Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Joint Committee of the Loudoun County School Board (LCSB) and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors (LCBS), Monday, March 23, 2026

Date: Monday, March 23, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 8m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1176303255?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 2026-10-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:04:31] - Good afternoon. I call to order this March 23rd, 2025 joint committee with the Board of Supervisors and School Board meeting. Welcome everyone to the LCPS boardroom. We are happy to host the joint committee this afternoon. We do not have any public comment this afternoon.

[00:04:49] So we will jump right in with our reports. So this is item three, co-chairs reports on the Board of Supervisors and School Board activities. I'll start tonight. Good evening, Joint Committee members, and to our families and communities watching at home.

[00:05:07] This has been an exciting and inspiring few weeks across Loudoun County Public Schools, with many moments that highlight the talent, dedication, and heart of our students and staff. I'd like to begin by recognizing the incredible accomplishments of our students. More than 300 high school students recently participated in the 44th Annual Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Tuscarora High School.

[00:05:29] These students demonstrated curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking as they tackled real-world challenges through original research. We are especially proud of those who will advance to the international level and represent LCPS on a global stage. We are also celebrating the power of words at the Regional Spelling Bee, where Belmont Ridge Middle School student Vikyath Tanamala claimed the championship after 16 impressive rounds, correctly spelling the word piquant.

[00:06:00] Vickief, along with the runner-up, Dia Sudhakar, will go on to represent Loudoun County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this spring. And looking toward the future, more than 600 students from across Virginia participated in the Cyber Slam 2026 at George Mason University, gaining hands-on experience in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and digital forensics, fields that are shaping tomorrow's workplace.

[00:06:28] Our success as a division is made possible by the extraordinary dedication of our staff. This month, we are proud to recognize Transportation Supervisor Sue Carlson as the Shine Award recipient. Her commitment to ensuring that every student's transportation needs are met with care and precision exemplifies the very best of LCPS.

[00:06:49] We also celebrate eight educators who have achieved national board certification, one of the most rigorous and respected professional accomplishments in education, and congratulate Hannah Boggs of Elaine Thompson Elementary, who was selected for the Fulbright Teachers of Global Classrooms Fellowship.

[00:07:07] Her upcoming international experience will further enrich learning for her students and our division. In addition, more than 250 staff members came together for Inspire Loudon, a division-wide professional learning event focused on innovation, collaboration, and strengthening instructional practice.

[00:07:25] LCPS continues to strengthen connections between classroom learning and real-world opportunities. Through our recent Career in Technical Education Roundtable, we partnered with more than 100 business and community leaders to ensure our programs align with the workforce needs and prepare students for success beyond graduation.

[00:07:43] and we are excited about upcoming opportunities like the Student Environmental Action Showcase where students will share innovative ideas to promote sustainability and make a meaningful impact in our community. Before I close, I would also like to recognize our Transportation Department, which was recently featured nationally for its innovation and commitment to serve, logging millions of miles each year to safely bring our students to and from school. In every classroom competition and collaboration we see what lcps makes lcps so special students who are curious and driven staff who go above and beyond and a community that supports them every step of

[00:08:22] the way and i would also like to share that i have appointed dr rashid rashid to serve as co-chair of this committee um thank you that concludes my report and i'll pass over the floor to you co-chair Crony. Thank you, Co-Chair Chandler. Co-Chair Glass is unable to be here today, so as Vice Co-Chair on the Board of Supervisors side, I am giving the Co-Chairs report. First, I would like to congratulate you on being elected Chair of the School Board and by extension, Co-Chair of this

[00:08:57] committee. Congratulations. I also want to welcome our new committee members, Dr. Rasheed and Dina Griffiths. We look forward to working with you on all, um, on continued advocacy for our students. Since the joint committee last convened in November, the board of supervisors has undertaken several actions that I wish to highlight. Perhaps most importantly, the board is in the process of concluding our budget, which is slated to be approved at our meeting on Tuesday, April 7th.

[00:09:27] We undertook several work sessions for the fiscal year 2027 budget and kept the real estate property tax rate of $0.80.5 per $100 in assessed value, and successfully lowered the vehicle tax rate by $0.15 to $2.94 per $100 in assessed value. Even with the tax reduction, we can provide several new positions to serve our residents and maintain the school board's full budget request.

[00:09:58] The Board of Supervisors did not fund a request from the Sheriff's Office to provide school resource officers in all elementary schools. However, the board did fund five additional school resource officers and a sergeant to serve as floating SROs that can be used to backfill and cover vacancies at the middle and high schools. Also related in the budget, as part of the Board of Supervisors Fund balance allocations in January, the board used $17.5 million to replenish the Loudoun County Public School Health Self-Insurance Fund, and to replace several items at various schools.

[00:10:39] Two of the items on our committee's work plan the Board of Supervisors have recently acted on include safe passages to schools item. The Board has begun reviewing the Loudoun's countywide transportation plan. This multi-year update on the plan will review several aspects of our transportation infrastructure that extend beyond vehicles such as bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian safety, and other alternative modes of transportation.

[00:11:09] The Board of Supervisors Transportation Land Use Committee has also been exploring using county-owned land for attainable housing opportunities. The committee recently had a presentation on an inventory of county land from our Department of Housing and Community Development.

[00:11:27] On our work plan remains the attainable housing on school properties, which will likely be presented in June. I look forward to that discussion. The county also continues to advocate before the State Corporation Commission on undergrounding power lines around Rockridge High School and Rosa Lee Carter as part of Dominion's Golden to Mars power line project.

[00:11:51] The State Corporation Commission is currently reviewing testimony provided earlier this year. If undergrounding routes are not approved, our respective boards may need to work together to identify the best above-ground route for the community.

[00:12:07] Finally, I am pleased to present a resolution from the Virginia Senate honoring former Broad Run School Board member, Ms. Leslie King. Look at this nice resolution. The resolution was sponsored a few years ago by Senator Jennifer Boisco and was delivered to Supervisor Glass a couple of months ago.

[00:12:31] After connecting with Ms. King's children, it was the desire of her family to have the resolution housed here in at the Louden County Public Schools Administration Building. Ms. King was elected to the school board in 2019 and served from January 2020 until her death in August 2021.

[00:12:50] She is remembered as a kind person who cared deeply for the students and staff in Louden County Public Schools. So I'm glad to present that to you, co-chair Chandler, or co-chair Chandler. Yep, again, I look forward to working with you and build on our shared efforts to serve Loudoun County schools.

[00:13:12] So this is my report. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Co-Chair. With that, we'll move on to our information items. Tonight, our first information item is speed camera enforcement program in school zones. The purpose of this item is for the Leesburg Police Department to provide an update to the Joint Committee on the status of speed camera enforcement programs run by Leesburg Police Department near certain Loudoun County public school campuses in Leesburg. Tonight, this item will be presented by Mr. Rob Spano from the Leesburg Police Department, Justin Schumer from the Leesburg Police Department, Mr. Kevin Lewis from Support

[00:13:50] Services, and Mr. Scott Davies, also from Support Services. Welcome, gentlemen. The floor is yours. Thank you. Yep. My name is David Smith. I'm the Deputy Chief of Police for the Town of Leesburg Police Department. So I was going to primarily present today and answer any questions that you may have about our specific program but if you want to go ahead and move to the next slide we'll go from there so our schools are the school zone speed safety program is basically governed by two two sections of Virginia state code that were put in place here two years ago so we implemented our

[00:14:29] program this last beginning of this this this school year that which of those two state code sections there at the top and then our uh town of leesburg code one of the one of the key things as far as in in implementing any kind of program is that you have to pass a local ordinance so town the uh town council had passed our ordinance which is just specific to uh speed zones in uh in school zones so um it does the the laws do allow for other avenues of enforcement which include i think it's on your agenda today as far as for stop arm on passing of school buses and then also with

[00:15:07] red lights but this time right now the town is the only thing that we are doing is the school zones speeding so I'm ready to move on so basically why our program was implemented mainly concerns from the community concerns from some of our crossing guards at some of those locations and then obviously it's a it's a it's a manpower type thing too so it enables us to do enforcement all the time as far as in the different school zones so we picked we have we have six cameras currently we basically three

[00:15:46] different school zones one of those school zones is shared with two schools which is the our location there at Harbor Park Middle School Tolbert and Tolbert Elementary School which is one one zone it's worked by the same group of crossing guards um balls bluff elementary school and then loudon county high school loudon county high school was a location where we have uh had notorious uh issues as far as with speeding on dry mill road coming into the town of leesburg from loudon county um so where the speed limit drastically drops off from the very rural area into right into town so we've we've had a lot

[00:16:23] of issues there we've kind of picked we picked our locations based on a number of different things one of them obviously the traffic volume we did a number of speed studies in those areas to kind of determine what we were looking at as far as the extent of the speeding problem the amount of traffic average vehicles were in there and then also we really wanted to get off on a good foot as far as where we picked these locations so we wanted to pick locations where we knew that we had pedestrian school traffic so the majority of the majority of locations are places where we're crossing guards where we're having children cross the road um which is not indicative of all school

[00:17:03] zones so we tried to focus on that so those are some of the main reasons why we picked where we picked some next slide sir so we started august 21st which was the uh the beginning of beginning of school this last year we did a 30-day warning period um when we uh when we went live as far as with the cameras um that went to september 21st and then in that time that we issued um almost 1300 warnings as far as for speeding on those uh six cameras um in in that uh one month period

[00:17:36] move on so this is kind of give you an idea what we've done as far as since um the uh obviously the month self-explanatory of when we run the cameras the the data in march is only was kind of limited as far as the submission of this presentation uh the number in parentheses there by the month is the actual number of school days I know like this winter we had some you know I think we had school closed for one week at one point so anytime that there was a two-hour delay things of those nature that certainly threw off some of the you know targeted enforcement kind of

[00:18:14] things that we would kind of coordinate with so as you could see September 134 citations and that was uh only based on seven days october which really was the the first month of it going live and we're actually issuing citations obviously our highest number 19 school days and we issued 750 violations in that time um and then shortly thereafter um it starts kind of tapering off um and then uh with the next slide you'll kind of see that and i'll kind of speak a little bit more towards what what what we've seen the uh the first number there obviously that's our 1200 almost

[00:18:52] 1300 warnings that occurred as far as in september and then you see a sharp drop off to september which is really more reflective of the seven school days that we actually had in september and then starting in october we've seen pretty much a steady decrease through current day but it's fairly leveled off where we're you know in that four or five hundred violations you know per month kind of period which is pretty indicative of every every from my research and we start talking about implementing and putting a program as far as in the town is pretty the everybody that I talked to across the commonwealth was for the most part you're going to see about a

[00:19:31] 50 percent decrease from year one to year two from startup time as far as in in in violations um that are that are occurring so i'm ready for the next one so this is basically kind of an overview of of how the how the camera actually works as far as on that graphic um our cameras are positioned on the outside of the school zones facing into the school zones um it's very intentional um it is basically to capture the actual school zone warning lights so our cameras

[00:20:05] capture not only still images, they capture video as well. So the point on having them on the outside is there's unquestionably, you can go back and watch the violation and you can see that the lights are actually functioning and they're working as far as when the violator enters into the zone. So that was the primary reason for that. The law changed this last year about that that kind of requires that or puts it, makes a requirement as far as on the municipalities and forcing it to be able to show that the lights were actually in use or were working then.

[00:20:42] So having our cameras on the outside, there's clear video evidence. So when the violator or when the law enforcement officer is reviewing can actually watch the video and you can see that the lights are indeed working. It also takes two still images, which you'll see reflected there with the two red cars there.

[00:21:01] It's actually the same car. We call it, you know, shot, it's like basically shot one and shot two. And what it does is it's used as a kind of a verification as far as for the speed because the camera where it captures those images is their predetermined distances.

[00:21:17] And if we know the distance and we know from where the camera is or where it took it, it can verify the radar speed just to make sure it's accurate because we know how fast the car is able to move in between the two locations.

[00:21:34] So it's just kind of a double check. Our system is a radar system. There are systems out there as far as that use laser. We found and we did the research. We like the technology as far as with the radar above that. So that's how we ended up with what we have.

[00:21:52] And those are three locations. But basically the way it works is when a violation is captured, we contract the vendor that we use as a company. The name is Vera Mobility that we're contracting with. So when our violations come in, the first place that reviews them is actually the vendor.

[00:22:11] The location where ours are first reviewed is in Baltimore. They run a location there where operators basically review our violations. And they're looking for license plate verification.

[00:22:27] They're making sure that, you know, the license plate matches the vehicle as far as what it's showing as far as in the images in the video. They're, you know, making sure there's, like, no glares. Everything is readable as far as on the violation.

[00:22:44] And then they're operating and they're making decisions on what we call business rules that we set up. So, you know, if a fire truck with its lights on were to enter our school zone and pass the camera, it's going to automatically going to be kicked out by the vendor before we ever see it.

[00:23:02] So we have different rules for different situations that come up. Maybe it's a police escort with a funeral. Maybe it's, you know, different situations like that. And then once they do the first review, it will come to the police department electronically.

[00:23:20] And then we have a staff member who reviews all those violations and they double check everything that is checked initially as far as from our vendor. And then if we find everything in line, you know, we're reviewing the video evidence, we're reviewing the photographic evidence, we're matching that vehicle with that license plate.

[00:23:40] Then we're communicating that information, we're endorsing that violation, it's going back to our vendor. And then our vendor is sending out the citation or the summons, the correct term as far as that time. But that's basically how the review process works on that. I'm ready.

[00:23:57] This is what one of our cameras looks like. They're calibrated twice daily. They do self-internal checks. They actually also, if for some reason, if there's a problem detected with one of the cameras, it shuts down. Our vendor's really good in the sense that if we have a problem with our camera, they're out within 24 hours to come fix it, repair, get it back online, whatever the issue may be as far as with the camera.

[00:24:24] Like I said, it's still images, and it's also on video. And then also they come out and they take care of the calibration of what we need as far as for court purposes as far as when it comes to prosecution if a violation were to come contested later on. These are our locations where we have them.

[00:24:43] Uh, Loudoun County High School, we run a camera on Dry Mill Road. It's one I referenced earlier. We run another camera on the other side of the school on Catoctin Circle, um, actually where the WND crosses Catoctin Circle, um, high pedestrian traffic right in that area.

[00:24:59] Uh, Balls Bluff Elementary School, uh, kind of a notorious location for speed with constant communication with a crossing guard, um, at that location. and she's definitely very thankful as far as of the cameras there in that location.

[00:25:14] I've had lots of conversations there. And then our third location is Harbor Park Middle School and Tolbert Elementary School. It's a four-lane road. It's two schools right next to one another, so I thought it was a good opportunity where we could cover two schools with two cameras, where normally we'd just be able to cover one school with two cameras.

[00:25:35] So those are our six cameras in total. Those are our enforcement times. um basically it's a it's an hour per day per school it's uh you know half an hour in the morning and a half an hour as far as that afternoon uh dismissal so it's all based around arrival and dismissal time and just the times that obviously the lights are active um the law does require like a very conspicuous signage um we'll take an opportunity just to say uh i worked very closely with elizabeth kratz here as far as with the schools as far as in surveying all our

[00:26:13] school locations and our zones the very specific signs that need to be up she was very instrumental in getting all those signs put up i think her and i actually uh when we her and i put that sign up ourselves and i remember it was august and it was very hot when we put that sign up so it was very fitting to put that photo in there but we do have to have the the sign there on top of the pole the school zone speed photo and force that is one that's very specific to the law that needs to advise motorists that that is what is occurring at that location move on like I explained our

[00:26:50] cameras are only running at the time when the school zone lights are flashing that you know that's very, that's, that's basically it. The, um, the law is very specific to where the cameras can only be used for enforcement as far as for that. We can't use them for surveillance. We can't use them for any other kind of data collection purposes. Very specific laws about as far as data retention as far as on these things. Um, but yeah, that's it on that, sir. Um, so we do get, like I said, we, there's a couple of different levels of, uh, review as far as on the violations.

[00:27:26] They get rejected for a number of different situations, one of which weather-related school closures or delays. So we're in constant communication. We obviously monitor what schools are doing when it comes to, you know, school closures, holidays.

[00:27:45] All the holidays are loaded into the system ahead of time as soon as those are main public, those are automatically taken out for any kind of holidays. Weather-related, we always have to stay on top of that, and we're in communication with the vendor. We get violations that will get kicked out for sun glare.

[00:28:04] As we obviously know, the sun's constantly moving. We're talking, you know, usually in the morning as the sun's coming up, different times of the day there are different. So, you know, sometimes that will have a tendency to, if we don't get a good image of the license plate or someone will have an obscure license plate, a lot of times a violation will be kicked out for that.

[00:28:22] Same thing, a dirty license plate glare. And then also, but one of the things that we've recently noticed, we didn't really, until we started doing this, was we had a couple violations where literally the lights are coming on almost as the violator is passing the sign.

[00:28:41] The camera can't quite, so we've had a couple of them that we've just, you know, gotten rid of. We've just, you know, like I said, we're watching the video. We can tell momentarily. It's like as the people are approaching the sign, it's not on. As soon as they pass the sign, it's on, and then they're getting captured there on video.

[00:28:59] So some of the reasons that some of them are kicked out. But like I said, there's a couple levels, a couple different times that they're all reviewed. And so that's basically the way that works. We can move on. I mentioned earlier privacy and data retention.

[00:29:16] Law is very specific about what we can use the cameras for. We only use the cameras, you know, in accordance with the law, which is strictly just for the speeding. Like I said, we don't use them for any kind of surveillance video or anything like that. You know, the data is, as soon as a violation is dismissed, within two days it's purged of the system.

[00:29:36] And then once it's paid, it's gone within 60 days. So we don't have any way of going back to query the system to know, you know, who's received violations or anything. That's just sort of the interest of privacy and getting rid of the data.

[00:29:56] So this is always a question that comes up is, what if I wasn't driving my vehicle or someone else was driving my vehicle? So there's a couple different avenues as far as with that, one in which obviously the person can contest it, come to court. They can testify in court to basically the fact that they weren't driving the vehicle.

[00:30:14] Another way is they can submit an affidavit. Actually, we'll go through our vendor. It can either go through the vendor or go through the court system. Basically, it's called a transfer of liability. So you're basically transferring the liability of the $100 fine.

[00:30:30] All our violations are $100 per ordinance, and you can transfer it to somebody else. You just need to provide that person's, you know, basically information so we can forward the summons essentially to them. So this is just our QR code as far as to give you more.

[00:30:51] We're very transparent as far as our program. I know we met here with the superintendent before we started the program, just to talk a little bit about it. And this will kind of frequently ask questions. That will be a link to our website.

[00:31:08] But, you know, purpose obviously encouraged safe driving behavior, slow people down in our school zones. We've definitely seen it's had a positive impact as far as on our school zones. I feel not only just during the school times. I know myself as a motorist, even off-duty, when any time that I'm seeing these signs where there's cameras in use, I think we're overall seeing a reduction in speed whether the lights are on the school zone or not.

[00:31:33] People are paying attention. It causes people to pay attention. It's having a positive impact as far as in our community. So it's been very positive for us. Like I said, we just, in the infancy of it, we just started with our three schools, really four schools or six cameras and then we're already looking at expanding that to some additional school zones and we're just kind of trying to prioritize those basically by the pedestrian traffic because there are some school zones where quite frankly children are not crossing the road. I mean sure there's you know vehicular traffic you want people slowing

[00:32:12] down in those areas in general but our priority has been the locations where the children are actually crossing the roads as far as the slow motors so um with that i was just i'm happy to answer any questions anybody may have about it well um deputy chief smith thank you so much for the presentation it's fascinating and i apologize for not having your name that's okay i'm gonna blame him it's my fault it's his fault i appreciate your accountability that's a lovely spirit thank you um and with that i'll open um the floor to committee members do you have any questions

[00:32:47] Supervisor Brisman oh okay thank you so what was the investment to set up the cameras and the contract costs the investment was pretty not a pretty minimal quite honestly we pay the town pays basically per camera per month so it's not prorated for number of violations we play it we pay a flat rate so cameras are leased from the contractor yeah they take care of

[00:33:17] everything and uh what you know i think what we're paying total is what 20 yeah uh 3100 a month per camera and how many cameras we have six six okay so i can do the math i suppose um and how much is a ticket uh they're all 100 they're all 100 they're 100 is that standard for it's it's it's pretty standard as far as across the commonwealth the the law the law mandates that it can't be any more than a hundred dollars i know some some municipalities um will actually have like a kind

[00:33:56] of a step scale you know whether if you're um you know 10 to 15 over it's you know 50 dollars if you're 15 over maybe it's a you know it's a hundred dollars but we did straight 100 we just you know okay the town elected the town elected when we passed our ordinance it was just a straight hundred dollars and so it's paying for itself i guess essentially it is it is paying for itself um it's uh yeah it's it's definitely paying for itself um so i think you know what we're getting out of it is it's definitely you know worth the investment um we're we're on the positive side of

[00:34:31] it it's not it's um but we're still kind of in the infancy of it and i haven't really factored in like we did um we we have one full-time or not full-time he's a part-time staff member that's reviewing them so it was kind of an unknown going into it like okay because the law was very specific about it and it's changed in the time that we've been doing it it was very specific initially to where the violations had to be reviewed by a sworn law enforcement officer since that time the law has changed and where now as long as you're a retired law enforcement officer

[00:35:05] and then retired in good standing you could you could uh you could review the summonses as far as on behalf of the police department. Okay. And you probably won't be able to answer this question. It might be Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer or Mr. Hemstreet, but I heard you say it was a local option per the General Assembly, correct?

[00:35:29] It's a local option that the locality would have to... If the municipality elects to participate in it or do it, they need to pass a local ordinance. Right, right. We passed, the town council passed basically a town ordinance. So is that why LCSO is not doing it in the bigger part of the county?

[00:35:46] Because we haven't taken up the local option to write the ordinance to do it? So if I could, Co-Chair, Chair Briskman, Supervisor Briskman, the state code actually only allows the state of Virginia or the local law enforcement agency to implement the program.

[00:36:08] oh okay so so then do i understand lpd then wrote the ordinance and then the town council had to approve it right yes so it would have to be initiated by lcso that's the only way it can happen if we wanted to have it in the rest of the county yes okay okay has have have there been any discussions about doing it in the rest of the county do we allow colonel sawyer to come up can

[00:36:45] he come up? Are you willing to, Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer? Thank you. I'm not sure if I'd be for or against it. I'm just asking. Thank you. So yeah, I can talk to this. So we have discussed it in the sheriff's office. At this point, we have opted not to pursue it, not because we don't have speeding in school zones. We do, and we do enforcement for that, but because we believe that it can change the dynamic and the feel of a community and just traffic. We have so many schools across Loudoun

[00:37:22] County, um, that to pop up speed cameras in all these different places would impact even the way that our communities feel for as people drive through. So what we have opted for is, is physical enforcement of speed violations. Um, so, and I will talk about stop arm cameras and how that's a little bit different. Um, but the hands-on, uh, speed enforcement. So for example, a deputy that sits in a median or in the side of the road, they can effectively run speed enforcement and we do speed enforcement in the school zones, and we have preferred that over automated systems. Okay, and

[00:38:00] does LCPS have a preference, or are you guys agnostic on whether you would prefer the automatic or the cruisers? Thank you, Supervisor Bristman. Generally speaking, we don't get involved in traffic enforcement, so we take the lead from the law enforcement. Probably a smart thing.

[00:38:20] Okay, all right, thank you. Those are all the questions I have. Thank you. Thank you. co-chair I know it's hard right so thank you for that presentation I guess what what really caught my interest is your requirement that there be a the presence of a pedestrian crossing it really wasn't a requirement it's just that we we knew when when we started this that you know

[00:38:56] there was, we, we didn't want to, I guess we were testing the waters, right? And so we wanted to, uh, kind of prioritize our school zones and trying to look at like, really like where we were having problems, where we were having, you know, and, uh, you know, we kind of thought the best way to leverage that was that we wanted to leverage a resource was to put it someplace where we knew that, uh, you know, we had high volume of children crossing the road. Yeah. And I, and I would say i think that makes sense because we've had a few fatalities unfortunately and some of the

[00:39:28] crosswalks near schools um so i know pedestrian safety you know has to be a priority for sure and and um i i hear colonel sawyer but sometimes it's difficult you know how many how many schools do we have i think it's like 100 yeah um and i don't know how many have are walking schools how many are walking because I know we have some that are not walking and I should have that number off top of my head but I don't but I think there's at least one and maybe two schools that are completely

[00:39:59] walk zones oh okay completely interesting very interesting okay so yeah so you are thinking about expanding to other schools that um are have a lot of walkers yeah well we're doing we're um you know like it's one of the things we talked about is obviously there's three different kinds of you know enforcement you can do photo you know per state law one is the speed in the school zones um well you can do speed in the construction zone as well um you can also do uh you know the passing of the school bus or the stop arm which i think lieutenant kerner's warriors here to talk about

[00:40:39] um but and then you can do photo red light enforcement so um and our our uh you know analysis is it's been it's been very effective as far as for us um so we're you know like i said for the most part it's been cost neutral um so what we're getting out of it is you know better compliance as far as in slowing people down in our school zones so um we've been successful we really wanted to um go through these first kind of round of challenges as far as in court because we're the we're the first ones in Loudoun County to do any of this kind of enforcement so

[00:41:16] it took a little bit of work as far as you know and a little bit of education as far as with our judges and our clerks and how this was going to work in court and we wanted to make sure it was going to be supported um so we didn't want to go you know completely in um so now as we've been we've been successful so we're going to look at expanding to some additional schools and uh Potentially some, look at, we'd have to go back and redraft our ordinance, but look at some red light enforcement as well at some of our more dangerous intersections that we have.

[00:41:49] And is that in school zones or outside of schools? Those would be, those are not necessarily tied just to specific schools. We would be basing decisions on our intersections just based on crash data as far as for red light violations.

[00:42:05] And is that part of the same code, 46? It is. Oh, interesting. Yeah, so it's... Red light cameras? Okay. Yeah, and like I said, also the work zone cameras as well. Yeah, I knew that. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. I really appreciate the information you provided.

[00:42:27] Can you ask that question? For a point of clarification, could you please confirm for us what the cost per month per camera was? Yeah, I think we're paying approximately $3,100 per camera per month.

[00:42:44] Thank you for that. Okay. And then, yes, Mrs. Griffiths. I just had a question about repeat offenders, people that are ticketed or receive a citation more than once. How would you handle something like that?

[00:43:01] I think you mentioned it's $100 per ticket. I'm sorry, what? Repeat. Yeah, I know. I understood that. I thought you heard. You said it was $100. It is. It's $100 per offense. But what if you have a repeat offender? That's $100. We've had several that are, I don't want to call them frequent, but that have received more than one.

[00:43:28] Mrs. Griffiths, we all set. Okay, Dr. Rasheed. Thank you, and my apologies for walking in late. I had my own little motor vehicle accident, but I'm glad I'm here. I'm in safe hands.

[00:43:44] And I apologize if you had already maybe mentioned this earlier today, but is there any other complementary measures that are implemented near the cameras or near the cameras that are anticipated? For example, speed humps, something like that. Any of that was evaluated in those areas? Several of our locations that we have.

[00:44:04] The one that stands out in my mind is the one on Dry Mill Road. Actually, before they enter the school zone, the town has a lot of driver feedback signs, which are basically radar signs. It'll show you what the post-speed limit is and how fast you're coming as you're approaching those.

[00:44:20] um i think that's the only one off the top of my head i know that it could be oh i know battlefield parkway has several driver feedback signs along it to give people give driver feedback as far as what their speed is um so the town has a lot of driver feedback signs some of those are in and around those school zones um but like i said we worked really diligently as far as with lcps like when we started this to make sure that all our school school zones were marked accordingly as far as up to vdot standards and all the signage were there because there's a lot of required

[00:44:57] signage just for a school zone outside of photo enforcement that needs to be there and like it's i mentioned elizabeth crafts and her office was was very instrumental as far as in coming out and surveying those locations and then the school's been very supportive as far as in Making sure those costs are funded to get those school zones up to par as far as, because we just wanted to make sure it was right.

[00:45:21] I mean, I wanted to feel good about the enforcement that what we were doing and make sure that, you know, all the signage was there in place of what was needed. Thank you. Supervisor Brisbane? Yeah, just to follow up one more time.

[00:45:38] So basically if it's $3,100 a month per camera, there's six cameras, so that's $36,000 a month roughly. i think it's yeah 20 some odd yeah it's 20 some odd thousand i think six times three is 18 so really i think we're about somewhere around around 21 000 okay so about 21 000 a month but yeah we're about 20 000 a month for our six cameras to run our cameras okay i'm i did that includes like i said maintenance it's uh everything and you have a part-time staffer we we have one part-time so then it it can't be revenue neutral if you did 2800 summons because that's only no we're no we're

[00:46:14] When you figure out what the cost as far as for us to run the program, paying for the cameras, paying for their salary, I mean, we're coming out on the positive side of it. We're not losing money as far as on the cameras. I think a little more.

[00:46:31] Do you have any more info as far as on revenue? But if it was $2,800 summons, then that's only $28,000 for the year, but you're paying $20,000 a month for the, sorry? $280,000, oh, okay, thank you.

[00:46:50] See, now, okay, okay, so you are on the positive side. Yeah, we are, we're on the positive side. Gotcha, okay, see, I need someone to do the math for me. All right, thank you. That's why I'm a police officer and I'm not good at math. Well, Deputy Chief Smith, thank you so much for the presentation.

[00:47:11] I find it to be a very engaging idea and I would like to watch the data as it progresses more to see, I mean, it feels at first blush, as if you're seeing behavior change in the community, which I think is very positive, especially as someone who represents a very high population area where we have seen some impacts on students this year, as well as the devastating incident that happened in Ashburn.

[00:47:40] Anything that comes forward that could possibly change behavior and cause people to slow down is appreciated. I know in our neighborhood, There are several schools that are on Algonquian Parkway, which is often very flippantly referred to as the Algonquian Motor Speedway, because it is a cut-through that's utilized by many who probably don't even live in Loudoun County that are commuting through, because it's seen as a way to alleviate traffic on 7.

[00:48:12] But it's something in our community that I think a lot of citizens have concerns about. And I, for one, would be happy to see, as you collect more data, how the program is working. Because it does seem to be a positive indicator for change. And definitely all your concerns kind of factored into some of the decision-making.

[00:48:31] Like I mentioned, the dry mill road, same thing. Route 7 gets backed up from Percival around Hill coming in towards Leesburger. but he bails off onto Dry Mill Road and tries to come into town and circumvent to get back on Route 7 or the toll road. So that was one of the historic locations we've always, you know, and quite frankly, every day you can't honestly have an officer there.

[00:48:52] So this way we know it's, you know, it's doing the best we can in what we have and trying to maximize our resources. Well, thank you so much for the presentation. It was very impactful. I appreciate hearing your feedback today, and thank you so much for being here.

[00:49:08] and with that we will move on to information item number 4.02 the stop armed camera enforcement program on school buses the purpose of this item is for the Loudoun County Public School staff to update the Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee on the status of its partnership with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office to implement a stop armed camera enforcement program on school buses and today I see we're joined by Lieutenant Colonel Colonel Sawyer and Sergeant Bressler welcome

[00:49:40] the floor is yours. Sorry, Co-Chair Chandler. We will turn the microphone over to the Sheriff's Office for their presentation and provide the information. Mr. Davies and I are here to answer any questions we may have. Thank you for that clarification. All right, good afternoon. I'm pleased to present on the status of one of several safety-related initiatives the LCSO is collaborating on with LCPS, and that is a stop-arm camera enforcement program. We all know that the

[00:50:17] ability for students to safely load and unload is critical. Virginia law requires drivers to stop for school buses that stop to load or unload students, and buses are equipped with flashing red lights and stop signs to signal that drivers must stop. Traditional enforcement of these violations is challenging for several reasons. First of all, the buses are on a path, stopping once at each location. It's logistically difficult for deputies to stay ahead of bus routes and observe violations and if the deputies follow the buses and a violation occurs, they then have to also pass the school bus, which is not a good solution.

[00:50:55] Virginia law allows localities to adopt a county ordinance that allows the school division to equip buses with equipment that records the violation and sends it to law enforcement for individual review and action, very similar to what you heard from Leesburg about the speed cameras.

[00:51:11] This review will occur by deputies assigned at the traffic unit at the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. And we're not currently asking for any additional positions as we want to first monitor the workload to see if it's sustainable with current staff or additional positions would be needed in the future.

[00:51:27] Idealistically, there would be no violations because everybody would follow the law as it relates to this, and this would just be a good preventative measure. But unfortunately, history tells us that violations will occur. If a violation occurs, there's a civil penalty of $250 that is set in Virginia law.

[00:51:46] As a civil violation, it does not count as points on a driver's license or impact insurance rates, and there's an appeal process to the court system if a driver wishes to contest the ticket. Other localities that have installed similar devices have reported over 90% of sighted drivers don't repeat the behavior.

[00:52:04] Regarding the current process where this stands, we've worked collaboratively with the Loudoun County Attorney's Office and are in final review of a draft county ordinance that will be scheduled for review by the Board of Supervisors in the near future. We're also working with the incorporated towns across Loudoun County for similar ordinances to be adopted so that enforcement can also occur within those towns.

[00:52:27] We believe this is a great opportunity for collaboration to enhance the safety of LCPS students, and we're hopeful to have the program operational for the next school year. And kind of as we anecdotally have talked about this, speeding in school zones is definitely dangerous. Passing school buses with their stop sign out is insanity.

[00:52:47] And, I mean, it is, the fact that it even occurs is just wild. And so we believe this is a great initiative to help stop those violations. And with that, I'd be happy to take any questions. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for the presentation.

[00:53:04] And with that, I'll open the floor to questions. Co-Chair Ticroni. Thank you, Co-Chair Chandler. And thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer. Sawyer, do you have, how many citations have been recorded that you know of countywide?

[00:53:27] So, it's a great question. Thank you. So, as of last year, we issued 36 citations for passing stop school buses. We know anecdotally, LCPS does a great job kind of tracking some of the anecdotal things reported by bus drivers.

[00:53:42] It is much higher. So, when I talked about the logistical challenges of actually being able to enforce this, that's one reason why those numbers are low. The number of violations that are occurring is significantly higher than that. But as far as violations that we have been able to directly observe, pull someone over for, and cite, was 36 last year.

[00:54:04] And would Loudoun County Public Schools be putting the cameras on, installing them on the buses? Because I know you take care of the transportation. Yes, ma'am. So the process for that would be we would anticipate an MOU of sorts with the Sheriff's Department to learn the responsibilities of that.

[00:54:22] but the buses would be, they're obviously belong to LCPS, so the cameras, we would do a joint procurement process that we would start once we get this moving forward and have all those parameters. So it would likely be a third-party vendor that would put them on, and we would go, we would start that process. So we don't have any definites on what types of contracts are out there, but we would be looking for that and then have that ownership of the cameras in the partnership with the Sheriff's Office. Okay, great. Does the Board of Supervisors have to approve your codified ordinance or is that just the sheriff's office who does that? No, so the ordinance would come before the Board of Supervisors. So we would be asking for an addition, a new county ordinance

[00:55:00] to be added to chapter, I believe 466 of Loudoun County Ordinances. Okay, but no additional costs? Are you thinking you'll need funding with it? So the system itself would be operated installed and operated by Loudoun County Public Schools. So as far as any cost for the system, that would be on the school division side. We are anticipating a workload um from deputies that are assigned to our traffic unit in the review process which is substantially similar to what you heard um with the the speed um violations but without knowing exactly what that workload and those things are we're not asking for any additional

[00:55:38] resources at this point okay thank you for that supervisor brissman thank you yeah just reading that it's revenue neutral. So that's nice. Um, I apologize if I missed this in your presentation, but are you proposing that you start with a limited number, like a pilot and then expand it? Or are we just going to do every bus, every, I don't even know how many buses we have actually. So I'll defer to LCPS. I know there is a plan for rollout, but it is largely driven by the school system. Sure. So we have over 700 buses, not all of them run every day. So there's

[00:56:17] 550, 560 routes that we run every day. And so those would be done in a process that would take a while to put in. So that's part of what I was referring to earlier is we're not sure about the procurement process and what contracts are available, but we would have to work with vendors on a timeline to put all that together. Gotcha. So do you think next school year or later um next school year will be fantastic i can't say that that's possible certainly the entire fleet i can't imagine that would be the case but we could you know as soon as we get the process done the ordinance done and permission to do so then we can begin the solicitation process

[00:56:56] and deal with vendors on what their timelines would be have we have uh i'm sure you have but um have you seen this um sort of operation be successful in other jurisdictions other school systems across the country? Yes, ma'am. Fairfax County has recently rolled out a limited pilot program of stop-arm cameras. Montgomery County to our north has employed that on their entire fleet, as well as Prince George's County in Maryland. I also believe that Prince William County is beginning the same process. Okay. And Virginia, but elsewhere in Virginia, Virginia Beach City

[00:57:35] also has stop-arm cameras on their buses as well. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. look forward to the implementation thank you um co-vice chair rasheed thank you so much thank you um and and thank you for the information it's really helpful um did you say repeat offenders are declining over time or is it or they're increasing so uh the data that we have shows in the places where they are running this system that that once someone is cited one time they generally do not repeat okay so good i guess it is 250 dollars that's a significant way to remind

[00:58:14] someone to not do that awesome and then uh do the stop our cameras do they get or they're intended to be rotated and if so how frequently would they be rotated in different areas are they going to be stationary so again i would defer to the schools i believe they are fixed on a bus and everywhere that bus goes that that system goes yeah that is correct they would be implemented on each bus and so we would have conversations if we're going to do a rollout of that would pick certain areas that may have the highest level of possible infractions and pick that spot and put them in, and they would be attached to that particular bus, and so we would have those there and then roll out the entire fleet as we went through the process.

[00:58:54] Thank you. All right, well, thank you, gentlemen, for the presentation. Thanks for being here this evening. It was very informative. And then with that, we'll move on to our last information item for this evening, the Joint Committee Rules of Order and Mission is item number 4.03.

[00:59:11] The purpose of this item is to provide the Joint Committee information on the rules of order and the mission of the Joint Committee as stipulated by the Board of Supervisors and the school board in their rules of order and policy, respectively. This item will be presented by Mr. Jones and Dr. Bergen.

[00:59:27] Gentlemen, the floor is yours. Sure, thank you, Co-Chair Chandler. And so really we wanted to make sure, Supervisor Glass wanted to make sure that we share with you all an opportunity to review the rules of order for the Board of Supervisors actually provides the structure and guidance for the Georgia Committee and it's reviewed annually.

[00:59:48] And so we just wanted to make sure that since there's a bit of a new makeup to the committee that you all had a chance to take a look at those rules that sort of guide the committee. We didn't have a formal presentation for you unless there were additional questions, but we wanted to make sure you had this information for moving forward.

[01:00:06] Okay. Are there any questions from the committee? Yes, Supervisor Brisman. No questions, just a comment. And I think most folks are aware I won't be able to be at the September 10th meeting because that's my Sorenson weekend for that month. So I won't be there.

[01:00:22] Thank you for letting us know. Any further questions? All right. Well, thank you so much for that information item. And now we'll move on to our action item number 5.01, the 2026 schedule of meetings. The purpose of this item is to confirm the 2026 meeting schedule for the joint committee.

[01:00:41] This will be also presented by Mr. Jones and Dr. Bergen. Thank you, co-chair. So part of the reason that we have this before you is previously the committee lost a bit of time figuring out what your schedule would be for the new calendar year.

[01:01:02] And so we wanted to make sure that we started this meeting off in March with the calendar that you all will use for the rest of the year. So this simply presents to you the dates for the remainder of your meetings for the rest of calendar year 2026. So you have June 1st, 2026, September 10th, and then November 16th are the meetings that we have proposed for you all for your meetings going forward.

[01:01:26] Okay, that's great. Well, given that this is an action item, is there a motion? Are there any further questions?

[01:01:49] Okay, I move that the Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee recommend to the Board of Supervisors and the School Board that the committee meet as described in the March 23rd, 2026 Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee Meeting Action Item.

[01:02:09] Okay, I have a motion by Vice Chair, or Co-Chair to Crony. Is there a second? A second. Thank you, Vice Chair Rasheed has seconded the motion. Is there any discussion? Nope, seeing no discussion.

[01:02:26] Let's move forward with a voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. So the motion passes with all four members present of the joint committee and Mrs. Griffiths absent for the vote.

[01:02:47] All right, then we can move on to our additions. Yeah, final item of the evening, item number 6.01, or 6.01, requests for additions and deletions to the work plan. And the purpose of this is to determine what we'll be working on at the next meeting or for the remainder of the meetings for the year.

[01:03:13] So, Coach Chandler, yes. So, we just have a couple of items for you to make some adjustments to the work plan. As a new committee with a new makeup, sometimes you will poll your members just to see if there are additional items. But additionally, during your June meeting, if you all want to take some additional time to talk about topics that you may want to schedule for the quarter three and quarter four, that's where times you can have more substantive conversation.

[01:03:38] But this evening, you just have the two adjustments that Supervisor Tacroni has. Okay. And to that end, is there a motion? Yes. Thank you, Co-Chair Chandler. And this is from Supervisor Glass. So I'm going to give this motion for Supervisor Glass.

[01:03:54] I move that the Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee recommend that the Board of Supervisors and School Board add winter 2026 to 2027 school removal in Loudoun County Public Schools walk zones and at Loudoun County Public Schools bus stops as an item to the Joint Committee's work plan for 2026.

[01:04:18] I further move that the Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee recommend that the Board of Supervisors and School Board remove land matrix committee activities update as an item to the Joint Committee's work plan for 2026.

[01:04:38] Second. Oh, thank you. Is there any discussion on the motion? Oh, yes.

[01:04:56] I can give a little something, yeah. yeah we're adding snow removal in walk zones and at bus stops to review the response from the ice storm earlier this year the county has a codified ordinance for the removal of snow and ice the ordinance requires property owners who abut sidewalks to clear them in a certain period of time or a fine can be issued given the magnitude of snow and ice that wound up on limited number of sidewalks and crosswalks, county staff assisted Loudoun County Public Schools with snow removal.

[01:05:29] So we just thought we'd discuss that item. And then the Land Matrix Committee Activities Update is being proposed for removal because that committee no longer meets, is my understanding. This committee was active when Loudoun County Public Schools was buying land for new schools.

[01:05:48] And as of right now, there are no plans to purchase new land or build new schools. If that changes, this can be added back into the work plan. Thank you, Co-Chair Chandler. Thank you, Co-Chair Chacrony. All right, any further discussion? No?

[01:06:04] Okay, seeing no further discussion, we'll move forward with the vote. With that, I will repeat the motion. So the motion was made by Co-Chair Chacrony to move that the Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee recommend that the Board of Supervisors and School Board add winter 2026-2027 snow removal in the LCPS walk zones and at LCPS bus stops as an item to the joint committee's work plan for 2026. And further move that the joint board of supervisors and school board committee recommend that the board of supervisors and school board remove the land

[01:06:42] matrix committee activities. The motion was seconded by- Co-chair Chandler? Yes. Excuse me. I just want to make a clarification for you. Based on Supervisor Tercroni's comments, as you were discussing the motion, would you like to consider changing winter 2026, 2027 to winter 2025 and winter 2026? Because the comments Supervisor Tercroni made were about what happened last year and any improvements you make or suggestions would go to another school year. So 2025, 2026 is the

[01:07:19] correct. Your point is well taken. Yes, thank you, Mr. Jones. Thank you for clarifying. Okay, so for the record, we'll know. I accept. Yes, we'll accept a friendly, and the motion will reflect 2025 to 2026. Okay, would you like me to restate the motion? No. Okay, everybody's good. All right, thank you, and with that, let's move forward with a voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye.

[01:07:50] i um hearing none opposed uh all four members of the committee who are present um voting yes um the motion passes with mrs griffiths absent for the vote and uh and supervisor glass yeah thank you for that clarification um is there any further business all right seeing no further business the march 23rd 2026 meeting of the joint committee of the board of supervisors and school Board is now adjourned. Thank you for your work and please drive home safely.

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