Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Finance & Operations Committee Meeting, Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 16m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1157037147?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 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] Good afternoon. My name is Dena Griffiths. I'm calling to order the Finance and Operations Committee meeting for February 3rd, 2026. I'm calling to order the meeting of the Finance and Operations meeting. Thank you. I have Ms. Riccardi here and Mr. Pepper here with me today.

[00:00:17] We will begin with public comment. Is there? Okay. All right. No public comment today. I do want to point out that this meeting is audio recorded and posted to board docs. We do not have any speakers today. So with that we are going to move to item 3.01 Approval of the January 20th 2026 meeting draft minutes. Could I please have a motion to approve the January 20th meeting minutes so moved. Thank you. Mr. Cardi a second the motion has been made by

[00:00:57] Mr. Cardi and seconded by mr. Pepper. Is there any discussion? So all those in favor, please say aye aye all those opposed say nay the motion passes unanimously with all committee members present next we move on to item number four approval of the consent agenda could I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda I move that we approve the consent agenda second that motion

[00:01:34] has been made by Mr. Pepper and seconded by Ms. Riccardi is there any discussion all those in favor say aye and all those opposed say nay aye aye the motion passes unanimously with all members present we are now going to move to 5.01 information items uh we have one did i skip past the consent it might have oh i did well oh okay no i don't think we did the consent do we oh okay we are

[00:02:12] going to move to the next item 5.01 information items. We have one item. 5.01 is business and financial services board of supervisors consideration of shared public education grant PEG funding. Thank you. And actually I will turn this over to our chief technology officer Mr. Smith to share information regarding our PEG funding request. Good evening. So our PEG funding request is before you tonight this is a pretty standard process that we've gone through previously I think we're on our fifth upgrade to this room it's hard to believe this room is 20 over 21 years old now

[00:02:51] at this point and it still has some original technology components in it including these microphones which are we cannot buy anymore and they are they are 25 plus years old so we like to be careful with them but the request is before you tonight to do various upgrades throughout the room there's a lot of cabling in the floors that need to be replaced there's cabling in the ceilings and the catwalks that need to be redone that entire back closet over there that controls the audio for the entire room it needs to be redone it also includes updated screens for the room like we did the other three screens two three four years ago so this will be a replacement for that

[00:03:31] screen which means we won't have to turn the lights off on the dais when we're doing presentations and stuff like that so it's overall it is a project it is a construction project as well as a technical upgrade project and when this is complete pretty much every component in the room will have been upgraded or replaced is there specific questions about i can speak a little bit to the peg fund and what it is so the peg fund is a separate fund collected by the county of loudon it is managed through the cable franchise agreement so comcast and verizon

[00:04:04] are our two cable franchisees with the county for every subscriber that buys service they pay one dollar per month that goes into this account so every year they pay twelve dollars into this and so all the subscribers and it just kind of sits there and builds the funding and it also has extremely limited use as you can only use it to enhance public broadcast so that's why this room is that really the only place that we are can use it we can't use it to enhance camera equipment at schools, we can't use it to enhance internet connections, we can't use it to enhance devices or learning opportunities. It really is very specific prescribed in the contract

[00:04:40] that can only be used for broadcasting upgrades. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Any questions? Yes, Ms. Riccardi. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I know that in some cases, on the few times when I haven't been here in the last several years, I've been online. So is this going to be helping to with the actual streaming services that we have so does it upgrade the quality the consistency that what does it do for that sure so there will be camera upgrades which will give us better capability and flexibility inside of the room also one of the challenges with

[00:05:15] this room is we're very limited with our audio controls all of these microphones are on a single channel so that's why when you hear it throughout the meeting they're also line-of-sight microphones so we get a lot of feedback in the room because all of the infrared receivers around the room have to be able to see the microphone directly so if you put a piece of paper or something over it That's where we start to get feedback and those type of things.

[00:05:35] So it'll be a modernized system. It'll also improve our accessibility features inside of the room with our listening devices for those that need assistive listening devices. And the microphones will also have speakers in them. So it'll be a lot less of the down-facing speakers that kind of cancel each other out.

[00:05:54] And we will also have more capabilities for our live streaming. So we'll be able to, right now we're using kind of smaller technology that we had to kind of put in place when COVID was here just so we could get our meetings to be live stream. So those will be refreshed as part of this too.

[00:06:11] And so what are kind of the out from the public facing viewpoint watching the stream, what kind of improvements will they see? It'll be a 4K stream instead of a 1080 stream. So we will be, our cable franchisees don't provide those for their cable channels.

[00:06:28] It takes up too much bandwidth. So we have HD on one and standard definition on another. But our live stream out will be 4K resolution. So anything that is here in the boardroom, you know, we have students, all of those type of things, it'll be a much better viewing experience with much crisper detail.

[00:06:46] Yes, Mr. Pepper. So I noticed that this was one of the, this information doesn't have any attachments to it. Just curious as, and I know the money is a transfer from the PEG funding, which is great. Really, my question is, do we know where the, like, the cost estimate of the $1.7 million comes from?

[00:07:12] Like, what's the breakdown of where that's coming from? Sure. So we have a full itemized quote. DVG is the state VITA contract award for doing audio enhancements. So it's through them, through that VITA contract. It covers, so the 1.7 covers both technology enhancements, procurement of the equipment, but it also, like I said, there's some construction work that goes with that, too.

[00:07:33] Like the wall will need to be reinforced in order to hold the LED panel because that screen does not weigh nearly as much as an LED panel. So those will be the type of things with electrical and those type of things that will be run with it as well. But we do have an itemized quote. It's a lot.

[00:07:49] It's like this thick. So we can provide that if you want to see it. And then are we concerned, and I know this is an upgrade that we, you know, first time in 25 years or whatever it's going to be, yay. Are we concerned about the reduction in PEG funding over time as people shift from cable providers to, you know, streaming services?

[00:08:07] So it is decreasing because we have less cable franchisees, even though our franchisees don't necessarily say how many subscribers they have. You kind of know how many cord cutters there have been and streaming services. so um that's one of the reasons we want to make sure we get this upgrade done now because this literally there's still equipment in this room that's 20 21 22 years old and we rely on it for board meetings and it's it's a little stressful some nights when you some things aren't working right so the team is really excited to get this done so we can deliver a better experience a better sound quality experience a better visual experience just a better overall meeting experience

[00:08:45] Yes, Ms. Riccardi. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, Ms. Riccardi. Thank you. So what's the timeline for this? So we are making the request now, and we're hopeful to get the work done this July. So the boardroom usually goes into kind of like a hold status for the month of July where we do upgrades.

[00:09:05] So if we're able to get this through now, our vendor partners are already aware of the potential of us placing this order. So they've already forecast that with their vendor providers. It's a pretty significant amount of equipment, not something you just go buy. So they need to make sure that they have their vendor partners who can supply it for them. but yeah our hopeful our hope would be that when the board returns in august that all of this equipment would be installed and ready to go are we going to have to have training on any new equipment it should be easier now we have so many limitations like i'm not sure you remember when the board of supervisors were here doing their budget presentations only four of these microphones

[00:09:42] can be on at any single time so we were it was causing like round robin issues with like people turning other people's microphones off so it should make it just more seamless for everyone and just an easier experience. I'll also add that the system we're installing is the same system that County of Loudoun installed in their boardroom upgrades, so there's some consistency there, too.

[00:10:01] So are we going to have these still or something similar to these microphones? I like them. I can't believe they're 25 years old. These are 25 years old. Those are much newer. So, yes, so there will be a series of different microphones that will be upgraded inside of the room.

[00:10:19] I don't believe the dais microphones are because we just did that two or three years ago. But all the Taytons that are on this cart that gets rolled around everywhere will be replaced and upgraded. Any other discussion? Sure, go ahead, Mr. McCarty. I just have a process question.

[00:10:35] So this is on information now for action next month. Do we need to wait? Is there, I mean, do you want to wait because we have questions that you want to follow up on maybe? I think it would need to go to the board or we can put it on consent today.

[00:10:53] We can put it on consent for our agenda or can we put it on consent for the board agenda? The typical process would be it would go consent committee and then consent at the school board, but you do have the discretion if you wish to send it directly to school board consent.

[00:11:11] We can do that as well. Any discussion on that? I don't, and maybe this is what Mr. Smith said, I don't know if we're in such a tremendous rush. I know that we have with July, right?

[00:11:28] So the procurement, if we do this, it's what, February 3rd. We'll approve it on the 17th. It'll probably go through on the meeting on the 24th. So we only have one committee meeting in February because of holidays.

[00:11:43] And so the school board would take action in March, if I remember correctly. And then there's a process of where we coordinate with county staff because then they have to take this request through the county's process. I think we're still okay if we did that process of if this was to return back to committee for consent.

[00:12:04] I don't think there's a concern with the timeline. But if we wanted to just give ourselves a cushion just to make sure, as I mentioned earlier, you do have the discretion to send it straight to the next school board meeting. Would the cushion be helpful, like just in all honesty? It would be helpful to know what the county is going to approve so that we can – because we may need to shift plans if they don't allocate the full 1.7 and say we have to pull some things out of the quote and make some changes.

[00:12:27] So those would be the only – if there was any sort of deltas and having the time to handle those. Otherwise, it would be – Based on those answers, I'm more comfortable just putting it on the full board consent to go forward. For consent or our consent?

[00:12:42] Full board. Like we'll motion to put it on the full board for consent because it will speed up the timeline and probably help us if there are any issues. Yeah. And also, you said the month of July. Do you see it just happening in the month of July or carrying over when we start in August?

[00:13:00] You're sure once they get started with the construction, it'll be done? Yes, this would be the 10th or 11th time that we've done this in the month of July, so we have, our vendor partners know our expectations, and we know your expectations, so it'll be done.

[00:13:17] Just like the same way that Kevin says things will be done, it'll be done, so we'll make sure it's done. Got it, got it. Okay, so do we want to send it, we want to send it to consent for the full board. Thumbs up? We have to make a motion. We have to record our motions. I say yes.

[00:13:35] So I move that we move information 5.01 to the consent agenda of the full school board. Second. So there you have it. So it's going to go to the... We have to approve it, Ms. Griffiths. We have to say aye. Oh, all those in favor, say aye.

[00:13:52] Aye. Aye. So that will go over to the full board as consent. That was our only info item for today. So as far as moving on to new business, do we have new business? Ms. Riccardi?

[00:14:07] I just had a question for you. So we had some, just for the record, because I think I caught it earlier, but I'm not sure. So we had a couple of items that were returned from the school board meeting last time back to the committee, but they weren't here, and they were more procurement-related. So what's the status of those?

[00:14:25] So we are working with, so I'm working with our procurement team and also our legal team, and we're also looking at our other procurement policies, because I think part of the discussion I heard was wanting to take a look at all of them, there is so much overlap. We plan on in March that our first committee meeting in March of bringing what we refer to as a procurement 101 presentation and I think we have also talked and I had shared with our procurement director of doing something to the full board as well since ultimately these contracts and awards you know end up at the school board for final approval. I am purposefully

[00:15:02] wanting to make sure we get that presentation just to give us a chance for everyone to get a better understanding of the process and what what we're doing what staff already does and then to be very strategic on how we bring those policies forward so I don't have like a timeline yet but they are definitely being worked on and we will have a plan maybe by March I can actually maybe have something a little bit more fleshed out of these are the policies and how you know when you can expect to see them on what meetings in that process I had actually made a a proposal for an amendment.

[00:15:37] Do you want me to just forward that information to you all so if you're doing any red lines, we can... I have it, and we have it, so we've got it. Thank you. Any more discussion on new business, Mr. Pepper? Okay, with that, I guess we will adjourn the Finance and Operations Committee for today, February 3rd, 2026.

[00:16:01] Thank you.

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