fairfax county public schools i'm joined with our chief of facility services and capital programs janice gamansky and chief of engagement and experience lisa youngblood hall

[00:03:08] sorry capital projects impact students families employees and our community members and effective transparent and communicate communication and engagement around these projects is critical for establishing trust strengthening relationships and building support for the school community and our division we recognize that there was room for improvement in how we communicate and engage

[00:03:45] with communities during capital projects therefore we created a new framework for engagement our goal with this new approach to communication and engagement for capital projects is to establish consistency in communication and engagement for all capital projects, to improve communication and outreach, to encourage public participation in the process, and to build understanding.

[00:04:09] Our work began in summer of 2022. The Office of Communications and Community Relations and the Facilities Department conducted a joint review of the CIP and Capital Project communication and engagement process with a view to ensuring increasingly robust outreach accessibility transparency and accountability that review included stakeholder listening sessions with fcps facility staff school board members fcps leadership including regional assistant superintendents and executive principals pto and pta representatives the facilities planning

[00:04:49] advisory council and principals who are involved with capital projects at various stages we also reviewed past processes, including communications and engagement around capital projects from fiscal year 2017 through 21, stakeholder feedback on community engagement processes for that same time period, and boundary discussions. We do recognize there's an opportunity to expand on this and to be more inclusive of our diverse community and future reviews. But informed by this research, we then developed a standardized but adaptable framework for engagement for all

[00:05:29] capital projects. In spring of 2023, this framework was introduced with 14 schools in different phases of the project. You can see a list of those projects here. All of these projects are now under a specific communication and engagement plan that includes elements of this new framework. The key elements of our framework are the capital project webpage, the capital project mailing list, online feedback forms, community meetings, and timely and direct

[00:06:03] communication every capital project has a dedicated web page that is regularly updated with the latest informations about the project this includes upcoming opportunities to engage links to feedback form and a mailing list details about the project scope and a history of communication and engagement around that project every capital project also has a dedicated mailing list through fcps's news you choose system anyone can sign up for this mailing list on the project

[00:06:42] web page or through the news you choose site by searching under capital projects school construction and finding your school subscribers to this mailing list will receive updates about the project direct to their inbox throughout the project timeline these may include regular updates notifications of community meetings or other opportunities to engage and notifications about construction impact project feedback forms are open when input and feedback is sought throughout the project phases these forms coincide with community meetings and are open for a two-week

[00:07:19] period from the date of the community meeting the public is informed about the opportunity to share feedback through various communication methods which we'll go into detail about in just a moment we want to be clear that there is always a way to share feedback and ask questions about capital projects when an online feedback form is not open that give feedback button on the project web page will then direct the public to a shared inbox where they can submit a question or provide feedback. We are currently in the process of transitioning that to the Let's Talk platform,

[00:07:54] which will enable us to be even more responsive. Community meetings are an essential part of the Capital Project communication and engagement process. They provide families, employees, students, and our community members the opportunity to learn about the project, to ask questions and share input meetings are scheduled at key points throughout each project phase and the public will be informed about these meetings through various communication methods that again we'll talk about in just a moment the public can expect community meetings to follow

[00:08:29] the same basic agenda a presentation by fcps staff and the project team followed by a question and answer session topics that are included at these community meetings will include the project scope and in earlier meetings this will include information about the design and highlight features of the renovation or construction project and as we move into construction these meetings will focus more on what people can expect as we go through construction and how we will maintain school operations other topics that will be discussed at our community meetings

[00:09:03] include the project status and what's coming up next logistical information during construction such as parking, site circulation, and continuity of learning, and every meeting will always conclude with information about how to stay informed and be engaged. Timely and direct communication is another critical component of the capital project communication and engagement process. Community relations working with the office of communication ensures that information about capital projects, community meetings, and other opportunities to give feedback are shared effectively and efficiently.

[00:09:43] the communication platforms that will be used include email that is both the e-notify system and those subscribers to the mailing list through news you choose web page updates outreach to community organizations local businesses apartment complexes and neighbors surrounding the school and the use of print materials including postcards and flyers when possible we share message drafts with principals and school board members so they may include them in their communications if they they would like, and we also reach out to the Magisterial Representative of the Fairfax

[00:10:19] County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission to share information when appropriate. With all of our work around capital projects, we identify the following audiences for outreach: school families, including students, school employees, neighbors, community organizations and businesses, and county officials.

[00:10:41] Plans are in place to provide tools and support for each school to easily share capital project information with their families students employees and communities as well we established standards for three important areas of capital project engagement our standard for multilingual engagement is that correspondence languages at or above one percent of the school community are considered key publics language interpretation and translation will be provided and targeted outreach conducted we are looking at a number of ways to expand the availability of language interpretation and

[00:11:20] translation for neighborhood engagement neighbors businesses and community organizations such as homeowners associations and civic organizations that are within a one mile radius of the school are identified as key publics targeted outreach will be implemented implemented to bring these stakeholders into the discussion and event information will be shared with all key publics identified in the project within a minimum of two weeks of the event date so if there's a community meeting coming up you can expect to hear about it at least two weeks in advance two other

[00:11:58] communication and engagement plans are connected to this framework the annual capital improvement program update which occurs every winter and the biennial bond referendum community relations and the office of communications partner with the facilities department to develop and implement strategic communication and engagement plans for all three of these areas linking capital projects the cip update and the bond referendum helps the public have a better understanding of how school renovations and construction work all three are components to the larger story of how fcps builds

[00:12:35] our future now let's take a quick look at how this framework is applied in each phase of a capital project a single capital project goes through four distinct phases approval planning and design construction and completion project approval phase begins when the school board votes to approve a project in the capital improvement program a project may be in this phase for 10 or more years before moving on to the next phase public feedback during the approval phase is used to measure community

[00:13:12] interest and concern and provide preliminary input on how the project can meet needs as you can see there are a variety of ways the public can engage during this phase some are with FCPS such as community meetings and online feedback forms and the design and feed design feedback and engagement committee other engagement opportunities occur with Fairfax County these may include the land use committee Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors and in some case cases we also work with town governments information about all engagement opportunities will be shared with the public the next phase is

[00:13:51] planning and design which begins when funding for planning and design has been allocated through the school bond referendum which goes to voters every two years public input and comment on a project's design will be accepted up to the two-week period following the designated meeting during this phase major changes at that point would cause significant cost increases and delays in project timelines this phase is the key time for the public to provide input about the project's design. Since it is especially important to give the public ample opportunity to

[00:14:31] share input during this phase, communications will be very clear about when input can be shared and any deadlines. The construction phase begins when a capital project, when funding for the project has been allocated through the school bond referendum. Public feedback during the construction phase is used to determine the impact of construction, excuse me, on the school and community and raise awareness of any concerns when construction begins there can be no changes to the project design one community meeting is held at the start of construction so the school community

[00:15:10] is aware of what to expect at this meeting staff will explain the construction process and answer any questions public feedback is encouraged so the team can be aware of how construction is impacting students families employees and community members as construction is a constantly evolving process community additional community meetings may be scheduled for phase transitions or to address any changes or concerns a project is deemed complete through

[00:15:43] occupancy this phase is one of celebration and reflection first we enjoy a celebration of completion at the school with a ribbon cutting ceremony however we still want to know how the project impacted the community and how we can continue to improve so there will be one final round of feedback collection as with any construction project there may be changes and new developments along the way to completion for example a shipping delay may cause the

[00:16:18] construction schedule to be revised and impact the planned construction phasing when changes like this happen we follow the same standards we set forth in the project phases in order to be transparent and accountable information about the project changes will be shared promptly through the methods we've previously discussed when necessary community meetings and online feedback forms will be available public feedback during changes is used to measure community interest

[00:16:49] and concern and indicates the level of follow-up needed to summarize a capital project goes through each phase from approval to completion with timely and informative communication and opportunities for feedback engagement and questions for those who are interested in learning more i encourage you to visit these three web pages and that concludes my presentation thank you very much we're going to miss darnet koufax is going to call on you guys in the order that you raised

[00:17:28] your placards but i do want to say just a little bit of a framework as a former planning commission i know there may be some comments commissioner there may be some comments in your documents referencing the county process we have no control over the county process so this document focuses on our part of it although there is an approval process that has to happen on the county side as well thanks all right we are going to start with dr anderson thank you i i don't typically do this but i i do want to give some thanks um for this work because i brought with me

[00:18:08] all of the documents that we've done over the last year and a half almost so it's an exciting labor of love to see it here but I do want to say thank you to OCCR. You guys have been there from the very start and it's been wonderful just to watch it finally get before the board. Similarly to Janice who came in and just jumped in and was so very helpful and before her Chuck. I also want to give thanks to the FBAC members who participated in this process for the entire period. I also want say thank you to the Fairfax City School Board because they were also right there with us

[00:18:46] as this document was developed because they too are impacted. Dan Aminoff definitely I want to make sure that I highlight. I also want to say thank you to Julie Stranley who's in the audience who was a very key member who participated in just about all of the meetings as well when we were talking about this topic. And most importantly I want to say thank you to the members of the

[00:19:07] the committee, Megan McLaughlin, who is not here, and Ms. Keyes Gamara, because this could have been a nothing, but it ended up being something that was very helpful to me as a school board member, particularly as you saw that list. I was, I participate in the Brenmar project, the justice project, and the false search project, and it has been helpful. And Mr. Frisch, some of the obstacles that you and I had the missed opportunity to experience, I think could have been avoided had we had this

[00:19:37] process in place because it is clear what the communication is. It is clear when feedback will be provided. I have been so excited over the online feedback form. So you're not limited in being present in the meeting in order to give your feedback as a community member. And there's a clear timeline as to when it's end as it as to when it will end. But most importantly, there's space for there to be a response to that feedback. It doesn't just go into the ether and nobody hears about it. The other thing that I want to highlight that i think is a huge plus and i think that was my time um just asking the clerks

[00:20:13] was that three minutes to let we're going to do three i'm sorry give her another minute thank you everyone else as well um is the fact that um the interpretation i've been frustrated when we have these meetings for the community and the language that goes out in the invitation is interpretation as available we're discounting parts of our community when we put out language in

[00:20:40] that way. So I'm very glad to hear now we are super intentional in ensuring that we are allowing the entirety of our community to participate. But I do have kind of a quick set aside because it was mentioned earlier by a couple of board members here. This document has been ready for over a month. I'm not sure why board members just recently received it just a couple of days ago. And that's just really unfair to them because they would not have had the time to dig into this in the way that I think I have been

[00:21:11] and of course many of you can somebody share that with me why do oh okay last night let me just jump in on that i think there was just a misunderstanding last the document was in process this is what i understood and last week there were some minor changes that were made i think with the holiday etc it was then sent out last night oh okay well thank you for that and you know what and all my

[00:21:42] I missed one and I'm going to go back. Where's Nelda? Is she still here? She has been such a great support in this process. So I definitely wanted to highlight that. And oh, great. Nelda, thank you so much. You have been so helpful in really taking this on and helping to shepherd us through it. So very grateful for all of the work that have gone through this. And I am very excited to hear what our colleagues have to say on this. But no questions for me. Thank you. Thank you. I have Mr. Frisch followed by Ms. Cullen.

[00:22:15] Thank you. I appreciate all the work. Going to dive right in on questions. For the stakeholder engagement with each project, for the homeowners, tenant associations, PTAs, etc., I think I heard that and read that the schools are responsible for that.

[00:22:32] No. All of the layers of communication and outreach is coming out of our office here at Central Office. We provide schools with everything that we're doing, one, so they're aware of what's going out about their project, and those that would like to include it in their communications, nay, but we don't put that burden on them. Ultimately, it's up to us to make sure that information's out there.

[00:22:53] Great. I think we could probably use some work on the capital project pages around search engine optimization so that things are more easily found. I know we're redoing the website and that'll probably help in that regard. Community meetings, do you anticipate the need to go out for substantive changes for community meetings? So if something big happens back to the community before moving on with the project?

[00:23:21] I think because there's not really a one size fits all for what a big change can be depending on the complexity of what it is if it's something that is a change but it's very easy to describe and get out there immediately over the online platform that would be a preference so we can get it out quickly into everyone if there's a lot of nuance and explanation to it I think that's when we would want to work together with OCCR to see if it makes sense to do like an in-person meeting or another avenue to make sure we can really explain the why and get through those complexities thank you I think this is one of those examples

[00:23:59] where technology is going to be a big help for us but people are bombarded with digital communications and the idea that they would actually see one email or two emails is difficult to accept and I think when we talk about postcards and flyers where possible, perhaps that shouldn't be a where possible. Perhaps we should be defining exact examples of when postcards and flyers are going to happen. I get so little mail that isn't garbage mail that that stands out to me. And anybody who's involved in marketing right

[00:24:37] now knows a variety of communication styles has to be used for every kind of communication or else you're just not going to reach the people you're after. So I'd love for us to look at that, a more uh focused approach on actual mailings and mailers that look in a way that somebody would actually want to read it and not just throw it in the trash um on the standards it says one mile uh around a school for this type of intensive outreach why not the entire boundary and and feeder schools were applicable so that's where we have kind of the standard framework that's adaptable because if we keep it that one mile radius as the standard then we can also look at

[00:25:17] the situation and see does it need to be larger does it need to be the entire boundary if it is a high school or middle school we do include the feeder schools in all of our communications so again we sort of have a standard that will always meet and then with looking at each project the community the scope of it then we can expand or contract that however we need to and when we say we include the feeder schools in the communication you mean all of the things that go along with that right not just we've sent it to the principal and that's the extent of our outreach correct when we do outreach we're doing it directly to those families and employees and related communities

[00:25:57] you related communities do you mean like all the other entities and stakeholders that were discussed in the yes yes um on the construction subject um i've now been a part of several major renovations and i'm not going to throw anybody under the bus but um principals are put a lot is put on our principals during a renovation project when they could be the champion of engagement for the project if they had more time to focus on that as their role i'm interested in hearing other techniques of using principals time and perhaps having project managers who are

[00:26:36] responsible for renovations so that our principals are not first you know forced to host a unaired HGTV, you know, extended run series. And I think that's where our offices can kind of come in and support and do that. And I think that's one of the good things about this plan is it puts more of the onus on the central office staff so that the principals aren't burdened with that. Because I agree whether no matter what happens, it is going to be extra work when you undergo a renovation.

[00:27:06] I mean, your school's under construction. It's just going to be that by nature, right? Are there ways that we can lift some of that i i'm not saying that the principal shouldn't be involved in engagement in fact i think that's where they probably excel best um are there things that we can do to lean into that work instead of the actual project of the renovation work like what what was the process in dc for example the process in dc we actually had some staff dedicated to just the day-to-day construction and really trying to standardize what that construction was from

[00:27:45] the eds implementing the ed specs implementing the design so it kind of took away some of the burden of decision making when it came to the design and construction and in a way it provided a more again standard global process we also had some dedicated staff to help more is that like what more of an occr type role where they would check in with the school but more focused on the communications and the outreach piece just to make sure that that was also being taken care of that those principals the leadership felt comfortable in terms of how that communication could look if they got asked a question here's how they would kind of be prepped on that so we

[00:28:22] kind of approached it from two different support sides one was just really taking ownership of design and construction and then the other was again providing that regular touch bases on the more like communications piece thanks thank you um miss cullen thank you all so much um i there's a few things just kind of to piggyback i think on what carl was saying i think we have tended to have the onus be on people to to know like the news you choose is a good example of how you even know to get on the project mailing list and to carl's point it typically means that the principal

[00:29:01] has got to make you know put it in several newsletters to say hey this is how you do this um so again i don't i certainly don't have the answer um but i agree about i like the idea of like a small postcard or you know some things that might stand out to you like hey this is happening in your community um because there are places that don't have hoas which makes it even more difficult we we live in a subdivision that has part hoa part not hoa um and so you know i think there are some opportunities along that line what i will say is i think the expectation of what those meetings should look like is really important um i've had the opportunity to be at

[00:29:41] several of them and they are not all created equal. You know I think that we need to make sure that there are things like you know exterior site plans that are always you know at those meetings so that communities can see. We had a situation with the school again nobody was here many years ago where it wound up literally touching somebody's back fence and it was not until uh the poll the post holes were dug that that was apparent because the site plan they kept saying the exterior plan wasn't ready and so the community had no opportunity then to have that engagement

[00:30:18] and that's not the kind of engagement you know ultimately that you want um and the same with the design of how those meetings are run I think you know probably my colleagues who have been to them I think um you all have done a much better job in recent times of of really structuring what the agenda looks like, what are the opportunities for feedback? That is such a huge improvement over how those, it was kind of like everyone sit here and here's the, here's the plans. Does anybody have questions? And people were like, I don't, I don't, I don't know. So thank you so much. I know that takes work to do it and have people lead those. And a couple of questions for me. One is

[00:30:54] the engagement of the supervisors. You know, I've noticed a couple of times we've had issues. Willow Springs was one where Patriot Park they put a huge dump of all of the dirt from the site where we were supposed to have an exterior bus loop road and nobody knew about it and then we got into the phase and and all of a sudden it was like oh yeah well they put the dirt there so then when I called Supervisor Herity he said well why did no one say that like we could have we we absolutely could have fixed that in the process so I think just ferreting out and it

[00:31:28] not be for this specific document but maybe that's a larger conversation and CPDC you may have already had that of like how do we make sure that somebody from the supervisor's office is engaged every step of the way so we don't find ourselves in that exact um scenario and i do have a couple other ones so if we have time for a go back great if not i will send you an email that are three um i'll put you on laura jane um rach miss uh seismor heiser followed by miss marron so having received this last night at 6:30. I'm trying to flip through it. I will say I appreciate all the hard work that's gone into this from the committees, but

[00:32:08] this is really the first I'm seeing or hearing of this. So I have a couple questions just preliminarily, I will say. What's the purpose of the feedback? Like what are you going to do with the feedback? Like there's several spots for feedback along the way and I think it's one, I think having a process is wonderful. I think having a process for transparency to the community when there's design changes and things is wonderful but I thought I heard you say and please correct me that once the design is done changes won't be made to the design so what do you do with the feedback the feedback has different purposes depending

[00:32:44] on what phase it's in in some instances it's really to let us sort of gauge the temperature of the community to see are there things popping up that we need to be aware of to address or are there you know kind of sentiment good that type of thing in some cases it's to let us know potential design adjustments and i'll let janice kind of talk about how that timeline works because there is that point at which we do have to no longer collect that type of feedback or input because of the strains that it would then cause on the construction process do you want to yeah exactly and that's one of the goals of this to be

[00:33:20] very clear you know at this point we've now entered the construction phase so if you were to give us feedback on oh can we add 10 more classrooms you know that would have a major budget and timeline and resource implication so really trying to also guide the feedback as appropriate phased so you know but during design i think that's where we wouldn't want to get feedback on the design we have standard ed specs we have standard master specs that allow for that equity and uniformity but it's also really good to understand the school culture the school operations things that make that school an individual school that we can reconcile with those standards to make sure that

[00:34:00] it's a good project that's going to work for that particular school. So I think, again, more looking to the framework to really make sure the community understands that. That's the time where you would want to give feedback about the design because we can actually have the power to do something with that information in a way that doesn't have big cost or schedule implications. I appreciate in terms of the project approval and the planning design, the feedback to make sure you kind of keep the culture of the school, for lack of a better word, and the community needs, I guess where my head will go is there's feedback during the project and process, there's feedback during

[00:34:34] completion, there's feedback. Are we setting up a system where, I mean, taking the temperature, you say, well, what if the temperature is now I hate it, or there's several voices now I hate it, or now I've thought about this. What are we doing with that? I think providing information along the way in transparency is super important. I think providing guidance around design because, so for example, if design feedback comes back, I want, you know, three theaters. Well, that's a cost issue, right? And so perhaps you guys would explain that in a moment, but are there guidelines around when

[00:35:11] you take the feedback to make design change and when you don't? Are there cost guidelines? Are there environmental guidelines? Are there ed spec? Like what, none of that is in here in terms of what happens with the feedback? What guides you in taking in the feedback or not, right? Because, I mean, I'll just say from this seat in the last four years, there's been a lot of loud voices that probably weren't the majority voices. What parameters guide your use of feedback, and when and how? Well, I do think it's just that. It's kind of during these community engagement processes

[00:35:48] defining what that sandbox is to say, if you give me feedback, I want three theaters. Unfortunately, we are beholden to our ed specs, this provides equity, this provides continuity, et cetera, et cetera. So I agree. I think it's in more of how we roll out this plan and really being very clear on the definition of that.

[00:36:07] But say, hey, there is also opportunity to comment on the culture and what that might mean for the design, you know, be it color schemes or, you know, other things that fall within the framework that we very clearly define to the public. I guess I would say that I think a big piece that I would love to have seen in this plan is some conversation around during each phase, what kind of information are you giving the public and what will happen with the feedback?

[00:36:36] Because I don't want to set up a false expectation in the community, right? We're bringing us in, we're taking our time away from families or other things we have to do to give you feedback and you did nothing with it. And that's what I kind of see in this is a potential for that, which is not fair to you guys, right?

[00:36:55] It's not fair to your construction team. It's not fair to the community and the families. So I guess I would love to see a plan that addresses in each place what kinds of community information you will give and what the feedback, how the feedback will be used, whether it's just addressing the concerns and this is why we can't do this or we hear you or using it.

[00:37:15] I just don't see anything in here. I think that opens us up to a lot of potential risk. I guess with my 10 seconds left, I guess I'll ask, what is the process for this now since we just got this? Or is it on consent? Was it on new business? Maybe this is a conversation offline.

[00:37:34] I'm just kind of curious how long we have to make any changes to this document, or is this pretty much what we got? So I think, and I'm going to ask my meeting managers to jump in here too. I think part of what the thought process was with this document is, in general, the board doesn't even vote on a public participation plan.

[00:37:59] Given the amount of time, you know, you showed your ream of paper over there, that CPDC has spent on this, which is really why working with CPDC, we decided that we might want to bring it forward for our work session to show it to the entire board.

[00:38:15] And then, you know, we had it on for our vote. We don't necessarily need to do that. So I'll let you guys react to that as well. No, the purpose was to just be as transparent as possible. I can say, as CPDC Chair, every time I've had an opportunity to give a report, it has been about this, right?

[00:38:36] I had an opportunity to talk to Ms. Sizemore Heiser, even when she was Chair, and talk about what the committee work was. When we had a check-in at some point, I remember it was late in the year, this is what I was talking about.

[00:38:55] But I think if we can, I think some of the concerns that Ms. Sizemore-Heiser is raising up can be addressed by Dr. Riccardi because she went through the process. And so did you want, did you, I think they tried to answer you.

[00:39:14] And I mean, if they want to offer more, they can. I'm asking her to, are you, that's fine if you want to go back. But I, are you objecting to me letting her speak?

[00:39:35] Oh, okay. So this was a live example, and that's the reason I brought up Dr. Anderson, because she went through that. So did you want to share, Dr. Anderson?

[00:39:50] I'm happy to just jump in really quickly. One of the things that I think is important to note is this document has what occurs at each stage. And I just wanted to take the Justice High School example when we had the parking conversation. That was not in the planning design stage, because obviously the building had already been planned.

[00:40:10] It was actually right in this stage, which is three. And the conversation in the room was about the parking and where the community and students and staff were supposed to go. And the feedback was that it's far, it's not well lit.

[00:40:26] Either way, that led to a change. Was it a change that cost some time and effort? Yes. Did it cost some money? I think it actually saved some money on that end. But I did not see with Ranmore Park or with Justice High School that people came back with unreasonable asks.

[00:40:46] They were all things that more heads just provide a little bit more feedback from the user's perspective. How our parents and students use our school is very different than how we perceive it. And so it was not a hindrance.

[00:41:01] I think it was welcomed that we were having that kind of conversation that was frank and transparent, because in the Justice Project, we did not have those very clear structures to start with, and it created a lot of issues. So this is at least a good next start. I'm not saying it can't be improved upon, but it really worked well with these two communities in terms of having that feedback in each of the stages.

[00:41:26] No one has been unreasonable, and I think the presentation, which is probably another good time to bring forward the next step of this work, which is to structure the presentation so that they're similar, most they're consistent from school to school, that it's not the magisterial's members job to help to construct something brand new.

[00:41:47] And so what I get for Brenmar is different from what Elaine got for Kent Gardens. So I just wanted to share. It does work. Maybe there's some space to insert some more language, and maybe these pages will be the space where we take a look at that. But it does articulate what is it that we're looking for at each stage.

[00:42:06] I have not experienced any major issues with the feedback to date. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Sure. I have Ms. Sizemore-Heiser on for a go back.

[00:42:19] Next is Ms. Mayer and followed by Ms. Tolan. Okay, so I see two big things that need to be addressed when it comes to the CIP. So I'm going to start a little out of order and then I'll get to the comms input. We must update our policies before we publish the next CIP. The Governance Committee had identified no fewer than seven policies in fall 2022 that directly feed the creation of the CIP.

[00:42:47] architectural engineering services, building evaluation, renovation, site planning development, environmental stewardship, and three more. Not to even mention the policies that feed adjacently to the CIP, such as boundary policy and the equity policy, just to name two.

[00:43:03] The next thing I'm thinking about is, why are we on this timeline? Looking at one of the attachments, we're driving towards getting the bond on the ballot, and that backtracks everything, so we've got to get this proposed and finalized so that it gets to the Board of Supervisors and is filed in June with the circuit court so it can be on a ballot.

[00:43:25] So if that's the timeline, how do we address the policy needs before we even work further on communicating out what is happening with the CIP process? In terms of the communications plan, I'm thrilled to see this come to fruition.

[00:43:41] I was especially glad to spend time providing input many months ago and feedback as invited by OCCR. So I think the plan is great. I think continuing to create the websites is great. One area, though, that I do have feedback on in the communications is the 10-page summary that talks about individual projects, then it switches actually to the global CIP.

[00:44:02] And those are two very different things. And the main community I see missing as identified is actually the school community itself. That's the students, the staff, and the families that are engaging in the school day in and day out. So, and in their minds, they're probably not as interested in the Folsom CIP. They want to know what's the process for their school. So I do think that that summary and that thinking needs to be expanded because the students, the staff, and families are not the general public. That's different. So that section on including the community and public, those are the people that live adjacent or the people who support our schools or they're concerned

[00:44:37] about something. But our students, staff, and families really need to be further cultivated in this communications plan. Even though you've got the resources like the website and the feedback forms, you've got that in place, but I think in really understanding that that's our core audience is key. One interesting conversation I had with one of our Latinx staff members was I had been explaining the bond to some students at a hearing or something, and she realized that the understanding of the bond is very different depending on the language of the person the native language and so bond means something very

[00:45:13] different it's a Spanish-speaking cultures I suppose and I don't know enough about it but like we got to figure that out despite the bond being passed overwhelmingly so again just to summarize we must update our policies before we even wholeheartedly start reviewing a draft CIP which is on the schedule for next month I'd love to hear my colleagues thoughts about that if they can put that in ten seconds in their comments do you have any comments

[00:45:47] staff on how you are, how this plan can reach the students, staff, and parents based upon Ms. Marron's questions. Yeah, so just to clarify, when you mentioned that, you mentioned that CIP update doesn't reach student, staff, and parents. So let me pull up. So this 10-page document on the engagement process for capital projects. So when I look at that, it starts with an overview, you know, that goes through it. And then you identify informing the public on page two and all the ways you do that, and then you have engaging the public, but nowhere is it defined that any of those

[00:46:24] audiences are the school community itself. I see neighbors, businesses, community orgs. We go down to collaborate. You've got the school board, supervisors, planning commission, even on the page five, you know, outlook. When does this process focus on including the people who are working and living in this school? Thank you, Ms. Mayor. So it always starts with that outreach. I it's always going to start with families students and employees of the school and then kind of go

[00:47:01] out from there so the first few pages are just sort of the broad overview and then as you get into each phase on page six is where we start talking about the phases you can see under what's your role the very first grouping there is family students staff community members and neighbors and that's that targeted outreach for that school community thank you i for explaining that um if you

[00:47:37] want to go back ms mayor and i'll put you on there um ms tolan followed by ms omesh thank you um i was you know you went through the whole presentation but i having gone through some of these different projects i i fully understand that this is a much greater availability for public participation in our capital projects than what we've had in the past can you maybe just summarize just a couple

[00:48:10] quick bullets like what what pieces of this really are the the biggest increase i know the webs the web pages for example um numbers of meetings like you know if you could just summarize in a couple sentences what's the big impact of this yeah i think the big impact is that you're going to see much more directed attention for all of these projects were in the past um you know and i came into this when we started this in 2022 fairly new and janice is just now stepping into this so when we say in the past it is in the past for us but i think there wasn't um this close of collaboration

[00:48:49] between our two teams and that's made a tremendous difference because you know we're more aware of their timelines so we can provide that support they're more aware of how we can help them through that so you're seeing more of that attention given to each project the web pages obviously are very new the outreach from central office as opposed to relying on the schools to do that work is new and hopefully welcome from our schools and everyone else and again that provides that consistency and we know we're reaching those families and employees through our systems

[00:49:26] The notification about community meetings, I think, will be tremendously helpful because we do now have a standard, again, of that two-week notice. And then we do a reminder the day of on those meetings. So we, you know, we build in those kind of checkpoints to make sure people are aware and can attend.

[00:49:43] And then if they cannot, we make sure they understand how they can learn more, provide feedback, and that type of thing. So I think the biggest difference really is, you know, a lot more attention being given and care. Yeah, and I'll even make a second plug for the website, just understanding that if we haven't had one, what a huge impact that made in my last job in D.C.

[00:50:02] It just allows for community members any given day, time of the year to get the latest and greatest information. I mean, you can look at it if you have a busy schedule and can't attend a community meeting, you can at least always be informed. And then having even the feedback opportunity on it at all times.

[00:50:19] Again, we know not every project's going to run the same course, but it just always provides that uniformity and being able to inform folks. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I know I've been engaged in now two boundary change processes, and I know this is really about capital projects, but I would say that the collaboration between OCCR and facilities, there's a lot more happening.

[00:50:50] I really appreciate it as we're working on our McLean Elementary Schools versus even our high school project that we did a few years ago. So that web page is kept up to date with information, et cetera. It's super, super helpful. Can you talk a little bit about working with county offices and how that process works, as you've outlined here?

[00:51:12] So in terms of the communication and engagement, what we do is when we get ready to put out information about a community meeting, We send a message to those individuals, so whatever that magisterial representative is, just to say, hey, I just want to let you know we're getting ready to share this with this community.

[00:51:32] Wanted to give you a heads up. Here's the information. You're welcome to use it and share with your constituents if you'd like. And then making sure they know they can contact us if they have any questions or comments. Sometimes they will engage back and say they would like to attend. Sometimes they'll say, yep, we'll share it in our newsletter.

[00:51:49] Just varies. But mostly from our end, it's about keeping them informed and giving them the opportunity to be there or to share if they so choose. Could you also talk about, and I think this gets a little bit to what Ms. Eiswerheiser was talking about, too.

[00:52:06] You know, we've seen situations where changes have been made kind of far down into the process, and there have been major costs associated with that. How do you see this process really avoiding that situation? I know you talked about phase two, like that's where the decisions have to be made.

[00:52:25] How are we really getting that information to the public so that they know this is it? I think the biggest thing is being very clear about that and speaking very plainly and saying, you know, during this meeting, during this time frame, this is when your input can really have a difference on this project and then clarifying what that difference is to Janice's point about what type of things we could do with that.

[00:52:48] So making sure that's very clear, sharing it out in multiple ways so that people know about it in multiple times, and then being clear as we wrap that up, you know, we're done with this phase, here's your next opportunity to engage, and here's what that means for you, you know, what your input could be or how that could be incorporated into the project or not.

[00:53:10] So again, being very clear and direct. Okay, all right, thank you. This is the other comment I might make, and I'll kind of leave it to the meeting managers with this. The this is a public participation plan as we mentioned earlier, so it doesn't really require a board vote So we can I guess determine here how we want to move forward with this if we want to allow some time for some of these changes to be made or

[00:53:43] Look at this as a living document, you know, I'll kind of leave that to you. Okay. Well, I'll give my comments when it's my turn to speak, but Yeah, I just think this is their process, right?

[00:54:09] But we had an opportunity to give some feedback and open the process up to a number of voices, which I really appreciate. But I'll speak to that at my turn. I'll do the same.

[00:54:26] And next, we have you have 56. Do you want us to speak to that right now? Okay. So, well, but you still have a turn, and I think she asked. so i'll just go and then if you do wait um i i'm hearing as a meeting manager and i sit on cpdc right now and i know how hard everybody has worked on this however i'm hearing concerns from my colleagues that this is a great start but there may be some room for improvement and because it's not something we necessarily have to vote on i would think that um this could be

[00:55:05] something that we use right now but is ever evolving so that's where I'm sitting right now and that might make some of my colleagues more comfortable and because it hasn't been a typically voted on process but I am very happy to see where we are right now I have seen some projects that that have been very difficult and meandering and without the public communication coming in, without an understanding of how this needs

[00:55:43] to be taken into account and when the public doesn't feel heard, however you define the public, from the school community all the way to somebody whose grandchildren have graduated, those kinds of things.

[00:55:58] So that's where I'm headed right now And I would ask my colleagues who want go-backs to comment on that in Ms. Toll and you have 56 seconds. I'd love to hear from you. But I think first, let's miss Keese Gamara, who's been involved in this as well, for a greater length of time than myself.

[00:56:17] I don't have, this is their process. we had the luxury of being able to provide input and learn as we grow and assist board members as we went along. So this, irrespective of what we say today, this is their process. And I'm personally grateful for having had that opportunity. And I think it's benefited a lot of people. So I think it is a living document. We want it to be more intentional and give people

[00:56:55] an opportunity to speak. It's unfortunate that the document was posted last night. I had no reason to believe that that would be the case, and certainly lots of things happened, but that wasn't the intent of the committee. So I just think we continue this conversation and let people get their their input and feel as though they've been a part of the process and and we keep moving great so we are in agreement thank you um miss tolan would you like yeah thanks so i mean i think i'm in agreement with that too you know dr reed and i've talked a little bit even leading up to

[00:57:33] the meeting that you know it really is an operational um process and i think this kind of goes even with our earlier conversation and we've got our strategic plan that we're working on you know, is the public participation process around capital projects operating the way it should be, that really falls under one of our goals, you know, safe facilities and operational facilities.

[00:57:58] So that is something where perhaps comments could be, you know, gotten over the next months as we move forward with that process. And as we continue having more and more of our capital projects move forward, we will continually improve this process.

[00:58:17] so i i think that makes sense you know if the board is comfortable with that all right what we'll do is after um go backs um we'll just maybe do a consensus head nod type of thing your opportunity to speak yes but we still have one board member miss omesh yeah thank you um i guess just level setting i'm trying to do even for myself um let me start by i guess thanking cpdc

[00:58:53] members, Ms. Kees Gamora, Ms. Dana Koufax, Dr. Anderson, and then I know FPAC and the city also have members on there. My recollection is this started, yeah, again, over a year ago, and then there was a conversation actually about Justice High School and what was going on there. The Planning Commission had their concerns about some pieces of that, and I think it was born at that point. We were like, okay, what even is our facilities process, a communication part of that?

[00:59:21] And there were some things outlined out there, but it was inconsistent and it depended on the type of project. And then CPDC took this on to say, hey, we have no process, so let's come up with something. So I'm grateful that there's been all this investment of effort and thought to get us here.

[00:59:37] Perhaps we can start, if folks are not exactly on the same page about what it is, at the very least, not acknowledging that now we have one and that in and of itself is worth celebrating. and then potentially I don't know if we want to direct the superintendent to further work on this or whatever wherever we end up landing I think that is worth naming itself I was especially pleased to see the components on engagement standards and expectations I think in making sure we're representative of the various subsets of our community I did see a component about the school community specifically but no doubt that can be substantiated further you know the

[01:00:16] multilingual engagement the neighborhood engagement the event notification piece I thought those were school specific to the most part. Anyways, so another piece of this that I'm wondering maybe could help here is when I look at the chart, and I assume this is going to be a visual that will be useful to people beyond even our board, I see the key time for public input being put between phases two and three. But then when I look to the more fleshed out plan, there are actually community input pieces in phase one, phase two, in advance of that. And I notice, you know, for each of those

[01:00:55] charts, there is kind of an articulated function for that public input, right? So here, public feedback during the approval phase is used to measure community interest and concerns, etc., etc. Then you have the next one. It's specifically for design, which will be accepted up to two weeks before. And the next one, you know, to determine impact of construction. So I think elevating that might be helpful and being very specific this visual might be a little misleading and not you know acknowledging that so I don't know if that means having like a red piece on top of each component to just say like input for blank right that way because I think that also

[01:01:33] sets the community's expectations like when we're right about to start and it's all been approved and paid for or like the money's there we're not about to decide not to do this right that's we're past that point. So I think that could be helpful visually. And then finally, maybe consideration to even before the approval part, like when the community comes to say, hey, we have concerns about this happening all together, or here are the ways that we think this should be designed before the approval even happens. I don't know that this creates a chance for people to voice that because they're already coming in after the approval, right? Unless I'm misunderstanding the

[01:02:10] timeline. So I just wanted to be thoughtful about that if we do go the route of like rethinking some of this. But again, I want to honor the fact that this was made altogether. Any comments? No, we definitely can, excuse me, take some of that feedback on the chart and incorporate it. That was not a professionally designed chart. So please don't think that our graphics team did that. That was a Christy design chart. So we can improve upon that with your feedback. So thank you. Thank you.

[01:02:43] Ms. Keyes-Gumar. Okay, thank you. I'm actually happy to follow Ms. Omish because those are exactly the kind of questions we were asking in the committee meetings and how to make it as clear as possible so that anybody looking at any point, whether it was the website or whether it was whatever it was, it pointed to a clear process.

[01:03:08] We actually started here because what we were hearing from the community, and as an at-large member I was a part of that was a differing process depending on who the school board member was or what dynamics you have within your district and it was stressful to a lot of board members so we really started out on this process trying to address the concerns that we were hearing not only from the county but from board members that were really caught up in a process where there was no real guidance so I'm particularly grateful to our staff members that that are here that have built a collaboration

[01:03:46] between facilities and our communications department. And the input we were able to get from our FPAC members, at one point Ms. Toland took the questions we had regarding this and the whole process to them so that they could give us feedback.

[01:04:03] I mean, it really, you guys have done a great job. I just wanna thank you for taking the time to listen because you know, this is your baby. You are the experts in this field. I don't claim to have that kind of background. I've had an opportunity to work with the planning process a little bit.

[01:04:23] But the more the community can understand the process, the better. And that really was the focus. It's complicated, I believe, because it's not just us. When we do these things, we not only have to reach out, as Ms. Marin has said, and just to address some of the things that you raised, Ms. Marin, these conversations always started with the school community, with the students, and perhaps that's something that can be greater emphasized, but the outreach of all these possible impact was certainly discussed,

[01:05:00] but the starting point was always the schools, the school community, parents, students, et cetera. So I personally am grateful. We definitely needed fidelity. I agree with the actual mailings.

[01:05:17] The more actual touches we can get in the community, I certainly support that. Let's see. The feedback, as Ms. Omesh pointed out, it is defined in the process. Perhaps I don't know what ways we can do to get some feedback to make sure that that's more available or more front and center.

[01:05:40] lots of work on the website to try to make sure that that feedback form is there and people understand that they can participate the thing that I do want to emphasize and that I have learned through this is there's no real there's no one size fits all I should put my glasses on I see you leaning forward but I can't read your face there we go um and so this was an attempt to set up a process that could cover all of these various possibilities so I think you guys can continue to get input. But there, I think, I just want to make it clear, this is the process they're

[01:06:15] using, right? And so this was our opportunity to give some input to try to make sure we were really allowing constituents to participate. My time is up. I want to huddle with my meeting manager for a

[01:06:32] second. Okay. All right. So we have about four to five go-backs. We're going to do one minute,

[01:07:12] even though I said we're going to do two because we're a little behind time. But the go-backs If you can, as we spoke to Ms. Toland's comments, we think that at this point, this is a much improved document.

[01:07:28] We thank you for your input. It is not one, I think, that everyone is comfortable on voting on right now. So in order to allow this to move forward, the best way to do that would be for us to continue to use this new improved process for us to realize it's a living document and for board members to, whether you're leaving the board, please get your information to the staff as soon as possible.

[01:07:59] And if you're staying on the board, this will be the opportunity to continue improvement. And so, what did you say? It is, and I know, but you will have four more years to do that, my friend.

[01:08:15] So, all right. With that said, I have Dr. Anderson followed by Ms. Cohen. Do you need to go back? No? No. Then we'll start with you, Ms. Seismarheiser. All right.

[01:08:33] So really quickly first I want to make it clear the reason I'm pushing back a little bit is not because I don't appreciate the hard work of the committee or the work that the committee's done over the years, it's just if I'm going to vote on something I want to make sure I have time to look at it and read it and vet it and I think I owe that to my constituents so I think I want to make it clear this is not about the committee and while we've been getting updates that the committee is working on this, this is the first we've ever seen what the plan is.

[01:08:58] So I think it's really important to make that clear, because I think there's some confusion as to what the pushback is about. If this is an engagement plan, a staff plan, that's an operational plan that you're just looking for feedback, and we're not voting, then I'm more comfortable with that, because I'm not putting my sort of I'm okay with this behind that.

[01:09:18] So I want to make that clear. Having said that, I do think it is vital for you all, you know, Ms. Damesh and I were sidebarring here, maybe on this chart, maybe in here, to say this is what the feedback will be used for. For example, phase one and phase two, the feedback will be used to maybe do design adjustments, right, as depending on the cost.

[01:09:39] But later phases, once construction started, feedback might be done to mitigate community impact of the construction that we didn't realize was gonna happen. And phase four, project completion, feedback is used to improve future processes. I think that it makes it clear to the public, I have a chance to give feedback along the way, but I'm not going to be disappointed because I wanted to change what we're doing now, and it's too late to do that.

[01:10:00] I think that little tweak would have really, I think, helped address some of the concerns. So I know my minute is up, but I really feel very uncomfortable with this plan without setting those level-setting expectations for the community because otherwise we're going to have community members, I think, saying, I gave feedback and nothing happened.

[01:10:18] No, and I appreciate all that you said, and I hope you understand where we're coming from trying to reach this compromise here today. so any other go backs i don't have anybody else on the list no okay all right um then we uh thank you for hold on a second go ahead if you don't have anybody else with go backs did you want to let me say okay please please do that yeah oh absolutely yeah we'll definitely work on the wording of that and be very clear and i think it's also important to note that all that will

[01:10:57] be communicated out throughout the process too so it it's a little difficult to be that specific in and a chart, you know, and make it readable. But then as you go through the process, as some of your colleagues have mentioned, that'll be included in there. So it will be very clear. - Yeah, I think whatever you put on the website, I think it's very important that that's clear on the website because people may not be, I think I find sometimes as an at-large member, we kind of presume that people are hearing what's said in the community meetings and not everybody's in the community meeting.

[01:11:25] Some may just go to the website and fill out the online form. So I think it needs to be really clear in all the spaces that we're communicating with folks Because I could just see you all dealing with an angry community that you don't need to be dealing with when all you're trying to do is give information and be transparent and collaborative, right?

[01:11:42] And so I think that's important. And I do think it's also important for you all to put some parameters around what will drive change. Because the other thing I don't want to have happen is 30 people at a community meeting want X and 20 people on an online form want Y.

[01:11:58] And you guys make a decision that we'll do X, not Y, right? obviously each project is different but having some parameters and consistency in what you look at and when you take feedback will just protect you and the system from again that community angst and i think those pieces as you communicate out need to be thought about yeah i mean i we agree with the comments we do really value the community engagement process so to be able to really refine what that looks like so it's a way that's helpful for us and can use it and then to balancing that with not wanting to falsely engage the public too so yeah i think we'll definitely take those

[01:12:36] comments back and look at them thank you janice how do you say your last name again samansky samansky so um for the public's listening miss samansky has been here how long now two and a half three months two and a half three months so um we we appreciate you and putting you in the hot seat today um with a new process and i'm sure um from your previous experience you'll have ways to to continuously improve this.

[01:13:02] And thank you, Scott, as well. Really appreciate you and all your time. And my colleague, Ms. Keys-Gamara, who shepherded this through from two years for a while. So thank you. And with that, I believe this work session is complete.

[01:13:19] And do we need to make a motion to go into close? Do we have that language?

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