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Loudoun County School Board, Finance & Operations Committee Meeting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 20m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1193424425?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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[00:00:00] Good afternoon. I call to order the Finance and Operations Committee meeting for today, May 19, 2026. My name is Dena Griffiths, and I am the chair of this committee. I am joined by Mr. Pepper and Ms. Riccardi, my colleagues from the school board. We will now move on to, nope, we don't have any public comments, so we'll skip to minutes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes from May 5, the Finance and Operations Committee.

[00:00:29] Yes, Mr. Pepper. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to approve the minutes of the May 5th, 2026 Finance and Operations Committee meeting. Second. Thank you. So the minutes were moved by Mr. Pepper and seconded by Ms. Riccardi. And all those in favor, say aye.

[00:00:46] Aye. Aye. And then we'll move on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I move the Finance and Operations Committee approve the Consent Agenda, Item 4.01.

[00:01:17] Thank you. So the Consent Agenda, we had Mr. Pepper move to approve the Consent Agenda and Ms. Riccardi second the Consent Agenda. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. We now move on to action items.

[00:01:35] item number 5.01, business and financial services, IFB number 126107, athletic equipment for ongoing needs. Thank you. I'm Hintze, a good procurement supervisor. I will present the item on behalf of Andrea Filio today. So the IFB athletic equipment for ongoing needs, on March 13, 2026, we issued invitation for bid for athletic equipment, 13 vendors responded, and we awarded to the lowest

[00:02:12] responsible bidder according to the bid award attached. The contract will start on June 1st, 2026 through May 31st, 2027, and this item brought directly as an action item. Due to the contract, we have to start on June 1st, and due to the evaluation, take longer than usual.

[00:02:37] Forgive me. The item was presented by Ms. Zagoud. Is that correct? And I didn't mention that. So forgive me for that. Thank you for the information. Does anybody have any discussion on this item? So, no discussion. We will proceed to a vote. All those in favor, say aye.

[00:03:04] Madam Chair, this item has not been properly moved nor seconded. Oh, you didn't second. No one moved it. Oh, well, I'm calling on one of you to move it. i will i will move it manager i move um that the loudon county uh school board the finance operations committee place this item uh it actually says consent agenda but i move that the finance operations committee place this item do you want the consent agenda so it says and then second all right the finance operations committee move this item to the full loudon county school

[00:03:36] board and awards ifb number i-26-107 athletic equipment for ongoing needs um i move thank you Mr. Pepper. Second. Thank you, Ms. Riccardi. So that is moved by Mr. Pepper and Ms. Riccardi. And forgive me, since we didn't have discussion, I got thrown off. So all those in favor to proceed to vote, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Madam Chair, is there a motion to move that to the consent? We will move that. Are you guys okay with consent to the school? Okay. We will go

[00:04:11] ahead and move that to consent. Thank you. So now we will move on to our information items starting with item 6.01. Business and Financial Services Loudoun County School Board to request financing for approved CIP projects not to exceed $91,160,000 for school purposes. This item is being presented by Susan Gabbani, Director of Financial Services. Thank you. Thank you. We present this Resolution to you today is an information item the attached resolution is requesting the Board of Supervisors

[00:04:51] To request financing not to exceed ninety one million one hundred sixty thousand and general obligation bonds for school purposes These projects are included in both the school board adopted FY 27 Capital improvement program CIP and the county's FY 27 adopted budgets This resolution includes $72,150,000 for projects in the capital renewal and alteration budget line of the CIP, which addresses the replacement, repair, or update of critical facility systems.

[00:05:23] Some of the examples are playground replacements, Eagle Ridge Middle School Classroom Addition Construction, and Farmville Middle School Classroom Addition Design, and then lastly, Unified Communication System. next 19 million 10,000 for the view transition Academy design and construction this will be a total not to exceed 91 million 160,000 for the general obligation bonds in collaboration with the Loudoun County Finance staff and bond council we are presenting this resolution to the school board for approval in accordance with the code of Virginia the county will bring this referendum to the Board of Supervisors finance government

[00:06:02] operations and economic development committee meeting on June 9th and the full Board of Supervisors meeting on June 16th. This referendum will appear on the November 2026 ballot aligning with our FY28 funding needs as only the county can issue debt. Unless otherwise directed, this item will be brought forward to the Finance and Operations Committee as an action or consent item on June 2nd and on the school board consent agenda on June 9th for the school board approval. Thank you. Any discussion? Yes, Ms. Riccardi. Thank you, Madam

[00:06:39] chair so I have a just a couple of questions so I get the the funding for the view Academy in here in this piece I guess my question is the remaining balance on this do we have any breakdown of what we're asking for I know that this is asking for a bond referendum but at some point in time are we going to see what the rest of that like the breakdown of the rest of those fees yes ma'am don trainer executive director of facilities in the fy27 fy32 capital budget that the school

[00:07:14] board adopted the fy28 capital renewals and alterations line equals that 72 million dollars so this is the county and school board looking forward to what is expected to be on our fy28 capital renewals budget as part of the cip so it's it's not project specific in the in the uh in the bond the bond referendum but in our budget book we do break out the projects that are that

[00:07:47] are in the cra program and um some of those referenced were the the eagle ridge uh classroom edition the uh and i can run down the list for you real quick there's um we're starting we're We're doing some of the CTAE renovations, middle school and high school.

[00:08:10] There's visual and performing arts improvements, middle school and high school. Independent living labs, moving further down, there's, as noted, one of the bigger projects, Eagle Ridge Middle School Classroom Edition. We've got, and that's the construction funding, design funding, starting for the Farmwell Station Middle School Classroom Edition.

[00:08:31] Small amount for furniture lifecycle replacement. There's $3.5 million for playground replacement. It's a lot of little projects that equal up to that larger amount. Okay, and so you said that was for the FY28? In the budget book for this year, page 13, it's the FY28 column, and it will be the projects that are identified under the CRA.

[00:08:54] Okay, thank you for that clarification. I need to get one of those because I don't have that book. I can get you one. That would be fantastic. Thank you. Okay, so this is for FY28, so we're talking about November 26th. referendum that would start for the following fall after that i just want to make sure about the timing correct so it would be this november but the money would be really for the next fall cycle correct the timing on the bond referendums is that the school board is adopting it now it goes

[00:09:29] to the board of supervisors they adopt it it'll be up for elect for election and or not election I guess, but voter approval in November. Then in the spring of 27, they will work to sell the bonds, and then we would expect to get the bond money to start our capital program July 1st, which is FY 2028. Thank you for mapping that out for me. I just needed to get that straight in my head, so I appreciate that. Thank you. Any other discussion? Okay. Thank you. I was sort of going to ask the same question, so I appreciate you clarifying. So if there's no more discussion,

[00:10:06] how do you feel um do you feel comfortable um putting this item on the consent agenda yeah i think that with the dollar amount i think we should probably put this on action okay okay we'll go ahead i also want to go and take a look at the cip budget anyway okay thank you um so we'll go ahead and do that um moving on to 6.02 business and financial services renewal of rfp number R23260 Turf Maintenance Services. This item is being presented by Hind Zegut,

[00:10:45] Supervisor Procurement Risk Management. Thank you. So the estimated value of this contract is $263,000, which is included in the fiscal year 27 support services appropriated funds. So in 2023, we issued the request for proposal and we received one proposal. We awarded to True Green and Action test, and this is the second renewal option for this contract from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027, and no rates increase.

[00:11:23] Thank you. Any discussion? I just, thank you. I just had a quick question, and Mr. Ferry, we started to talk about turf a little bit. I'm just curious, administration, this building is on the list, and so is the Academy of Loudoun.

[00:11:42] Is this just, I mean, it's not re-turfing. it's turf maintenance so if you could just explain for um academies allowed an administrative building i mean just explain so people understand thank you miss greffis if i can take that um so this contract is primarily for weed control around parking lots curb lines and fence lines and so that's why the admin building is on here all of our facilities are on this list it's so once a year if really bad twice a year treatment that we do to keep the weeds from growing up in the parking lots and curb lines and fence lines.

[00:12:20] Thank you for the clarification. Did anybody have any other questions after that? Well, I guess based on this, would you guys like to send it to the consent agenda? Yes, I'll talk about that. We'll go send that to consent agenda. Thank you. Now we're moving on to 6.03, Business and Financial Services Award RFP number R26022, Employee Assistance Program, EAP.

[00:12:48] This item is being presented by Hind Zagud, again, Supervisor, Procurement, Risk Management. So the estimated value of this contract is $900,000. The funds for these services are included in the self-insurance funds. So on February 11, 2026, we issued a request for proposal with the help of our Consulting Services Aon to provide support to employees and their household members.

[00:13:19] Services include but are not limited to accessible intake and assessments, counseling and work-life services, strong employer support such as manager consultations, training sessions, webinars, and presentations specific to LCPS population, and the ability to verify that provider referrals participate in the members' medical plan network.

[00:13:45] Five proposals were received, and the two highest scoring vendors were invited to the negotiation and orals, and the initial term for the contract is from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029. And this contract has four optional renewals, and the current contract expires on June 30th, 2026.

[00:14:07] The awarded vendor is CompSECOP. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Yes, Mr. Pepper. Thank you, Madam Chair. And really, maybe this is a question for Ms. Willoughby, but I'm not sure where it's going. So this is a proposal, the estimated value, which is $900,000, and we know we paid out of the self-insurance fund.

[00:14:28] And I'm speaking as someone who knows quite a bit about EAP, employee assistance programs, particularly as they relate to both schools. Where does the $900,000 come from, and what happens if employee costs run over that amount? Actually, I think maybe either Ms. Brown or Ms. Brown could provide additional detail.

[00:14:52] I think it's like a guaranteed price per member type of pricing structure, but I'm sure Ms. Brown could give better. Good afternoon. My name is Kim Brown. I'm the Director of Employee Benefits. The pricing model for the general EAP services is per employee per year, and then there is an additional amount of money for on-site counselors to be working with LCPS staff and addressing a lot of critical incident supports.

[00:15:24] And so that is where the increase from prior contracts has come from, primarily the on-site counselors that will be provided through this EAP program. Appreciate that. It makes the model a little bit clearer. Yes. Because I thought it was a per-service use, and then I was, okay, this is much more helpful.

[00:15:43] Yes, Ms. Riccardi. Thank you so much for that. Did we, in the last budget, vote to add another counselor? Yes. I vaguely recall having this conversation amongst the many in January. Yes, that was one of the approved additions to increase the amount of on-site mental health support through counselors through our EAP system.

[00:16:04] Okay, so how many will we have? Right now, hopefully two and a half. Okay. Yes. I always love the point. Given the funds, yes. It will depend on credentials and qualifications and the amount of hours that we agree with our vendor but we are hoping about two and a half full-time staff and just randomly out of curiosity i noticed that this was aligning with um the goal um for 3.3 but is there a reason why we didn't align this more with the workforce goal which is goal four just since this is a workforce support activity and that might just be a i don't maybe i don't know if i misgot an answer to that

[00:16:43] but I'll take it down as we look going forward sometimes we sometimes struggle especially with some of the financial stuff because so much of what we do supports the entire division of what is the best plan reference strategic plan reference and that's just the HR person in me coming out going this is yeah but anyway I didn't know if there was if there was a rationale for that or if it was whatever but yeah you know EAP programs are fantastic when our employees need them and I feel like it's one of those services that employees don't always know exists for them

[00:17:19] so I'm glad that we're doing that and do we have any utilization data on the EAP program generally? We do. Is that something that we could get in PMC at some point just to kind of understand a little bit more about the utilization of the program? Yes. Okay that'd be great. Thank you any more discussion no okay so with that um based on the discussion uh do you feel comfortable um moving this to our finance and ops consent i'm fine with that you're fine okay thank you

[00:17:55] so we'll go ahead and do that uh thank you and then item 6.04 business and financial services ifb number 126214 cafeteria paper supplies this item is being presented by hens a good supervisor procurement, risk management. Thank you. So the estimated value of this award is $733,000, which is included in the fiscal year 27 school nutrition services budget. So on March 19, 2026, we issued an invitation for bid for cafeteria paper supplies in order to provide

[00:18:30] cafeteria paper supplies for the school cafeterias. We received fixed bids, and we awarded to in total to uh imperial date which formerly known as uh freedom and sons this contract will be effective august 1 2026 through july 21st 2027 thank you um is there discussion on this um mr carty thank you madam chair just a quick question so i noticed that we have six bidders but we've awarded this to one have we worked with this company before yes correct Oh, historically?

[00:19:09] You said they changed names? It looks like they were Imperial Dade first, and then they changed names to Friedman, so they're... Oh, God, I missed that. Okay. And they are providing... We have it under different solicitation as well.

[00:19:26] All right, thank you. Any other discussion? Okay, so with that, based on the discussion, can we, do you feel comfortable moving this to the consent agenda as well? Yes. Thank you. So we'll go ahead and do that.

[00:19:42] And I think we're, let's see, is there any new business? No new business, nothing to discuss today. So with that, it was a quick one, adjournment today for the Finance and Operations Committee for May 19, 2026.

[00:19:58] Thank you.

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