Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Finance & Operations Committee Meeting, Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 55m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1066761802?rel=0

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 2026-10-13. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:38] - Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to call to order this March 18th, 2025, Finance and Operations Committee meeting. My name is Arvin Estreffi and I'm the chair of this committee. I'm joined by Chair Mansfield and Mrs. Griffiths. I will go ahead and start us off with public comment.

[00:00:53] Do we have any public comment for today? Okay, no public comment. So we'll move on to item three, minutes. I hope committee members have had a chance to review the draft meeting minutes from March 4th.

[00:01:09] Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? - I move to approve the minutes. - That motion has been made by Chair Mansfield.

[00:01:25] I will second that motion. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor of approving the March 4th, 2025 Finance and Operations Committee meeting minutes, say aye.

[00:01:42] - Aye. - Aye. All those opposed, say nay. - I say nay. - And then all those abstaining. - Abstaining. - Okay. So Mrs. Griffiths abstaining for the vote.

[00:01:58] That motion will pass, and the meeting minutes have been approved. Move on to action items for today. We have one, 4.01, Business and Financial Services, Revision of Policy 4020, Student Fees and Charges. We'll start off with a motion.

[00:02:15] I move that the Finance and Operations Committee recommend the Loudoun County School Board approve staff's recommended updates to Policy 4020, Student Fees and Charges. Do I have a second? - Second. - Seconded by Mrs. Griffiths. And I believe this is presented by Susan Casale, Executive Director of Financial Services.

[00:02:35] Would you like to present any update or should I open it up for discussion? Update would be great. Sure. Since we received several comments and feedback regarding the policy based on our presentation at the February 18th meeting, we would like to bring up about five items.

[00:02:56] So the first one was in regards to eliminating CTE fees in the FY26 budget, which was about $257,000 for the removal of student fees for supplemental CTE materials. We will update the regulation prior to the new school year with these changes.

[00:03:12] The removal of fees for supplemental CTE materials covers all related consumable costs for classes including but not limited to technology of robotic design, aerospace science, manufacturing systems, gourmet foods, fashion careers, Production Systems, Intro to Culinary Arts, Family and Consumer Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Technology and Engineering Education, Academies of Loudoun, Mata.

[00:03:41] Is there a list of that? It is on the information item? Yes. Oh, okay, okay, I'm sorry. You're welcome.

[00:03:59] Secondly, concerns were raised about the consequences of not paying outstanding student fees, including the possibility that participation in graduation ceremonies could be denied for non-payment of fees. We removed this statement and clarified extracurricular activities such as athletics and fine arts, which is on line 66 of the redline version.

[00:04:22] Third, we received feedback regarding the charge for educational records. We consulted with legal and we are agreeable to removing this charge, which is in the regulation to be in alignment with making student records available without financial burden. Fourth, we received feedback regarding the cost of behind the wheel.

[00:04:40] This will be evaluated for FY26 as it has budget implications. And then lastly, we had a question last F&O meeting regarding the charging for Virtual Loudoun Term 3, which is over the summer.

[00:04:57] This charge is for utilizing the platform, that $50 fee that was brought up then. It's for utilizing the platform, and the payment goes to our vendor. If a student qualifies for free and reduced, we work with the home school, and we use differentiated allotment funds to waive the fee.

[00:05:15] As with any fee charge, we have conversations with the families, as this is managed on an individual basis. Thank you. Board members, any discussion? Yes, Chair Mansfield. So for the virtual Loudoun, for the Virginia Driver Education Traffic Safety, the fee.

[00:05:39] So what if somebody is, it's not like a summer school thing. It's, because you could take this during the year, right? But what if this is a pure virtual Loudoun student and doesn't come into class?

[00:05:55] Is it still considered like, you know, term three summer school kind of a thing? My understanding is it is only charged over the summertime. And that is for that fee during the summer. And so is it given during the year if they want it to be?

[00:06:14] That is my understanding is given throughout the year. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Mr. Treffy. Yes. Just to clarify that the action in Board Docs, you'll see that there was the one attachment which was labeled as a red line, which is what was presented at the last meeting.

[00:06:38] And what we would actually ask you to support would be the one that's labeled red line with edits. And that incorporates the changes that Ms. Casale walked you through. So just to be really clear on that. Noted.

[00:06:55] all right seeing no other discussion we'll now put it to a vote all those in favor of all those in favor say aye that's a good question so oh yeah so this would not go to consent this is a policy yes so yeah we're still kind of so yeah this is this wouldn't be considered for consent as it's a

[00:07:28] policy information so so back to a vote any other discussion seeing none all those in favor please say aye aye aye that vote will pass unanimously okay moving on to our information items starting with 5.01 business and financial services RFP r2 3252 geotechnical and construction testing service renewal and I believe

[00:08:06] this is presented by Ms. Filia director of procurement risk management good evening and thank you I have before you this evening the renewal of the geotechnical and construction testing services this is the second renewal option for this contract and once again the vendors have agreed to the same terms and conditions including pricing so all six vendors agreed to hold their pricing as in the prior year and I'd like to recommend that this item be brought forward to the next meeting as either an action item or consent item on

[00:08:37] your April 1st agenda thank you very much board members any discussion or questions. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Struffy. Forgive me. I'm just trying to keep up with everything. The award is for $850,000, and it was issued, just correct me if I'm wrong, 2022 under the previous school board. Is that correct? This is an annual contract. It was originally awarded on December 18th, or during fiscal year 23. We're now renewing the second

[00:09:15] renewal for fiscal year 25. So this is an annual contract that is renewed every year, and the estimated cost for the next year is $850,000. So December would have been the previous board, December 2023? That was the previous board. It would have been, it was issued in, on December 16th, 2022. It would have been awarded during 2023. Okay. So it would have been the current board.

[00:09:47] Okay, I just had some questions then. I personally don't like continuing anything that the previous board has put through without research. They put through renaming of schools and renovations. Actually, no, renaming of schools was on hold, but they put through renovations to the admin building.

[00:10:05] Can you just tell me what is geotechnical testing exactly, Mr. Lewis? So that's the testing essentially of the soils we have, well, actually soils and many other materials. So every construction project we do, when you build a foundation, you dig a hole and you have to test the base of that foundation to make sure it has a suitable bearing strength to hold the building or whatever structure is going to be on top of that.

[00:10:30] They also do all of our testing of our concrete and other materials on site, fireproofing, those types of things. So they are used on virtually every project that we have, which is why we have multiple vendors. How does this differ from construction testing exactly?

[00:10:46] So this would be considered construction testing. I'm not sure the context you're asking for that. We have, well, construction testing, I guess, would be considered the concrete and the fireproofing, those types of things. So geotechnical would be more towards the soils, and the construction testing would be more towards materials, concrete, steel, those types of things.

[00:11:13] And lastly, what LCPS building projects will this award be used for? Can I get an itemized list? Sure, that list will be included in the CIP and maybe even some of those in the CAP, but mostly in the CIP.

[00:11:29] So it would be any project that we have soils work going on, any project that we have concrete work going on. So that list would be fairly extensive, but we can provide that if you'd like. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Seeing none, we'll move on to 5.02, Business Financial Services, RFP.

[00:11:53] Did you want to put this on consent or did you want to? Oh, yeah, that's a great thought. Yeah, we can definitely put it on consent if the board members have an appetite for it.

[00:12:12] Okay, so this will remain off of consent for the next meeting. So moving on to 5.02, business and financial services, RFP R25315, architectural engineering services for miscellaneous projects. I believe this is also presented by Ms. Villia.

[00:12:29] As the previous contract was out of renewals, This is a new contract brought before you as RFPR 25315 for architectural engineering services for miscellaneous projects. We are, though, I did want to report that there is a 10% increase over last year's contract pricing.

[00:12:47] That is due to, in part, that we did not have increases during the last renewal period. You will see here that this is for miscellaneous projects throughout the school system and task orders that may not include but are not limited to school and school support facility planning, building assessment, space planning, new construction, renovation, et cetera.

[00:13:07] This contract did allow for multiple awards for a one-year period, and you will see the list of awarded vendors in the summary. Once again, this is being brought before you to either move forward to your next meeting as an action item or on the consent agenda if you so choose.

[00:13:26] - Thank you very much. Similar question on this one. In terms of miscellaneous projects, I think the scope of the work is clear to me, but what projects would not be included in this bucket? Or what projects would and would not be in this bucket?

[00:13:45] - So there are some limits to this contract in the procurement acts are a certain dollar value, and I don't have that off the top of my head, but an example, the easy way to draw that line is a brand new school, we would have a separate solicitation for architectural engineering firms, and then for all of our miscellaneous projects that we do, that we can use the four under a certain threshold.

[00:14:05] And so any renovations we would do that are in it, and I think Mr. Pasquarelli, is that 500,000? I'll ask him to help me with the threshold. - Hi, good afternoon.

[00:14:20] So yeah, according to the VPPA, this we cannot exceed 2.5 million per project and a total aggregate of 10 million per year. If so, we'd have to go through a separate procurement process.

[00:14:37] - Thank you very much. Board members, any other comments or discussion? Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Just that, you know, the award is for $4 million, so if we can get an itemized list, is that possible? We can give you an itemized list of what we've used it for.

[00:14:54] It may be hard to project which ones we're going to do it for in the future, but we will do our best to do that. A lot of those projects will be listed in the CIP, and so we'll provide what we did for this past year as well. Any other comments or discussion?

[00:15:15] Seeing none, would you all like to place this on consent for the next F&O meeting? Sure. So we will keep this as action for the next F&O meeting. Moving on to 5.03, business and financial services, revision of policy 6130, unpaid meal debt.

[00:15:40] This is presented by Ms. Elizabeth Mills, director of school nutrition. Good afternoon. So I'm speaking to you about unpaid meal debt policy revisions that are required to align with USDA, VSBA, and Loudoun County practices and responsibilities.

[00:16:00] This policy was last revised in November of 21. A little background on the policy, it outlines our commitment as a school district to serving nutritious meals to support academic readiness, emphasizes the importance of protecting the financial stability of the school nutrition program, and establishes clear expectations for communication with parents or guardians of students with insufficient meal funds, and defines fiduciary responsibilities so our revisions are as follows first on line 10 through

[00:16:39] 18 we clearly define delinquent and bad debt next we specify that student meal account expectations are communicated annually and that's line 23 to 25 we add that students with free and reduced meal applications direct certified students and those in cep schools receive free meals and cannot charge a second meal if funds are insufficient, and that's lines 38 to 41 and 52, that parents are notified when meal account delinquency reaches $5, that uncollectible delinquent

[00:17:16] debt is converted to bad debt, which cannot be subsidized by federal funds, and these are covered in 87 to 93, and that unpaid balances will be covered by non-federal funds. Thank you very much.

[00:17:38] Only questions I have are related to what are the possible ways that a student could, I know it says that reasonable efforts will be made to, I'm paraphrasing here, can't find the spot at the moment.

[00:17:55] Reasonable efforts will be made to not communicate to a student that they have outstanding lunch debt. Are there any ways currently that the student would find out that there is meal debt? Or that could be called out?

[00:18:12] Just curious. No. Okay. I'll open it up for any other questions or discussion. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Struffy. A lot of kids use LINQ, I guess, L-I-N-Q.

[00:18:28] That has nothing to do with LINQ. When kids get these meals, are they using their ID number? And it's on record. Are parents already paying LINQ? I'm not sure I was clear on that, if you could just clarify.

[00:18:44] Sure. So parents can put money on account on the student's meal account using the link portal so they can do that electronically and they can even set up messages where when the student meal account gets low, their credit card is actually charged to put more money on.

[00:19:02] And so they can, you know, seamlessly put money on meal account. But when the students come through the line and they go through the cashier, they're just punching in the number. So they're not, it's rare that anyone's actually handling cash at that point.

[00:19:19] Mostly because, well, secondary students, yes. Elementary, no. But it's, you know, federal regulation that students are not, their meal account status is not discussed with them. So we highly protect anything like that.

[00:19:35] The message would go to the parents only. But every student gets a meal account. We've had parents say, I don't want a meal account. Well, every student gets a meal account, and it's up to them to use it or not. Whether they come through the line and take a meal and don't have funds, we are required, again, by federal law to feed them.

[00:19:55] But they can also put funds on account, and then they're free to buy a la carte. So, everyone's eating according to status, and a la carte requires funds on account or cash in hand to buy. So, it's strictly, I mean, if there's an issue, it goes to the parents anyway.

[00:20:14] Correct. Before, was anybody saying something to the kids like, you have no money? Was that happening? Is that why? Years ago, yes, and to varying degrees in different parts of the country, really, yes, unfortunate things were going on.

[00:20:30] Okay, yeah, I think it's better to just go to the parent about all the kids have a student number. Yes. I don't see why we wouldn't go to the parent anyway. All right, thank you. You're welcome. And then just from my knowledge, if the balance remains negative, what is the frequency that a parent continues to be notified?

[00:20:53] Is there a frequency, or is it based on the student going and having another meal? We are notifying parents weekly, so we have two systems. We actually reach out to them through our Titan Link software.

[00:21:10] And then currently, we're also uploading a file to AptiG and contacting families that way. And we use voice, text, and email. So we have a lot of avenues to reach them. And it works in some cases and not in others.

[00:21:27] We also have the accounting team sending out monthly invoices. So we're doing a lot to try and collect these funds. But the frequency is generally once a week. Correct. Any other questions? Yes, Chair Mansfield.

[00:21:43] So to collect a debt, there's no other, it's just us. We're not sending anything to debt collectors or anything like that, right? It's just us. It's just, okay, correct. Any other questions or discussion?

[00:22:03] Yes. I just thought of this. If they do have a credit card and they update the amount, then it's automatically subtracted from whatever amount they put in. I mean, they might put in extra for extra meals, and then if there is some debt, it's subtracted automatically?

[00:22:22] Yes. All right. Thank you. Is it, okay, so if there's a credit card attached and they have a certain amount, we can still... The parent would have to authorize that.

[00:22:39] Okay, the parent has to authorize that. Yes. Okay, thank you. No other discussion. We'll move on to, this is a policy, so this will not be eligible for consent, so we'll move this straight to...

[00:22:59] action item. Can this be? I think this can go to consent in our committee, but it would not go to consent at the full board. I see. It would go for information. So we can still do it for consent here. Okay. So do we want to consider this for consent? So thumbs up.

[00:23:23] Yes. Okay. So this will go on consent for the next F&O meeting then. Moving on to 5.04 support services request to name the J.L. Simpson Middle School Auditorium the Beth Packett Fine Arts Center School Board Policy 6510. This is presented by Mr. Stocks, Director of Management and Coordination. Thank you Chair Straffi.

[00:23:49] Dr. Tripp D. Nicola, principal of Simpson Middle School, has submitted a request that has been supported by school board member Ms. Chernoff to name the Simpson Middle School Auditorium the Beth Packett Fine Arts Center. Staff have reviewed the information with request with respect to policy 6510 and are in support of the action to name the simpson middle school auditorium after miss beth packet therefore the beth packet fine arts center miss packet taught for louden county public schools at louden county high

[00:24:21] school and simpson middle school from 1984 to 2024 retiring in 2024. miss packet was voted the louden county high school most valuable teacher twice and nominated for louden county Public Schools Teacher of the Year three times. Under Ms. Packett's direction, Loudoun County High School concert and marching band and Simpson Middle School's eighth grade band and jazz bands won numerous awards. As required by policy 6510, a third-party source has completed the independent review of this naming suggestion, including a criminal background review and social media check.

[00:24:58] Both checks for Ms. Packett resulted in no findings. Unless otherwise directed, this item will be brought forward to the finance and operations committee as an action item on april 1st 2025. attachments that are provided are the information item in board are provided in the information item in board docs are the letter of support from dr d nicola the draft resolution school board policy 6510 and 19 pages of recorded school and community support your printed packet does not include the 19 pages of recorded support due to its size but it is available digitally within board docs as attached.

[00:25:37] Thank you very much. Board members, any questions or discussion? Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Struffy. While I'm sure Ms. Packett is a lovely woman, we are at a current age of social media.

[00:25:52] So you've done research. She's just retired last year, so she can hit like on a post that somebody doesn't like and, you know, they'll want to tear her name down. So with that being said, you know, It reminds me of the renaming of schools like Frances Hazel Reed, for example, who seems to be a lovely woman.

[00:26:12] I have read her book, but there's a question to her name being on the school. The woman dedicated her life to Loudoun County and the Latin Times Mirror, but people still take issue with her and want to take her name down. So with that said, to avoid future issues, I don't believe we should be naming anything after individuals.

[00:26:32] A plaque? Was a plaque considered? Because that would be great. Per the agenda, it states the following, as required by policy 6510, as you had mentioned, a third-party source has completed an independent review of this naming suggestion, including a criminal background check, review, and social media check.

[00:26:52] Both checks for Ms. Beth Paquette are clear of red flags, and there are no findings. So I guess my questions start here. Clear of flags, what parameters were used to determine her social media is clear of flags.

[00:27:09] If you can answer that one, I have four questions, and maybe two more after that, so go ahead. We use an outside contracted vendor to conduct these checks, and all their findings and information that they have utilized and the results are in executive content for you school board members.

[00:27:29] Who is the vendor again? I don't recall off the top of my head right now. - Okay, so I'd like to see who the vendor is because I want to know who sets these parameters and what the parameters are.

[00:27:48] So can you provide examples of social media flags that would have disqualified her? - I cannot, we can get that information for you and find out exactly what is looked at and bring that back when it comes before as action.

[00:28:04] - And also I want you to take note, what if a year from now someone says What if a year from now she posts something and then 40 years later, or says something, 40 years later, they find it offensive? I'm just throwing that out there.

[00:28:19] I think this is for 10 years, but I'm just throwing that out there. What if something happens in between? We named it after her. Anything can happen. It's very current. She just retired last year. You also said that there's no fiscal impact.

[00:28:36] What third-party source completed the independent review, and how much did this cost? I can get that information for you as well. And then my last two questions. How many schools have auditoriums named after a person?

[00:28:54] Do you know? I do not know exactly off the top of my head auditoriums specifically, but we do have other areas of schools named after individuals for their service. And getting back to the cost, somebody comes in, they're hanging up letters, you know, I don't know what else they have to do.

[00:29:14] You have a worker do some work there. So, yes, I'm looking for that cost. I have mentioned this before. The money should go to other areas. I'd like to know what the cost is. If I spoke to people at Simpson, I'm sure they need a lot of things fixed as well.

[00:29:35] Maybe a new playground. I'm just throwing that out there. I say no to naming anything after a person and one that is still alive that doesn't sit right with me. So, thank you. Thank you. Chair Mansfield, did you? I will be disagreeing with Mrs. Griffiths.

[00:29:59] I think it's a lovely gesture, and I think it means a lot that she'll be able to go and be a part of the community. were during music festivals and concerts and things like that.

[00:30:17] My kids had a kindergarten teacher who passed away from a brain tumor, and because she was so beloved, they named the hall after her, Mrs. Foley.

[00:30:34] So I think it's a great way to bring the community together, and clearly she was beloved and there's a lot of support there so I'll be supporting this. I tend to agree with chair Mansfield here I'm looking at all of the letters of support 20 almost 20 pages of support for this resolution and seeing that this was also something that Ms. Chernoff is supporting I will

[00:31:12] likely support this this effort as well I may have some questions as it gets to action but as of right now no other comments any other questions or discussion yes I just want to add one more point again on Francis Hazel Reed she was a beloved member of the community and she was with the Latin times mirror for over 70 years and out forces want to take her name down to school, take her name off of a school. So I have a real problem with that. I have a real problem

[00:31:48] with naming schools after people at this time or auditoriums, gyms, whatever it is, because they could come back later and decide, well, there's a problem with that name. It has to come down immediately, not necessarily 40 years, but it could be five years from now. The current situation as is, and I understand a lot of people wrote letters, we're in the now, she just retired. Maybe if we waited that might have been better but doing it right away I don't think is necessary so that just wanted to add that last piece thank you thank you any other comments or discussion seeing none we'll

[00:32:27] move on to 5.05 support services fourth amendment lease for 741 Miller Drive southeast Leesburg Virginia renewal and I believe this is presented by Mr. Lewis oh I'm sorry Mr. Stocks read the wrong line. Thank you, Chair Streffi. This is the Fourth Amendment Lease Renewal for 741 Miller Drive, which originated in 2005. The lease is utilized to provide warehouse and office space for the distribution center and facilities operations to provide ongoing support to all LCPS schools.

[00:33:01] Unless otherwise directed, this item will be brought forward to the Finance and Operations Committee as an action item or consent item on April 1st, 2025, and on the school board consent agenda on April 8th, 2025. Thank you. Board members, any comments or discussion? Ms. Griffiths?

[00:33:20] Thank you, Chair Streffi. It's a distribution center. Can you give details on what you're really distributing there, what it's used for? That's question one. And when was the last time research was done to see if there was an alternative, a less expensive space available?

[00:33:36] I'll answer your second question first. We actually research each time we do a renewal. We have a team in our planning and GIS services that look at market research in the geographic area where the leased space is located and compares it to the market rates and found that this is a favorable rate for LCPS. The uses for the building are we have two large warehouse bays. One of those bays is used for the distribution center where we receive, sort, stage, and then distribute furniture, paper also surplus items are returned to this facility and then redistributed

[00:34:14] sorted and redistributed through to back out to the schools we use it for special programs where we have furniture needs and and as those expand and grow we have areas that have to be furnished and we have to have furniture to support that so oftentimes special programs have specialized furniture that differs from the classroom set and we also have a bay that's the distribution center side of the of the warehouse we also have a bay for facilities operations where they store equipment and materials and supplies and they also do ongoing HVAC

[00:34:53] repair work in that bay there's also 13 offices and one conference room in that area and that houses our entire environmental health and safety division they're all staff there as well as multiple members of our energy management team okay thank you members would we like to have this be something that gets put on our consent agenda for April 1st

[00:35:24] all those in favor just raise your thumbs up okay so this will go to action oh I'm sorry did you have thumbs up or down okay yeah so this would go for this will go to our action items for our committee so not not on consent vice chair Struffy could you um go over possibly the um how things go through this committee sure the difference between contracts and policies yes but no longer vice

[00:36:00] chair chair Struffy sorry um so I I will say um so I will say that um if something is policy right um staff can feel free to correct me if something is policy that's going to the full board so after it has you know we can still move it to a consent agenda item like we did last time and then once it goes to the full board it would have to go to to information as a policy to the full board now if something is a pure

[00:36:32] procurement if it is a procurement then it we can have it go direct to to the full board as an action item I'm sorry to direct to the full board as a consent agenda item. Is that what you were looking for, Chairman Mansfield? Okay. Do it. Consent here at this committee, and then it goes to consent for the full board. That's right.

[00:36:58] Also, if we decide to put it on action here, it will still go to consent for the full board for procurement. For procurement, correct. Yes. Okay. Any other questions or discussion on this item? Seeing none, we'll move on to new business. I do have one item for new business. I wanted to, Mr. Lewis, I wanted to bring up the topic of Guilford Elementary

[00:37:30] building facilities related issues. I know that it was briefly discussed as a part of a separate issue related to admin building renovations, but I wanted to single out the Guilford School facilities issues in committee and potentially bring out a follow-on conversation maybe as information at the next FNO committee meeting I know there's some of our questions were answered about some of the building or facility issues in our

[00:38:06] board packet but I wanted to take the opportunity to ask for you to provide us some more information specifically since my last visit with you we did a facilities tour at Guilford what was some of the work that was completed what may have not been addressed and what really I'm looking for potentially for the next FNO meeting is to look at things that could be addressed from the list of items that were identified by you know whether it's a constituent or staff members which what of those items could be addressed through a work order why hasn't it been addressed through a work order

[00:38:45] and some of the things that can't be addressed through a work order that would require some type of a funding and what recommendation do we have whether that's been scheduled out already or if it hasn't what does the staff really recommend that's that's I just want to see how we can figure out how to resolve those issues and try to identify what the root problem or communication issue is when as a school is escalating some of those issues I don't know if that is clear but that's just just wanted to create a space for us in committee to discuss this sure thank you mr. streffi

[00:39:23] so if I'm understanding right one of the things that we have done over the past couple days as you know we had a conversation the other night Mrs. Griffith provided some photographs and then so we've we've asked our team to go through and look at that and I also asked my team to go back and look through the record of work orders for Guilford Elementary School since our visit which was also timed with the first time we've got the board members received information from some of the folks in that community since that time we've

[00:39:57] We've had 288 work orders provided at Guilford Elementary total. 60% of those were done by the school, and the rest of those were done by workers. So what that means is we're there. We ask our folks if they're there doing routine maintenance or something, and they see something that needs to be done.

[00:40:15] They also submit a work order, so we have a record of what they did. So if you're walking in a hall and you're working on one thing, you see something else, they will take care of that while they're there. Then they submit another work order. So 6% of those were done. We do not have any work orders in our system for the ones of the photographs that were just provided, so we've already created a couple work orders based on those photos in the last couple of days and done some of that, and we're working through the, I think there were 12 photos provided, and we're working through those, and we don't see anything in any of those lists that weren't work order type work.

[00:40:46] So could you clarify then what the process is for the public and how a school would go through that process to get those issues resolved? Sure. And then on any of the work orders, so you said that those weren't identified in any work orders. Is there, you know, could we, I guess now your team is working on cataloging those and creating the work orders, but how do we prevent issues like that, whether, you know, for any school from lingering?

[00:41:17] Is it a communication issue with the principal, staff members? What else can we do in the process to improve? Sure, so that's not the easiest thing to do.

[00:41:33] We have a lot of people in all of our buildings, so there are probably 100 staff members in that building. And so what we will work towards is helping that group solidify their communications to make sure if a teacher or a student notices something that it gets to the right person who typically at each of our schools there are a handful and sometimes only one person that's assigned to work on our system.

[00:41:55] And so to your first question about how does that work, We have an automated work order system that a person that has been given out authority at a school, and like I said, it could be one or two or a few folks, depending on the size of the type of school, would enter a work order into the system.

[00:42:12] It goes automatically to our folks in facilities, and depending on the type of work it is, if it's refrigeration or carpentry or plumbing or electrical, then it's shipped out to the particular crew chiefs and crews that do those types of work, And then the staff is dispatched to go and do those.

[00:42:29] So we close those out after this. So the technicians have all these work order system on their phones. And so they get that notice on their phone. They go to the school. They can close it out on the phone and show the history of how long it took to do that. So it's a pretty automated system. We do find that sometimes schools don't have the best system to make sure that when somebody reports it, that it gets recorded and done that.

[00:42:52] So we'll reach out to the school for that and try to assist with a little bit of that. Mr. Woehead, our director of facilities who's here tonight, visited the school this morning and went through some of those items. And as I mentioned, we have two of those 12 photographs that we've created work orders ourselves.

[00:43:10] A couple of those we couldn't find, so we're going to have to go back and try to figure out where they are because it wasn't noted what part of the building the photograph was taken from. And so what we'll do, as we do every year, is we revisit our facility condition assessment. As we talked about that in the CIP, where we list all the schools and all the conditions.

[00:43:30] And, you know, I think it's pretty clear that we have 100 schools, and all 100 of them have work order work that needs to be done. And so it's an ongoing process. We'll last the entire life of every facility. And we do our best to keep those things at the top of the list, to make sure the work order type stuff is done on a regular basis, and that we keep up with the overall maintenance and upkeep of the building.

[00:43:53] So we'll be revisiting this in detail, I'm sure, at the CIP process. But between now and then, we're going to make sure we have as many of these work orders closed out as we possibly can and address anything else we find along the way. Thank you. I think from my perspective, and I said it earlier, is once we figure out what work is required through those work orders, just going back and seeing analyzing the data around the work orders from the last few months i'd like to really understand what among the issues that exist that may exist at guilford can't be handled satisfactorily from work orders that may be different from what we

[00:44:32] have scheduled out for the for the school i'm not talking about the hvac refresh or anything like that but if you know typically if there's rust in a faucet right and we can't replace the faucet then we haven't addressed the issue satisfactorily.

[00:44:48] I'm just giving a random example. Any issue that you feel that needs to be handled outside of that process, we'd love to understand what else is remaining at Guilford that needs to be addressed. Yeah, so anything that we're aware of is either in the CAP or in the CIP.

[00:45:06] And then, as I said, we'll revisit every school with a consultant to do the facility condition assessment every year. That process is underway now for the next year's CIP. We also have our folks in the building on a daily basis as well.

[00:45:22] So anything that we're aware of, we have it covered in one of our types of budgets. But coming back, I guess, from your original request, we'll come back at the next finance and operations meeting with a summary of the work that has been done.

[00:45:39] And I know what we've done in the last few days has been via email. We'll put that in the item so we can see what the long-range plan is and the short-term plan is for the work orders, the CAP, the CRA, and the CIP itself. Perfect. Board members, before we close out, any other questions on this item?

[00:45:58] Thank you, Chair Struffy. I think the issue and why it was brought up was because we had received letters last July about all the issues there. And I had continuously brought it up at meetings.

[00:46:15] Are we renovating the schools in a timely manner? It was also pointed out to me that Guilford was not listed in the CIP from years 25 to 30. So that was another issue. So I think now there's immediacy there with this particular school.

[00:46:35] I understand you have 100 schools that you have to maintain. But I really feel like there's an immediacy here with this particular school that has been asking for a while. And I guess as far as the work orders go, for their end, they're filling out a specific work order or are they sending emails to facilities and then you guys fill out the work orders?

[00:47:01] I'm trying to understand where there was a disconnect here with this Title I school that's been in disrepair for a while. So when the renovations of the admin building came up again, it was really bad optics that we would spend that much money to renovate this building and not have money for this particular school that's not on the CIP program.

[00:47:26] So if you could just clarify for me how, and you have somebody going there to show them how to do work orders, can you just clarify for me how we can get this going so we can get work started and then it'll hopefully go into the summer because this is, I think it's a dire situation.

[00:47:45] Thank you. So yes, there are members of every school facility that have been trained and have access to the work order system. And so each work order is entered by someone at the school with that authority or access to the system.

[00:48:03] It goes directly to facilities. What I can't answer is what happens internally if a teacher or a custodian or a teacher's aide or, you know, specialist of some sort sees something they need, how in that particular school they get that message to the person that is entering the work order.

[00:48:23] It may be an email from them to that person, but we're going to sort that out and work with the school. We've got a couple examples from different schools that have a very good system to do it to make sure nothing gets lost. Some of them use Google Forms, so anybody has access to the Google Form in the school, and they can fill out a thing, and that way the person that's responsible for entering it in the system sees it, and it doesn't get lost in a conversation between two folks down the hall and say, hey, this thing's, this is broken, it needs to be fixed, and somebody forgets to enter it.

[00:48:51] so we find it's just a communication thing and so that that is how we get there and we do know that there are times when there are you know things that are noticed and then don't ever get to us and then we don't know about them and so obviously we can only fix the things we're aware of and so we'll we'll do our best to try to get that a little bit shirt up in that particular school I will say that Guilford is listed in the CIP numerous times it's in the cap it's the CRA we're talking about doing a full system replacement and so there are a number of projects that are planned for that and we'll put that in the information item that we bring back to

[00:49:29] to see that also say that um you know in terms of projects and this is something that the school board provided us guidance for in the CIP and we'll be doing that again as I mentioned in next year's CIP where Guilford is not the next school on our list in terms of the need in with with the assessment through our facility condition assessment so that's where we bring our recommendations we as I mentioned we bring a consultant in we do this we we have a scoring sheet we see which schools are in the most need in this particular case if you recall when we had the CIP I think there's like 10 other schools that scored above them so each of those schools would be in line

[00:50:07] to do a full assessment before Guilford would be can we add that to the information item as well just so I'm sorry can we add that to the information item as well for absolutely we we have the facility condition assessment we'll be able to provide all that you can see all how that was done and in the order it was and then I remember in our facilities tour we visited multiple schools to include Guilford right and we got you know we kind of went through the issues that needed to be worked through we visited other schools I won't name them but I remember walking outside with one of the principals and asking them like what can you tell us some of the work that's been

[00:50:45] done recently and so by chance they identified one of the vents where we saw a picture that was you know rusted out and in bad you know bad shape at Guilford and that principal had pointed out that yeah the team had come out and just fixed this this vent and so again I'm just thinking like what is the difference between the you know where is the breakdown for Guilford specifically because I'm seeing you know a different type of feedback from from other schools um so yeah no i'll belay the point but so i think mrs griffith i think i

[00:51:24] answered your question but i'm not sure if i touched all your points um you had said that uh guilford is listed in the cip but um i didn't really they have so many issues it's like complete renovation needs to be done um like the uh they call them cottages but they're i guess they're modulars that have been there, I don't know, close to 20 years? Is that right? They're still using those and they smell bad. They've had mice in them. Maybe it's time to replace them. We're

[00:51:57] putting new ones at Potomac Falls. I'm not for modulars, but if they need them because of overcrowding, maybe we need to replace them. When you do a walkthrough, just a simple walkthrough shows you all these items. If you're not getting work orders, you could see with your own eyes that it's in disrepair and work needs to be done. And I hate to just mention Guilford. I'm sure there's other schools that have issues. This school in particular just happened to reach out because they felt like nothing was being done for their school. So I just want to make that point.

[00:52:36] i'm not just trying to focus on guilford i mean you know i got an email just today about again you know issues with broad run so that's something else we're going to need to discuss as well with the arts and the theater the weight room you did renovations there but not complete not complete a lot more work needs to be done so um while i understand you have a lot of schools um but you You know, in this regard, with Guilford, I feel like it is a health and safety issue and immediacy.

[00:53:12] You know, we need immediacy on this. And I was hoping we could, with the attention that this has brought to the school, because you've done walkthroughs, we have the pictures and everything, I was hoping we could start doing some work into the summer.

[00:53:30] I don't know. I'm calling on you to make those suggestions because it really is a health and safety issue. Thank you. Sorry, go ahead, Mr. Yes, ma'am. We have quite a bit of work that we're planning to do, and I put that into one of the emails that we had sent.

[00:53:47] We're going to do some work in the restrooms. We're going to upgrade a number of things throughout. We've already done some other work. We'll provide that in the list as well, but I do have to take exception. There is no one in safety. There's no safety concerns there.

[00:54:02] There's no health concerns in the building. We don't have any calls or references or work orders or concerns about indoor air quality or anything like that. The building is in sound shape. Like all of our buildings, they all need some work along the way. But that building is safe and that building is well maintained and it is in good condition from a functional perspective.

[00:54:25] Without a doubt, it is an older building and it has the finishes and the things that you see when you walk in the building. are older and it could use some cosmetic type of things but from a health and safety perspective that building is in fine shape so with that let's let's leave some of the discussion for the information item at the next meeting it sounds like we have a lot to go through i'm i am curious about the cottages as well to mrs griffith's point so we'll take all of that and try to have a wholesome discussion at the next fno meeting and i do agree around the urgency you know when things

[00:55:00] like this are escalated we want to get to have a nuanced discussion and a very specific discussion that gets us to a better place rather than focusing our discussion around you know generalities so I think that the next F&O meeting will offer us an opportunity to do that and dig into the specifics and appreciate all the work that's been done so far with that are there any other items for new business seeing no other new items for new business we will now adjourn this March 18th meeting of the Finance and Operations Committee.

[00:55:37] Thank you all very much. Thank you.

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