Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Finance and Operations Committee Meeting, Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 27m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/875390051?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

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 2026-10-21. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:11] Good evening. Welcome to the Tuesday, October 17, 2023, Finance Operations Committee meeting. We'll start with remote participation. I've been notified that Denise Corbo would like to remotely participate in tonight's Finance Operations Committee meeting. Ms. Corbo, please state your location, whether this is a medical or personal matter, and whether you are alone. Thank you. I am home. I'm alone. On November 2021, the school board requested that I go through the HRTD evaluation to evaluate my disability under ADA law, and their accommodation

[00:00:46] and recommendation is remote meeting participation and attendance. Therefore, according to school board policy, I'm requesting to attend this meeting virtually due to a personal medical condition and disability. Okay, just for clarification, is that a personal or a medical exemption? Medical. Okay. I will entertain a motion for her remote participation due to a medical contingency? Okay, that will fail for lack of a motion. Would you like to participate

[00:01:15] in a personal, as a personal matter? No, thank you. Okay, thank you. All right, so we'll move on to item two. There is no one here from the public who wishes to speak, so we'll move on to item three minutes. Is there a motion? Mr. Mejedevi. I move that the committee approve the meeting, draft meeting minutes from October 3, 2023. I'll second that. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye and raise your hand. Aye. That motion will carry 2-0. Ms. Corbo Epson for the vote. Thank you. On to approval of the consent agenda. Is there a motion, Mr.

[00:01:51] Mahedovee? Yes, I move that the committee approve the agenda posted as a consent agenda posted on the board docs. I'll second that. Any discussion on that? Seeing none, all those in favor of motion, please say aye and raise your hand. Aye. That motion will also carry 2-0. Thank you. Now we're on to 4.01, which is business financial services, IFBI 24316, custodial supplies and equipment for ongoing needs. Is there a motion, Mr. Mejedevi? I move to the Finance and Operations Committee

[00:02:30] recommend to the Loudoun County School Board. I'm sorry, my mistake. That's part of the consent agenda. Let's go ahead and move on to the actual action items. 501. So, Mr. Mejedevi. I was reading the, this is for the Parkview High School Replacement. I move to the Finance and Operations Committee recommend to the Loudoun County School Board to approve the contract award for CMR Part 1 for Parkview High School Replacement in the amount of $275,000 and authorize the chair of the school board to sign the final contract documents upon presentation.

[00:03:05] Second. Any discussion? So I'm trying to remember, did we discuss this as an information item last time or is this coming as an action? No, we did not. We've been taking these CIP approved projects directly to action for some time now.

[00:03:24] So I think the reason why we are doing that is that the overall C-MAR has been approved. Back in April or March, we approved the ability to use it on this project, on this specific project.

[00:03:40] So is that correct? Any other questions? So correct me if I'm wrong, you had six bids, four of them went to verbal discussions. Correct. And from those four, you selected the final?

[00:03:56] Yes. Can you give us an idea of the span of the bids or the quality of the proposals, the verbal proposals? So we were very fortunate for this project being a large project. We had initially six very well-qualified firms. The scoring was very competitive throughout the process, starting with the technical proposals all the way through the interviews and the pricing proposals.

[00:04:20] So we did end up with Dustin contracting as the top-ranked firm, although it was a very competitive process. Well, that's good to hear. I know that we've been challenged with some of the upcoming projects, but this is an important one to get underway.

[00:04:37] Any further discussion on that? Seeing none, we'll place the motion to vote. All those in favor of the motion to bring CMAR Part 1 Reconstruction Services for Parkview High School replacement. I'm sorry, did we make it? We made a motion.

[00:04:52] The motion's been made. Okay. So all those in favor? Aye. Aye. That motion will carry 2-0 with Ms. Corbeau absent for the vote. On to 4.02, RFPR 20239, Construction Support Services Renewal.

[00:05:08] Mr. Mejadevi. I move to the Finance and Operation Committee approve and recommend that Laron County School Board approve the contract award for... I think you're back on consent, excuse me. 502. Okay, we're struggling today, you can tell. So let's move from 4, and I'm going to cross this all out so I don't get to 4.03 and do that one for the third time.

[00:05:29] And the action item will be for Simpson Middle School and Seneca Ridge Cafeteria and Serving Line Renovations. I was on that. I was reading that particular motion for that. I read the... Okay, it's technical, okay. I move to the Finance and Operation Committee approve and recommend the Loudoun County School Board approve the contract award for IFB 23-523, J. L. Simpson Middle School and Seneca Ridge Middle School Cafeteria, and serving line renovations in the amount of $3,094,363, and authorize the chair of the school board to sign the final contract documents upon presentation.

[00:06:07] I'll second that for the discussion. So in this case, there's only two bids that came in. I guess the same question on the first one, how many bids you got and what's... Yeah, unlike the CMR process, this is a competitive bid process.

[00:06:25] We had two bids come in, and they were both very close numbers together. Are we going with the lowest bidder? Yes, sir. Is this going to include the upgrades with the pizza ovens, or is this simply the reconstruction of the food line?

[00:06:50] Yeah, the pizza ovens are already at the school. They're already at the school. So this would be the serving line and the cafeteria renovations. Okay, thank you. Further discussion? Have you tried the pizza? Nobody's offered me yet. I know, I'll have to get out and try the pizza as well. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye and raise your hand.

[00:07:07] Aye. That motion will carry 2-0. Ms. Corbo Epson for the vote. Thank you. Okay, so that completes the action item. So now we'll move into the information item. 6.01 which is adoption of new policy 6330 distribution of information posted within schools on school grounds or during school sponsored events and deletion of policy 865 mr lewis thank you mr morris so i'm going to pinch hit for mr stocks who was here for this conversation the last time and he's at the superintendent's listening committee so i'll try to go back he and i have looked at talked through what has the conversation at the last meeting and so as a

[00:07:46] result of that we have shown two different edits the first one on line 32 and 33 where we had there was a question raised about whether or not this would preclude fundraising activities that are covered under policy 8010 and it does not so we have put that in there and made sure that was a clear notation on there and also you'll see in the in the item where we talk about an edit on line 51 it's actually line 62 and on line 62 we have that one of the

[00:08:19] questions was make sure I get the question right although we didn't we didn't preclude the school political clubs and you'll see that written down on line 62 that the policy shall shall not be construed to prohibit the discussion or use of political or issue related materials as a part of a classroom discussion project or school recognized political clubs so we've added that specifically in there as a as a part of the conversation last time and then the last thing we did which is why

[00:08:58] we have that mistake where line 51 versus 62 is we flipped at the division council's suggestion we flip those last two paragraphs starting on line 46 just to make that a little bit clearer so the you know the first paragraph talks about the prohibition of the distribution of political materials in the second paragraph provides guidance to staff and students which includes what we just talked about with the with the political clubs so those were the edits that were were made in the policy there was also a conversation regarding whether or not school board members are considered staff in light of this policy and they are not we have confirmed

[00:09:37] with division council that school board members are not subject to the thing the restrictions of staff and so and there's some more information there that clearly outlines I think the other question was what things can we by law preclude or prohibit on school grounds during the election times or actually any time and you'll see there that during the times the polls are open and ballots are being counted you know you're not allowed to congregate 40 feet from the from the entrances or give tender or exhibit any ballot or hinder the delay or a qualified voter

[00:10:14] and entering the space so those are things are specifically covered by the virginia code it also offers that it makes it legally permissible to distribute materials beyond 40 feet and so that's something that we have continued to do and what we're saying is on this policy is saying on election day we're still allowing that to do but all other days were not and that is the change we had that conversation that's a change in in past practice so i think that addressed the questions that were brought up in the last meeting. I'm happy to take any questions. Okay, so I'm afraid I still don't

[00:10:52] have the clarity that I'm looking for. So the scenario that I'm imagining is a back-to-school night where candidates, not even school board members, but candidates who are civilians and residents and citizens, I'm sorry, would be out and about providing campaign literature outside of the 40 foot to the entrance of the school, that is a time-honored tradition that we allow at all of our back-to-school nights, and not specifically to polling places.

[00:11:22] So, reading the excerpt from Virginia Code 24.2-604, says it was determined that this is a common practice in other districts, this is the 40 foot distance in the polling, it's common practice at other districts and jurisdictions at polling locations.

[00:11:41] It should also be noted that our current MOU with the Loudoun County Office of Elections says signs, temporary signs in campaign literature are authorized on school grounds outside of the 40-foot prohibited area. Now, you know, we have a couple different scenarios, one of them being the polling on election day, and I think it's clear that we allow that.

[00:12:05] So this new policy, school board members are not included as school employees, but what about other citizens who are out there on a back-to-school night? Is that addressed within the policy 6330 now?

[00:12:25] So yes, the way the policy is written now, that we will only be allowing what you described with handing out brochures or literature or signs or anything 40 feet and beyond from the door on Election Day. all other days of the year including back to school nights it would be prohibited by anyone and so that's how the policy is reading right now okay okay uh and mr maddie do you know i think the last time uh i know it's a tradition but i think it's it's gone on a whole different level too i mean on the back to school night so i have i have mixed feelings about that i mean where

[00:13:04] should that event it's more for parents and i think the parents want to come to school and how much of that, anyway. So that's, I'm kind of 50-50 on that part. But coming back to election, I think, again, I'm going back to section B.

[00:13:20] There's no, maybe, I'm trying to find out if we specify for the election days and the MOU and the Virginia code in the paragraph B from 46 to 54, you know, there's no references.

[00:13:41] Some say political material may only be handed on no closer than 40 feet on the day of election. Okay, never mind. And a site where, I mean, maybe we can make it clear on the, versus on the election day and somehow like make a determination that this only applies on the election day versus the way it's reading right now.

[00:14:01] So we think we've done that and I know it can be confusing because there's all those qualifiers in the sentences, but it says, you know, the starting on line 46, this political material may only be handed out no closer than 40 feet on the day of the election so on the day of election you can hand things out 40 feet and beyond and then line 52 a couple words in it says on non-election days or at locations not hosting a polling site no political materials should be distributed handed out or conveyed in any format on school property so we're saying nothing else only election day and any non-election day

[00:14:39] is prohibited so can i make a small maybe suggestion i don't know jeff uh chair so if make it like instead of b b i i would be election day and two like two eyes i guess of one and two and and um it would be non-election day so just be clear election day you can do that non-election day it's prohibited so it's very clear versus the paragraph it becomes more of a bulleted than than the paragraph itself i think that's a good idea i think that separates it out it makes it a

[00:15:10] a little clear for reading. Back to the concern. So I have two sub-concerns with this. And the first one is election day is no longer just a day. People are casting ballots across 30 days.

[00:15:27] So election day allows people to be there for that single day. Now we don't do polling at the schools except on election day. There's no conflict there. What I worry about is if a school site is not a polling location, then the community that goes to that school may never receive any political literature from any of the offices. And this is a, you know, in today's day

[00:16:06] and age where everything's electronic, people still, a lot of people are not eager to receive electronic, but they would receive a paper copy. I think that, I understand it's fraught with the risk that something could occur, but I think we're addressing a factor that has not occurred in LCPS, where there is a, other than being offered campaign information, I don't think anyone has been accosted or there have been any aggressive, uh, discussions or fights or anything

[00:16:45] at any school event, any back to school night within Loudoun County, since I've been on the board. I, I think that we're, we're setting this up overly restrictive. I do think that it's important for, uh, campaigns to be able to provide literature to the community and, and school sites and libraries are two of the facilities that are most commonly associated with, with a, uh, with a community. So I would hate for us to remove schools as one of the opportunities to educate our citizenry on a campaign.

[00:17:23] Mr. Mehta. So I remember there was one incident 2019 election at Belmont Ridge Middle School. It just was, they had different parties and it just became a little bit ugly. I don't know if it was day of the election or was it back to school night, but it was never, I think it was back to school night, or I don't know, I'm trying remember was election night or not i i hear you but i think as somebody uh it's i'm sure both of us have been at the schools during the back to school night in some capacity i think if there

[00:17:58] was just one literature that's you know was given to inform the citizen i could see that or constituents but it's you know i've seen that it's just become a little bit more i don't know i i would love to get some feedback and input from other board members too and so I would like to have it the way it is and let's see if the board members are open for changing that or if we get more feedback from from the public or the offices to see if they how much interested they are in doing that and so that's where I am right now we can can have a discussion on at the full board

[00:18:36] versus I'm just trying to determine whether I'd like to present it as is or present it with that with that language changed and then let the board pull it out if they weren't interested I Would like to go with the as I Understand I understand so I mean we're kind of at an impasse if we want to go that route because there are only two of us Rock paper scissors. No, I'm just kidding. I Will I will support moving it forward and having that discussion at the full board Okay, so that we can we can but but I do want it to be

[00:19:17] All the information available here, I'd like probably a five-minute presentation on exactly what the different categories are and what this means so that people are very clear. And, you know, let's see, if it leaves here and it goes to information in November, it could make next week's meeting.

[00:19:43] Yes, may I. Yes. I think it's being brought up as an information item tonight. Oh, okay, so yeah. We still collect feedback. Nancy was reminding we need to go out to public feedback. It is info. So now we need another meeting in between here and there to get it to the board.

[00:20:00] And we need information and an action item at the board meetings as well. So we're tight on timeline. I still think it's doable. So we'll just, let's, we'll go ahead and plan on, we'll put it on the action agenda for next week.

[00:20:15] And Ms. Corbo, as a member of the committee, if you're available at the next committee meeting, to help us make a vote to forward this or not to forward this. I think your vote would be critical at the next committee meeting.

[00:20:32] So I would ask you to see if we can have you participate at the next committee meeting as well so that the three of us could discuss that. Is that fair? I'd like to ask a clarifying question. You commented a few minutes ago about having political materials in libraries in cafeterias or something.

[00:20:54] I'm not sure. Yeah, so two locations, at schools and at libraries, those are the civil sites in any community where voting occurs, where information is distributed, and things like that. I don't know how, I don't know if the library, I think the library even has a stand where you can put literature in.

[00:21:15] I don't know that they allow people within 40 feet or what their restrictions are. But, you know, part of the community, part of getting out into the community are those two locations. And then also going door-to-door is another way of doing that. But with ring cameras, door-to-door, you don't see much attention these days.

[00:21:33] Right, but when you're talking about library, you're talking about the public library or the library within our schools? Yeah, I'm talking about public library, not within the school. Okay, because I didn't think that was happening now. No, no, no, sidestep that one. We're not talking about anything within the school. We're talking about outside of the school, within the restrictions that currently exist on Election Day.

[00:21:50] Sure. And I know that Division Council is out of the office today, but we'll invite him to be here as well for the next conversation. Okay. All right. So we'll put that on the action item for the next meeting. Thank you. Let's see. And is there any new business?

[00:22:08] Mr. Mehedivi. Since we are a little bit fast, Ms. Willoughby, I guess there's one topic I want to discuss is the fees, collection of fees. So I guess it brought my attention that some schools are collecting, the boosters are collecting the fees directly, and the schools are not collecting.

[00:22:33] So I don't know what policy, I mean, I guess there's no policy right now that governs that all this, whether it's, I mean, because there's no athletic fees, but other fees are there for different other programs. i don't think there's any maybe there's policy that the schools have to collect the fund versus the boosters or the pto or pta can collect the funds and just take care of that i don't know if you can i'm putting you on the spot but i wasn't asking you i mean hopefully i was trying to bring this to a discussion the committee or at least start having that but if you have thoughts i'll

[00:23:06] be open to listening so you have identified um a gray area that we are working to try to put some more structure around so a big accomplishment was i think it was last year or maybe the year before when we brought the i think it was policy 80 20 related to school support organizations so the the standard is if it's a school-based activity a school sponsored activity so like a

[00:23:38] football game a play put on by the high school drama department all financial activity must go through these school books not through a booster or a pto an outside organization and we have had a few instances where that was occurring and so if you have any other examples please let me know but we we continue to you know enforce that requirement where the where it's still a little

[00:24:10] gray is a booster club could sponsor a play perhaps and it's outside like it's more of like an extracurricular activity so it's really making sure that it's very clear what what the booster club is doing what they are collecting funds for and this is where we have especially because usually the booster club will do this also as fundraisers so that's why our fundraiser policy also addresses this that requires you know signatures and approval by the school principal

[00:24:45] We're also working on a regulation that hopefully will further provide some more specific instructions to schools, and we work with the PTO, PTA, and some key booster reps as we are working on this regulation so that we can try to be on the same page in understanding the requirements.

[00:25:09] So, Ms. Philoby, so I can see where if it's a special, some sort of a fundraising activity they're doing, then that could do it directly. But if it's a school activity, it has to go through the school funds.

[00:25:25] And if that's not happening, then that would be a violation of a policy then? Yes, it would be. And it's not just a policy. It's also in terms of the fiduciary responsibility of the funds and the school operations. So, yes.

[00:25:43] I'll send you what I received, so I'll send you an e-mail with that. Okay, that's all. Thank you. So it's always been challenging because organizations such as Boosters, PTO, PTA, are not run by LCPS. So they have their own monies.

[00:26:00] They can raise their own monies, but it has to be clear that they are raising them and the school is not. So I think that that's kind of the gray line, and it's challenging when there are performances that go on trying to determine whether it's the school putting on the performance or it's simply a performance being done by the boosters at the school. So you know I think a lot of it is in the semantics and in the advertising but I do think it's important for us to make sure the community knows you know what which of those events have to occur within the school books and which do not. So thank you

[00:26:35] Ms. Willoughby for the explanation. Is there any new new business? Seeing as there is none we are adjourned. Thank you all very much.

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