Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, School Board Capital Budget Public Hearing & Work Session, Thursday, November 5, 2026

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 35m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1243526703?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 2026-11-06. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:16] Good evening. I call to order this November 5th, 2026 fiscal year 2028 to fiscal year 2033 capital budget public hearing and work session. We'll start this evening with disclosures. I'll go first. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for lcps employees specifically as a school board member i am

[00:00:52] eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an lcps employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which i am included i can and will participate fairly objectively, and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years. Vice Chair Donohue?

[00:01:17] Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Lowden County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the School Board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding employee salaries, the budget and/or health insurance, and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, my spouse, my minor children, and I are enrolled in LCPS health insurance that may be affected by any potential changes to employee salaries the budget and or health insurance additionally my sister-in-law is an lcps employee who does not reside with me and is not dependent on me these subjects include thousands of employees whose interest may be affected of which my spouse

[00:01:53] my minor children my sister-in-law and i am included i can and will participate fairly objectively in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you next up we have mrs griffiths thank you madam As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:02:32] Specifically as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees and well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I am included.

[00:02:48] I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public's interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. LaBelle. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect the benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:03:17] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. In addition, as a former LCPS employee, I, as well as my spouse, receive Medicare Advantage insurance benefits through LCPS.

[00:03:35] These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees, well in excess of the statuatory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which my spouse and I are included. I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest.

[00:03:51] this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you miss Riccardi thank you madam chair as a member of the Loudoun County School Board I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits however affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees

[00:04:30] whose interests may also be affected of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you Madam Chair. As a member of the London County School Board I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits in any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits however affect thousands of employees well in the

[00:05:07] excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. With that we'll move on to item number three our public hearing these are our procedures for public comment thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process the school board welcomes comments from loudon county residents and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system speakers must limit comments to the time allotted

[00:05:46] based on the number of speakers in the agenda this evening all speakers have been allotted two minutes each for public comment please be advised that speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a later time decorum and civility all audience members shall maintain civility decorum and respect of the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times please remain seated unless arriving departing speaking at the podium or during a break violations of civility decorum and respect include shouting heckling jeering applause and other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board and vice versa

[00:06:22] interrupting speakers attempting to speak when not called to do so by the chair and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate disparage or distract a speaker staff member or other meeting attendees speakers must remain refrain from vulgarity obscenities defamation profanity and other like breaches of disrespect nor may speakers target criticize or attack individual students and or individual division employees during public the school board requests that comments on an individual student or employee related matter not be shared at public meetings where the disclosure could violate applicable confidentiality requirements speakers should

[00:06:59] communicate those concerns to their school principal or other appropriate school official speakers should face the dais and direct their comments to the school board per policy school board policy 2520 members of the school board will not answer our questions or respond directly to the public during the public comment period to the extent necessary i will also warn of breaches of decorum civility and respect from attendees prior to taking other actions to preserve the orderly conduct of the meeting violations of decorum or civility by any meeting attendee may result in the chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting repeated or

[00:07:38] persistent violations of decorum or civility by the audience may result in on the decision of the chair public comment being tabled until a later point in the meeting's agenda limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room during public comment for safety reasons or the public comment period ending for the evening distribution of materials to school board members copies of materials for board members should be given to the public information officer in the media box at the back of the boardroom before the start of the meeting please provide 12 copies of the materials under no circumstances may a speaker approach the dais the public is reminded that access to school

[00:08:12] board meetings is available through lcps tv on 1070 hd and verizon fios channel 43. the live stream of the meeting may be viewed on the website we look forward to hearing your comments we will now start with our virtual speakers our first virtual speaker is caroline price Followed by Ryan Schleski.

[00:08:36] Great, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, thank you. Good evening, school board members. First, I want to thank you for your transparency with the last meeting, honesty, and willingness to speak up for our smaller schools.

[00:08:52] We appreciate your reassurance that closing these schools would not be considered and only as an absolute last resort. However, the enrollment numbers that were shared at the previous meeting were very eye-opening. We know that declining enrollment is coming and I worry what that means for small schools like Lincoln Elementary.

[00:09:09] I'm asking the board to go beyond promising not to close these schools. I'm asking to take proactive steps to protect them. One opportunity is revisiting previous attendance boundaries. Years ago, families living close to Lincoln were rezoned to Culbert and Banneker.

[00:09:25] While they're both wonderful schools, they're a little further away for families in Lincoln. Another opportunity is special permission. I understand the broader decision was delayed for special permission remains available, but with tighter restrictions. I asked the board to consider loosening some of the parameters.

[00:09:43] This is personal for my family as my daughter currently attends Lincoln and my son hopes to join her in kindergarten next year. At a time when we were concerned about declining enrollment, why make it harder for families who want to attend these schools? You've spoken up about how much these schools mean for our communities and my fear is in three or five years, Lincoln's enrollment will be too small that preserving it becomes harder.

[00:10:05] I'm asking for a plan, not just a promise. Please consider targeted boundary adjustments or more flexible distance-based special permissions for under-enrolled schools while protecting the current students and incoming siblings. Thank you for your time.

[00:10:21] - Thank you. Our next, our actual final virtual speaker for this evening is Ryan Cholesky. - Good evening, Chair and members of the board. I'm a Luckett resident and parent. I asked the board to formally take consolidation closure of all six of our small community rural schools off the table. I appreciate the clarification that closures are not being recommended or considered, but identifying specific schools and potentially receiving schools made consolidation feel more like a developed plan than an idea. Please turn that reassurance into an official school board

[00:11:00] commitment. Luckett Elementary is the center of gravity for our rural communities. All six of these schools anchor their communities and we stand together. Luckett shows why capital and operating decisions must align. Records show that enrollment exceeded capacity in 2016.

[00:11:16] Accordingly, three additional classrooms were added in 2019. Today's utilization percentages must account for those earlier capacity decisions. The budget includes $10 million next year for high school practice turf fields and tennis court lighting. Meanwhile, it acknowledges deficiencies in Aldi and Lincoln, but neither are prioritized for the renovation program, and partly because of limited enrollment.

[00:11:42] Before approving those enhancements, please explain how documented needs to our small community rural schools will receive funding solutions. Please maintain and modernize all six of our small rural schools. Align capital investments and enrollment projections, boundaries, and operating costs.

[00:12:00] Recognizing rural geography, transportation burden, and the importance of keeping families connected to their schools. A school's value cannot be reduced by the capacity to be reduced to a capacity percentage. Please formally take consideration, consolidation and closure off the table and adopt a capital plan that gives all six schools a sustainable future.

[00:12:23] Thank you for your time. - Thank you. We'll now move on with our in-person speakers. Our first speaker is Christy Porter, followed by Matt Rakowitz, I'm sorry, Rakowitz. I hope I got that right. And so our next speaker is Christy Porter.

[00:12:43] school board members. I wanted to start by saying thank you for continuing to support our small schools. We do appreciate it and I have two boys and one attended Lincoln Elementary and is now at Loudoun Valley High School and the other is in third grade at Lincoln Elementary. I'm here tonight like many others to ask that the board take a proactive and long-term approach to ensuring our small western schools don't just survive but actually thrive. Lincoln Elementary is an exceptional school. I'm a little biased. However, I do have some data. For two consecutive years, it has earned the highest overall elementary school performance score in Loudoun County. It has received Virginia's

[00:13:20] highest achievement award and distinguished designation. And in addition to these achievements, our student performance support framework score for the last year was a 104.3 and in 2025 a 97.3. And both were the highest of all elementary schools for those years. We have outstanding tenured teachers, extraordinary community support, and generations of family in the community who have gone through these schools and are totally invested. Why wouldn't we want more of this for more students? Clearly, this is an education experience that's working. Past boundary decisions contributed to declining enrollment at our rural schools, and it's time to revisit those boundaries

[00:14:00] with an approach that respects established families. If we could grandfather families and their younger siblings into existing school pathways while phasing in new boundaries for families entering LCPS, I believe restoring our zoning would be met with less resistance, and I'm referring back to a debate that happened over the middle school rezoning.

[00:14:19] Expecting families already established in the Harmony and Woodgrove pathways to embrace reassignment was not overly realistic. A phase-in of new families is a more realistic approach for the community. We would also continue to support special permission opportunities for small schools, especially for families who drive right past Lincoln to reach their assigned schools, and this isn't only a Lincoln issue. This is happening across the area. Thoughtful enrollment planning could strengthen Lincoln, Hamilton, and other rural schools. Thank you. Our next speaker is Matt

[00:14:49] Rakowitz, followed by James Simmons. Good evening. This evening I'm speaking as a parent from one of Loudoun's smallest elementary schools and its largest middle school. Dr. Rashid, thank you for visiting Aldi yesterday. You look great online in Aldi blue. More importantly, your presence spoke volumes. You demonstrated meaningful community engagement, and I'm grateful to have you representing the Little River District. Thank you to Carrie LaBelle for welcoming us to your roundtable this week, to John Pepper and to April Chandler for your kind emails in support of small

[00:15:26] schools. Those things go very well noticed. We appreciate all these approved walking track and inclusive playgrounds, along with the proposed capital improvements over the next several years, and as we approach our 100th anniversary, I urge the school board to follow through on these investments in the school that has served generations of Loudoun families and to include parents early in future rezoning discussions. At Willard, which is the county's largest middle school and the only middle school with modular buildings, enrollment exceeds capacity with students attending classes in those separate buildings, yet smaller high schools receive

[00:16:03] three school security officers and Willard only receives two. I asked John Clark and Dr. Spence to evaluate adding a third officer at Willard based on enrollment and campus layout and not just on the label middle school. Finally, to look for these funding opportunities, I echo Amy Riccardi's sentiment last week when enrollment was compared with 2016 levels. Yet non-school-facing staffing has increased by roughly 100 FTEs since that same level of enrollment in 2016, and I didn't hear any discussion about those. And so I did some FOIA requests, and I would encourage the board to

[00:16:40] transparently conduct an evaluation of the non-school facing FTEs before considering any further reductions to teachers, staff, or student facing resources. Thank you so much for all the work that you do. It's very much appreciated. Thank you. Our final speaker this evening is James Simmons. Good evening. My name is Jim Simmons. I'm a Loudoun County resident and my home is zoned for Lincoln Elementary. My wife and I bought our house largely because of that school and we have two

[00:17:16] young children who we expect to send there shortly. I'm here tonight because I'm deeply concerned about the proposal to close schools in Western Loudoun. I want to say plainly that the way it was presented to the public was irresponsible. Families found out that their neighborhood schools could be shut down through a presentation with little context, little notice, and no opportunity for the people affected to weigh in first. It caused real fear in families across Western Loudoun and showed a total lack of respect for the parents and the communities who rely on new schools and who trusted this board and this administration to work with them. Schools like

[00:17:49] Lincoln anchor neighborhoods. They're why families move here, invest here, and stay here, despite struggling with the very high costs that this county presents. A decision to close a school changes the community permanently, and such an option should never be presented as flippantly as it was the other night. If cuts are truly necessary, and it sounds like they are, then I would echo Ms. Riccardi's comments from last week and ask that this board first look within the walls of this building. I would then ask that this board look at the pet projects, programs, and spending that do not directly serve the education of Loudoun students. Our children's classrooms should be the

[00:18:26] last place that your budget cuts reach, not the first. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for providing us with your public comment this evening. We appreciate the opportunity to hear from you. And with that, we will move on to the next item on our agenda, which is item number 4.01, our work session provided by the Department of Support Services. The superintendents recommended

[00:18:55] fiscal year 2028 to 2033 capital budget presented this evening by Adnan Mamoon and Mr. Traynor.

[00:19:22] Good evening Chair Chandler, Vice Chair Donohue, members of the board and Dr. Spence. We are back here today to continue our conversation about the superintendents recommended capital budget. On October 27th, we presented the summary of the changes that are in the superintendent's recommendation for the capital budget, and then tonight we will be going into the details of those programs and the different projects that make up that capital budget.

[00:19:57] And then the next capital budget work session is scheduled for November 30th, and then the school board adoption is scheduled for December 15. So this is also available on page 13 of the capital budget book so we're not expecting anybody to try and read the small print here. What I would like to point out is that the overall budget is not changing for FY28 and FY29 so the $83.5 million

[00:20:33] dollars for our capital budget remains the same as well as our capital asset preservation program cap budget for 65.1 million and we'll go into the details of what those line items are later in our presentation. So there's a quick summary of the capital budget the 83.5 million by category as you can see the largest portion of it goes towards our student program space including visual and performing arts, CTAE space, Robie, outdoor learning, independent living labs, and the

[00:21:11] elementary school classroom additions, which we're going to go into a little bit more detail in a few slides. And then the next largest is the infrastructure improvement, which includes life cycle replacement of furniture, unified communication, security improvements, and kitchen equipment, 15% of budgets for bus and white fleet and the rest are athletics safety and security enhancements playgrounds privacy restrooms and support spaces so here's again a presentation of the the summary of the

[00:21:48] changes the the changes are highlighted in blue here so we are you know the superintendent's recommendation includes building elementary classroom additions at guilford sterling and Leesburg Elementary as well as $9.3 million in safety and security initiatives. This is not going to change the overall budget and we're going to go into where the funding we're recommending to come from for these enhancements. So for the elementary classroom additions, the superintendent's

[00:22:23] recommendation is to expedite building additions at Guildford, Sterling and Leesburg Elementary school and we are proposing um to be able to do the these additions by deferring classroom additions that was previously identified in the fy 28 and 29 budget for eagle ridge middle school as well as formal station middle school these elementary additions we're calling them classroom additions however these are mainly to address some space needs at these buildings because of the uh the

[00:22:56] time at the time of their construction there was a lot of spaces that were not included in that building design including small group breakout spaces as well as individual instruction spaces so the design and construction for these additions would include the necessary spaces that these schools need the enhancement also includes initiatives for district-wide improvements for nine point three uh million dollars um and which was is going to come out of the deferment for the

[00:23:29] middle school additions so wanted to quickly uh go over the timeline so that we have um you know everybody's uh can expectations can align when these projects are going to be designed and constructed and when we can expect to see these additions completed uh so typically once a project is funded uh there's a nine to 12 months period of uh you know we have to go through zoning approval prior to us you know um being able to move forward with the project and and through you know during that process we also start the design of that building which typically takes nine to 12 months

[00:24:07] and then 12 to 18 months of construction so the estimated timeline is um after funding begins roughly two and a half to three years so for guildford sterling and leesburg the funding if the funding is available in fy28 uh the completion is estimated to be fy31 which is school year uh 2030. now i'm going to pass it down to mr trainer to take us through the rest of the presentation good evening and so um to directly answer one of mr svensson's questions uh previously

[00:24:48] You had asked about the two middle schools and what was happening if we deferred those renovation projects or the addition projects of both. So we've broken out here. These two pages come from the school pages. They're listed in the back of the book, 150 and 188.

[00:25:04] And they go through a great deal of detail listing the different projects that are coming up for both Eagle Ridge and Farmwell Station. Particularly, I want to call your attention, the critical system replacement coming up at Farmwell Station in 2029. That is a complete system replacement of the mechanical system in that building.

[00:25:22] And then we've got the restroom privacy projects that are currently listed in 31 and 32, although we hope that we can accelerate those if we can get additional funding from the county on the year-end process this year. And there'll be more on that coming up in a future slide.

[00:25:41] And then next slide, we're going down the list, the career and technical education. The CTAE program, as it's called, it's a multi-year program, runs across the entire physical budget for the capital improvement program, and as part of that project, our team is working very closely with Dr. Grubbs and the CTAE office, as well as teaching and learning, which is teaching and learning, but as well as school leadership, to identify what CTAE labs and

[00:26:18] classrooms are really the priority for them as they come up with renovations and so in the FY27 program as this slide identifies we're doing the family and consumer science project renovation classroom renovations labs in our four oldest middle schools we're also going to be doing effects and then adding a culinary kitchen at Loudoun County High School and those have are all in process as part of construction in 27 we have also added the hamside spaces at Briar Woods and Tuscarora and then for the 28 program which is what you're going to be approving this year's

[00:26:55] budget we are going to design what we're going to do the construction of the facts classrooms at those four middle schools plus we're going to be designing the facts classroom renovations for sorry for farm well station for eagle ridge and harper park and then tentatively in fy29 we plan the construction of farm well station eagle ridge harper park facts classrooms that's i say tentative because we're still working very closely to better define the fy29 program and make sure that we've

[00:27:31] got the funding to do all of those along with the other ctae initiatives that dr grubbs and team are are advocating for. Next up we've got the visual and performing arts and of course this has been a focus of the school board for the past several years and we are actively working with our architects and engineers to design the first four projects right now and our recommended FY28 capital budget includes the start of construction for Broad Run, Loudoun Valley, and Stonebridge and then as we have briefed last year the work at Loudoun County High School is being deferred

[00:28:10] until FY29 to go into a larger campus-wide master plan renovation and some changes there that we're planning. Next up, we've got independent living labs.

[00:28:28] This past year, last summer, we completed the construction at Dominion, Rockridge, Stonebridge High School, and Woodgrove High School. For this upcoming summer, in the FY28 budget, we're planning to do the learning labs at Broad Run, John Champ, Potomac Falls, and Tuscalora.

[00:28:44] All of the high schools will be done as we move forward and then in the future years, and then we will transition to putting these classrooms also in our middle schools.

[00:29:01] And next up is our athletic, high school athletics, which is actually two separate projects in the capital budget, the high school practice fields, which includes an artificial turf field and lights. So we have approximately half of our high schools were only built with one artificial turf field in the stadium.

[00:29:19] The other half have two artificial turf fields. They have one in the stadium and they have a practice field adjacent to it. Unfortunately, the practice field at the time it was built at the schools that have it does not have lighting. And so this project adds a second artificial turf field to the schools that only have one, and it adds lights to that field.

[00:29:40] Then the schools that have two artificial turf fields, it adds lights to those fields. And, of course, if you've had any conversations with our athletic program, they are stretched really hard trying to fit all of the different sports teams into the practices on these fields during daylight hours, especially now as it's getting dark at 5 o'clock.

[00:30:00] And so they're anxiously awaiting this work. The chart you see there in the second project is tennis court lighting. And so that's adding lighting to all of our tennis courts at all of our high schools. The chart on the right-hand side where we've referred to as tennis, that means it's getting tennis court lights that year.

[00:30:19] Where it's turf, it's getting the turf field added, and lights means that it's getting the lights for that turf field. And so as you can see, and I'll highlight, Woodgrove is getting the tennis court lights were funded in FY27, or sorry, let me back up.

[00:30:37] Woodgrove is getting the athletic field lights in 2027, but it's not getting the tennis court lights that year. We have delayed Woodgrove because we're working with trying to develop a master plan for that campus. There's some initiative looking to potentially add on to the building for a CTAE program.

[00:30:56] And the addition would likely be in the location of the tennis courts. So we don't want to put the lights on just yet until we've got that plan finalized. But this is a multi-year program, as you can see. We also had to adjust the order of the schools from what we presented to you last year because we're working through a challenge with county coding or the county ordinance where the athletic field lighting color is restricted by ordinance so we're having to go through the process and get an approval for a the brighter color lights than what is currently allowed in

[00:31:32] the ordinance within the county the end of the towns within the county their ordinance allows the higher temperature lights for the athletic fields. And so we've moved Heritage and Tuscarora further up because we can proceed with those right now under the town's zoning as we work through the process on the others to try to get the zoning amendment approved there.

[00:31:56] And so we're starting that process now for all of these schools and don't expect it to impact the total length of the project, but we did need to flip some schools in order to keep the project moving smoothly while we're going through that process with the county. And then this slide, similar to one that Mr. Momen showed you earlier, estimated timelines.

[00:32:19] We're doing this again, just to explain you, we've got a zoning process, we've got a design process and a construction process. So these, the lights that you funded in the FY27 program, we are expecting completion of those, the lights, the fields in 2029, physical year.

[00:32:37] And so it's approximately a two-year process and there is obviously great expectations that these that when they see a project listed that it's going to be completed immediately and we are working very hard to try to get those done as fast as possible but it's a very regimented process that we go through working with the county and our architects and then our contractors to get these built. Next up are our school buses. Our school bus replacement program is another line in our capital budget and in line with our fleet modernization plan, we are purchasing 61 buses in FY28 as part of this, the

[00:33:17] superintendent's recommended budget. You'll see the breakout there for FY28 where we're getting a mixture of three gas buses, but then the majority of our buses purchased next year are propane. And then you see, of course, our 10-year goal on the master plan is to ultimately get to 85% of our bus fleet is propane 10% diesel and then the 5% would be a mix between the electric gas buses and basically it which are the only two options we have left at the moment but and then the second project list on this is the bus washing station that is an existing facility adjacent to our central fueling station that was

[00:33:56] built to be a bus washing washing station but a little over 20 years ago that building was repurposed to be a small engine repair shop for the facility's grounds team, and we're still in it. It was a temporary move at the time, and unfortunately it's been much longer than any of us planned, but we already have an approved project that will do the joint storage facility for the salt storage, the pole barns for the equipment, and then the small engine shop that's going to be built on the opposite end of the transportation building, and once that project, it's going through the approval process now. We've got zoning approval,

[00:34:36] we're going through working with the county finalizing and working the design of that that project will start under construction we hope in the next and approximately year and then once the small engine shop is able to move out of the washing wash bay we'll be able to go back into the wash bay as part of this project and reinstall the bus washing equipment and and give us the ability to wash the buses automated system which will help us in the preserving the life cycle of of our existing bus fleet.

[00:35:09] And then another big project, our playground project. This one was clearly a priority for the board several years ago. We listened very closely to that. We've listed out the different schools 'cause everybody likes to see the schools, the way the projects have already been done and what's coming up.

[00:35:25] You'll see in FY28, we have 11 of the new full inclusive playgrounds planned and the schools are listed there. Then we transition and in FY29 to 32, we're gonna start going through and building the two to five year old playgrounds where they will fit on the campus.

[00:35:42] We're gonna have some schools where it's gonna be a huge challenge to fit that in, but that is the follow on. And so this will keep moving at about the same pace with a large number of schools each year and very well received program as I know you guys are getting the feedback too from our families.

[00:36:03] And then we have several smaller projects on this slide, four separate projects that are recurring funding lines our capital budget for school furniture, the school kitchen equipment from the cafeteria school nutrition side, security equipment, life cycle replacements, and then the unified communication system, which is a newer system we're putting in that wraps the intercom system, the clocks and the bells all into one system in our schools.

[00:36:33] And so you'll see on the UCS system, excuse me, that project's managed by the Department of digital innovation and they're approximately three quarters the way finished getting that rolled out into every school and so we're making very good progress on that one next up our outdoor learning spaces in fy 27 you approved funding for this to get this process started our office of sustainability is working very closely with construction design team school leadership and teaching and learning and this year they're identifying pilot locations for a few of these

[00:37:09] classrooms. And then our FY28 program incorporates funding to try to construct these pilot classrooms, outdoor learning classrooms. Next up, restroom privacy and safety improvements. So this project was previously funded in FY27 and partially funded in FY27. Stonebridge High School would use prior year funding to be able to work that this summer. Based on feedback that we received from the school board in our work sessions in june we have worked to try to identify a way to accelerate

[00:37:46] these projects and so you'll be seeing a request next week for additional funding through the county's interviewer funding process if if approved this is the current plan that we have is stonebridge starting next summer in 20 with our fy 27 funding and then briar woods freedom in Tuscarora would be the following year using the FY28 funding.

[00:38:12] We have an expedited plan that if we are successful in getting the $14.6 million in the county end-of-year process, we would accelerate that and do eight high schools later this year into the summer time frame and then have funding to do 10 high schools in FY28.

[00:38:35] That then would allow us to accelerate, to expedite, per se, the middle schools, and we're proposing to do six middle schools a year, 29, 30, and 31, and that would then complete all of our schools. We're just cautioned.

[00:38:52] We looked at trying to how we could expedite the middle schools, and at the moment, we're not comfortable trying to do that. We think that the middle schools present a little different challenge. Most of them are not two-storing, and we're concerned about the way they're set up with the house set up and how we're going to get these restrooms to fit.

[00:39:10] We haven't designed that out yet. But as I said, we've got a plan. We're excited to do this. And as a reminder, the three schools that have it, Dominion, Heritage, and Woodgrove, very well received. The students love it. The staff loves it.

[00:39:26] We've got very positive feedback from the families that have seen them. And so this project would allow us to move forward with that, and we're ready to go. And you'll see that funding request next week. And then support space, we'll touch on this briefly.

[00:39:46] And I'll share that we have tentatively identified a location for the FACE Hub, but we're going through our internal review process now to ensure that the site will meet all of our LCPS requirements. And so we're not ready to publicly disclose the location yet, but we're getting close.

[00:40:03] And next week, you'll also see a funding request for some year-end funds to facilitate accelerating the build-out of that space to do it this year. So ideally, we would be able to open the face hub next summer of 27 and get it operational.

[00:40:22] So this warehouse space that we're looking at also includes some adjacent office space and we are working to assess which of our staff functions would best fit in that co-located space. As you can see on the slide, we are actively looking for space for our Security Operations Center, a slight amount of additional administrative space, and then we've got administrative staff that are in Round Hill Center that we are looking to try to find a home for them instead of renovating Round Hill Center, which we had briefed you on at one of the previous work sessions.

[00:40:59] And the cost for the lease of the base hub would be included in our FY28 budget. Superintendent's estimate of need that'll be presented in January. And update on the relocation of William Obadiah Robey High School.

[00:41:16] So we, unfortunately, are continuing to look for suitable space to relocate Robey High School. And we have now very likely run out of time to be able to do that and open it in the fall of '28 when we were hoping to be able to align it with the secondary attendance on changes.

[00:41:35] But we are gonna carry this funding forward. We are optimistic that we can find a space for this high school very soon. And if we do that, then we'll be coming back to you with that solution and proposing the anticipated opening date would be for that but at the moment they are they are open they are functional and full and successful in dominion high school now we'll transition to the second part of our capital budget our capital asset preservation program also referred to as cap

[00:42:13] so the cap program replaces our major equipments and systems throughout our schools based on the projected life cycle so this funding is not intended to renovate or modernize the school facility but what it does is keeps ideally keeps everything in the building operating at the way it was designed to operate so we replace individual components before they fail sometimes we get it wrong and we end up having to replace it with our operating budget but we're really good track record of replacing most of these systems just before failure the expectations in our system as you

[00:42:50] are well aware to keep air conditioning and heating operational in every classroom all the time are very high and and our maintenance team prides themselves on the ability to do that very successfully and we work very very hard to to track the life cycle of the boilers the chillers the hvc equipment all of these individual components this is a major major program there's there is typically just over 100 projects every single year we will often combine these projects together at multiple sites or plan to work them around other construction projects that we have

[00:43:29] going on in the schools to try to minimize the disruption to the students and staff in the school but we effectively are doing something all the time in the schools we even many of these projects will happen if we can do them in the winter after outside of school hours we're doing that the The summers are very limited for us and allow a very tight time frame.

[00:43:50] I've got three slides here. The first one, they look very similar. The first one is FY26, showing this because this is the work that you saw happen this past summer, just a few months ago in your schools. And this is just a snapshot. As I said, there's over 100 projects. This was a snapshot of what the FY26 program looked like that we did this past year.

[00:44:11] The next slide is our FY27 program. These are the projects you approved last year, and this is the work that's coming up. Some of it could be happening now, this winter, especially if it's a cooling air conditioning project and we can get it done through the winter months when we're not cooling in the buildings, we're trying to work on those.

[00:44:32] But a lot of this work will be happening over the summer months when schools are out. And so some of these schools, especially the new roofs coming up, those schools will be closed for activities this summer because we'll be replacing the roof on the building. So this is what's coming up for this year.

[00:44:49] And then this final slide is a summary of what we're asking for the FY28 funding program. And once again, just a summary, a highlight of the bigger projects that we're doing out there. You'll see about a third of the program is on the HVAC side, 24% on the roofs.

[00:45:08] This is protecting our public investment in our schools. This is keeping the schools safe. It's keeping them operational, but unfortunately it's not renovating them. It's keeping them operational and that's the key. And the funding for this program is very, very important to keep those systems working and in good condition.

[00:45:32] Okay, and in summary, we've gone through the presentation tonight. Our next meeting with you is coming up on November 30th, where we have another work session. Please, if you've got questions, we're happy to take questions this evening, But we're also would appreciate if you've got questions, you can email those to Mr. Mamoon.

[00:45:50] And we will work to get those back to you. And then now I believe we're actually going to go through the Q&A real quick. And I don't. So this was the second packet in your handout, I believe, just behind the agenda.

[00:46:13] So we had three questions that we had taken from the last, when we introduced the capital budget to you this year. First off, for Ms. Griffiths, asking about providing lighting behind Stonebridge High School and the pathway that goes around the tennis court there, and if that was something that we can do.

[00:46:36] And so, first off, yes, it is something we can do, and we are looking to incorporate that in the project to add the tennis court lighting, because that project gets electrical out to that part of campus. we are looking to add that in assuming that it is the will of the board to do that I will point out that staff is asking for board direction on the campus pathway lighting enhancements we've miss Griffiths has identified a couple of three schools that where there's been concerns raised from her constituents

[00:47:12] about pathway lighting we have pathways across LCPS our schools and we're talking paved pathways not not trails not dirt trails but paved pathways thousands and thousands of feet of paved pathway and practically none of those are lit right now do we have lighting on them so we're looking for direction from interest from the board if this is a something that you're interested in pursuing as a board we'd like to know that tonight if possible and then we will take that back and unfortunately it's it's a major project we won't be able to

[00:47:50] come back to you this year we'd like to scope that out and understand how big it's going to be how much it's going to ideas of how much it was going to it would cost and then we would propose to come back to you for the FY29 budget on recommendations of how we would start fitting that into a multi-year program across all of our schools so and I'm happy to pause if you'd like to think about that right now or discuss that or we finish the next two questions and then we do that okay keep going so question to mr. Svensson we you had

[00:48:29] asked about with the deferment of the additions at Eagle Ridge and farm well station what future capital investments we had coming up and so in the answer there we're referring basically the page 150 and 188 of the recommendation of the superintendent's recommended budget where we've got the list of projects for each school. Of course we went through that tonight also in the presentation and I believe you'll see that we're still we still have a lot of work planned in those schools and and we'll continue to make those improvements. And then question three also from Mr. Spenson based on the current financial timelines what are the plans for the CTA improvements at the middle schools and

[00:49:09] the restroom renovations at the middle schools and then specifically the funding for farm wheel station and what can we do to speed up the ctae and privacy restroom modifications at all middle schools and so as part of that program tonight we also we briefed you on the status of the restroom project the our desire to try to accelerate that if we can get funding and then tied to that the ctae program where we're doing the first four middle schools this summer on the facts classrooms we're designing in the fy28 program we'll be designing

[00:49:45] those facts classroom renovations next three middle schools and then we hope to continue to be able to continuing that program over the next several years designing and renovating classrooms but it is part of a much larger ctae program that dr grubbs and team are actively working on we've got the the you know the 27 programs is done we're working on a 28 program where we believe we've got We've got a good plan here, but 29, 30, 31, we've got funding programmed.

[00:50:16] We're still working on the priorities and trying to figure out exactly what's coming next. As we're working with his team, one of the challenges is our CTAE classrooms typically cost more to build and renovate than traditional classrooms. And so that's causing some challenges on our side, slowing things down a little bit while we're working to make sure we're getting good price estimates and what's on the future projections of what's coming.

[00:50:41] that's the end of the questions we've received so far um and if we could go back to the board direction on lighting of pathways and this would also include sidewalks along public roads in our district because we have a number of sidewalks that are also not illuminated thank you so much for the presentation it was very informative we appreciate the information gentlemen and with that board members i'll open the floor to questions um mrs griffiths thank you madam chair um when this is more of uh for my colleagues but also i just want to throw this out there when we're

[00:51:20] examining the budget we have schools per dr spence i don't believe we're going to close but it's out there that they believe there's the possibility um to save to save money in a budget crunch um so with that um i'm i'm gonna bring up roby uh 65 students to put them in a new high school i guess now it's on hold for now you said right because you didn't make uh the timeline so it's sort of on for next year so it's sort of on hold uh is that what you said it it's it's on hold

[00:51:59] because we have not been able to find a space to relocate roby high school to well i believe it has 65 students so with the threat of you know the possibility I don't want to say the threat the possibility of having to close schools I don't think or I don't think communities are going to take well to moving 65 students into a new space and then closing schools I just want to put that out there I just want to put that out there also the bathrooms waiting on more funding

[00:52:36] for that. That's another thing where I think communities are going to be questioning, wait a minute, you're thinking of closing schools and you're spending money on that sort of thing. Those were my two things. Also a warehouse that the school board approved as well. But I did want to ask you guys about Broad Run. I saw tennis, turf. What other details can you give me for Broad run renovations because I've been asking for a while but more so inside not the turf is good

[00:53:14] they didn't need new turf and all that stuff but more so inside like restructuring of the theater and stuff like that I know you had a listening session so they've been waiting for a long time to get renovations so do you have details I didn't see in the report that you can share with me and oh and lastly Newton Lee already got their playground so you considered them for the FY that was the FY 26 they already got their playground they're not getting anything uh when I was there it was a brand new playground so um but anyway um if you can answer those for me thanks

[00:53:53] so we're looking up the uh page for broad run now but the in the in the capital budget book uh there There is a project page for Broad Run that has a list of all the projects that are upcoming.

[00:54:15] It's page number 154, has a list of what's been done in Broad Run over the last five years and then what's coming up. And I was looking back at one of the slides tonight where we talked about the Visual and Performing Arts program.

[00:54:32] We identified that construction is starting in FY28. So we starting next physical year, that's July 1st, or sometime after July 1st, but it's starting at FY28 for the visual and performing arts improvements at Broad Run, at Loudoun Valley, and at Stonebridge.

[00:54:49] All three of those schools, construction, we're in design now, construction will be starting next school year. - Mr. Svinson.

[00:55:05] - Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Traynor, Mr. Mamoun, for the presentation. And following up briefly on Broad Run, just for clarification in the book, you're saying i know we have the visual and performing arts improvements are for fy 2027 listed there but just so you know for folks who maybe are reading it just that in fy 28 is when the actual construction will start but we've already funded it from previous year correct right so the design funding was in fy 27 construction funding starts fy 28. thank you

[00:55:38] And I really appreciate the information you shared for Eagle Ridge and FarmWell and appreciate the big improvements for FarmWell and the central systems that are going to be coming up. And I think, as I had mentioned before, two of the biggest priorities when speaking to folks at the school were upgrades to the restrooms and the CTAE spaces.

[00:55:59] So it's really great to see FarmWell and Eagle Ridge, who had also mentioned the CTE spaces, to see them on the design plan for next year. That's really encouraging and very supportive of the expedited plan for the restroom upgrades so that we can get to the middle schools sooner.

[00:56:21] So thank you for your work on that. One thing, one question I had was speaking to folks at Eagle Ridge, for instance, they have really smart ideas, efficient ideas about how to rework existing classroom space for intervention spaces, breakout rooms, reconfigure the way the layout is to fit the way that classroom instruction or intervention happens today versus maybe when it was built.

[00:56:48] And if you could explain a little bit the avenues that schools like Eagle Ridge can pursue to have those kinds of projects completed, that would be, I think it'd be helpful for folks to understand how that works. So we have what we refer to as a room conversion program, and that goes through our property improvement review team.

[00:57:11] So that's an acronym, we call it PERT. And so all of the schools, all of the building administrators have the ability to submit a PERT request. A PERT request, it goes through our work order system, but it's in the request instead of a maintenance, a break-fix type item, they request a change to the building, a change to the room.

[00:57:34] That process is reviewed by a cross-functional team from support services. We have representatives from other departments on the PERT. PERT meets once a week. We review those requests, and then we prioritize them. We work with teaching and learning.

[00:57:50] work with school leadership student services to understand and know what the priorities are across the system because the foot the funding is is rather limited on that we a room conversion may not sound like a big deal but we get requests to convert a storage room to a classroom or to convert a storage room to an office and sometimes those that requests can cost several hundred thousand dollars to convert a storage room into a an occupiable space so we depend on other departments within the staff to tell us where these priorities are at we we identify them we've got

[00:58:29] them on a list we approve them if it's something that we can physically do if it can be done and we're just waiting on funding we approve the project and then and typically around the first of the year we're working with the other departments asking where they see the priorities for the individual schools that need these room, what we call room conversions.

[00:58:51] And then we try to get those designed quickly over the winter months, get them out, get it in contract. And most years we were doing five to 10 at the most. And we have a backlog right now of hundreds.

[00:59:09] And could you explain where that line item like sits in the budget and what the current funding is for the room conversion program? It's currently in the construction services, which is a part of facilities.

[00:59:24] It's in the operating budget for construction services and I don't remember offhand the exact funding amount. That budget line we also use for, to be able to accelerate design work or to get design work started before we've got funding or when we, we will work with planning sometimes if we need to do, to go through a zoning process in advance of starting the work.

[00:59:54] We will use that funding to get an A&E on board to help start the process of a zoning review to get things moving so we're not delayed as much. So it's per se a catch all budget and effectively what we're doing is the money that we're not using on the O&M side to, and it's, I should give you an idea, it's $3 million range, $4 million range total, but that's not all for room conversions.

[01:00:26] That funding is used to hire A&Es. Like sometimes if we identify, good example, we identified a structural concern at one of our schools. We had to go out and hire a structural engineer to come in and assess that. We wanted to make sure the school wasn't going to fall down.

[01:00:42] And so we brought a structural engineer in to monitor it. And that comes out of that same basically design funding program. And so that happens more than you might realize across the school system. And so we then use basically what, towards the end of the year, what we feel comfortable is left.

[01:01:04] It's not gonna come up for a more pressing engineering need study or something. And then that money is what we will use towards those room conversions. So it is kind of the tail end of the financial process on a small part of the budget.

[01:01:20] - Thank you, I really appreciate that explanation. And so if we were interested And looking at that funding, that's something we would do in January when we're looking at the operating budget, not here for the capital budget. Yes, sir. That's part of the operating budget. Thank you. Thank you.

[01:01:36] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so much for all this work and all the preparation. I especially appreciate a lot of the front loading that has happened for us throughout the year as you've been preparing this and kind of looping us in as we've been going in terms of the swap out for the classroom renovations, the bathroom project acceleration.

[01:01:57] That's super helpful for us, or at least I'll speak for myself, for me as a board member to not have a whole lot of surprises here. So I think that this is a wonderful plan. It feels very responsive to the things that are being discussed in our communities.

[01:02:13] And I'm especially grateful for the work that's happening at Loudoun County High School. I pulled up my document from last year, and that was the top ask that I asked about last year. And it's going into fruition. So those kinds of things are really great to see. full circle. I will chime in on the path lighting in terms of you're asking for our input. I mean, this is the first time I'm hearing about it, but obviously safety wise, I mean, it's pretty timely right now as it's like dark at three o'clock in the afternoon. So I think that it's worth at least hearing what you have to bring to the table in terms of costs so that we can evaluate that.

[01:02:50] Also curious how that would interface with the town of Leesburg in terms of the sidewalks and and the different paths if there's opportunity there I'm happy to bridge those conversations if needed I have just a couple of questions in terms of some specifics as for the projects one thing I was wondering about is if you have I saw that there's the list of items for school nutrition equipment replacement, so I'm wondering where that lives, where we could see the

[01:03:28] life cycle of our equipment and where what's next and how we evaluate that if that lives somewhere. I would love to have more information about that. Beginning to nibble around the edges for potential future budgets in looking to moving to more scratch cooking in our kitchens. We, it turns out, have had some information provided to us about our ability to do that in the future. This is very preliminary for me, but I think as we're thinking about future budgets, if I could see that turnover and what that cadence is, maybe there's some opportunities to intersect with what type of equipment we replace it with as it ages. So I'm interested in that. And then I'm

[01:04:08] also wondering, I hate to beat a dead horse, but I'm going to bring up the signage again for the electric signs. Specifically this time I'm just asking for information about Simpson Middle School because they seem to have secured the funding for the actual sign and they are in the middle of a road expansion project there on Evergreen Mill. So would it be advantageous for us to pursue looking at that as a budget cost savings now versus later down the road should we not get the proper approval so we could just talk about that a little bit or

[01:04:47] explore that I would be interested I know that there is a timeline on when the funding for that sign sort of runs out and so they wanted to have that question answered and then just one last thing that I will ask is as the chair of the special programs and centers committee we have had several times friends from our charter schools come and ask about playgrounds and fencing and I know that that policy is very specific to it has to be board driven so I am asking for what it would cost to add inclusive playgrounds to both charters and I believe the fencing might only be needed at Hillsboro I haven't heard

[01:05:27] about it from Middleburg but if I could get that cost not asking for it to be put in necessarily but I would like to weigh that option and then I would just like to close with I don't want there to be continued confusion in the community we have I think put a nice period on the end of the small school consolidation conversation per dr. Spence's message that went out as well as the will of the board so I know that there's some talking about trade-offs and different things but I do not believe that that is on the table at this time and so I don't want the community to feel like we're reopening

[01:06:05] that I think that that is closed I think that would be appropriate to say and in terms of looking at these programs and whether we should close schools or have a place for our Robey kids I personally do not want to get in a conversation about which kids are worth it and which kids aren't and so I am fully supportive of moving forward with the Robey project and I really do value that program and i hope that we can find a great place for them so that's all i'll say for tonight thank you thank you vice chair dali here thank you madam chair thank you mr mamoun and mr trainer for the

[01:06:41] presentations very comprehensive and helpful um i have i have one question for you but but first i wanted to i also wanted to state uh restate emphasize again more clearly that there there is no there is no plan to close or consolidate any schools we said that pretty clearly up here as a board last week dr. Spence also said that in a message to the community since our meeting last week and frankly I find it a little bit troubling to hear some of my colleagues talking about whether or maybe or if we're closing schools because we're not we have said very a very firmly we are not doing that so just want to emphasize that one more

[01:07:20] time that that is not a thing that we're doing right now for my question I'm I'm looking at your slide number seven about the classroom additions at Guilford, Sterling, and Leesburg. And seeing here that the prediction is that going through with this project, it would take about three years until they're usable.

[01:07:39] Given the declining enrollment, are we still going to need classroom additions at those schools in three years? These smaller schools are unique in that statistically right now they're under what their design enrollment was.

[01:08:00] but they are packed. I mean, they're completely full. They need the additional space. And based on the enrollment projections that Ms. Tate has provided, we still believe they're going to need those resource rooms, that breakout space, three years from now, five years from now.

[01:08:18] I mean, the projections are that we're still going to need it in these schools. And if we, honestly, if we thought that you would not need it, we wouldn't be recommending these additions. Thank you. Mr. Pepper.

[01:08:36] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. And a lot of what I would have reiterated was just said by my colleagues, so I'm not going to do that. But I do have a question, and I'm all for this speed up of the process for the privacy restrooms. If we did that, I'm looking for, I'm looking at line, I think it's 27 of this document or line 42 in the book.

[01:08:55] I know that there's, you know, 5.7 million allocated in 29, and then in 30, in 31, in 32, it's 7 million. Would those values, if we expedited that project, would those values change and slide over? What would that look like financially? So the $14.6 million that we're requesting for the restrooms this end of year, assuming that we can get that funding in January and get these projects moving forward, that should be enough to complete all of the high schools.

[01:09:29] And then the next several years, we would be moving middle schools forward. We've got two years of the high schools. Then we would be moving the middle schools forward. The last couple of years that would be dropping off at this, which is the 31-32 time frame, I believe, we are anticipating that funding would free up.

[01:09:52] That would be the 32-33, that the funding that's programmed in those years right now would be freed up and would not be needed for the restrooms. That's helpful. I also want to say that, I meant to say this at the beginning, but I appreciate seeing some of these projects come to fruition.

[01:10:14] I know my children right now are actually talking about the playground innovation that is happening at their school and how they don't have recess for a few weeks because of the renovation, so I appreciate that. Are we concerned? And so, realistically, I really like all the things that we're doing in FY28.

[01:10:30] I would love to see a pricing on the lighting just to kind of know what we're getting into, see if it's cheaper if we did it now, and if it's something we can even include in the budget. Going forward, what I'm noticing, and just in terms of the total of projects, is that the budget, the capital budget, is increasing in 29, 30, and 31.

[01:10:52] I'm concerned, knowing the larger budget of what we've told is coming down the line, is there a way to evaluate some of the projects going forward in terms of necessity should we run into those kind of constraints in our overall budget?

[01:11:16] So kind of a two-part answer on that. One, our capital budget right now is lower than it was originally planned to be by the county border supervisors because we inserted Parkview High School into year one of the capital budget a couple years ago, and our budget is still reflective of that.

[01:11:38] To insert that program, year one of the budget, the next several years of our capital budget was lowered. And so, understandably so, it's a $200-plus million high school. But so the budget is climbing back up to more in line of where we would expect it to be based on the funding level that the county had envisioned several years ago.

[01:12:03] The cap budget, which is part of our capital budget, that budget is escalating every year, and it will continue to do so. The cost, the inflation and cost increases we're seeing on many of our major building components are continuing to go up in double-digit numbers.

[01:12:23] And so the capital budget, just to sustain our existing buildings, that budget's climbing and we are each year going up. Then to kind of go back and address the last part of the question about are we relooking our budget.

[01:12:42] Mr. Mamoun and Dr. Spence have been having conversations about bringing a consultant on board to take a look at our capital facility planning program and make sure that we are identifying, and correct me if I get this wrong, but make sure that we're identifying where we need funding in the future to sustain our current infrastructure.

[01:13:10] And we don't have that actively defined yet. We're working on that now, trying to scope that out and figure out the scope of work there. And then we would go through the process of trying to bring that consultant on board. But we're hoping, ideally, to have something in place by next fall's capital budget that we'll be looking forward across the next five, six years.

[01:13:32] And are we appropriately expensing our capital funds where they're needed? I will note that in the 28 capital budget this year, or one of the items that is not funded is we don't have money applied towards a lot of our critical infrastructure.

[01:13:49] We do not have projects in '28 for the major school renovations. We don't have projects in '28 for critical system replacements in the schools. Those are starting back up in '29 and '30. And that's gonna be a big part of the growing budget in the future.

[01:14:09] We have a tidal wave of schools that we started building, where we were building three to five schools a year, just around 2000, 2005 timeframe. Those schools are approaching 30 years, 35 years. That's the end of life cycle on many of the systems in those buildings.

[01:14:28] And so we've got to be postured where we're funding replacements and renovations of those systems at three to five a year going forward. And there's a lot of money that will go towards that in the future. I appreciate that very thorough response. Mr. Mahmoud, did you have something to add?

[01:14:46] I think Mr. Triner covered it well. But, yeah, that, I mean, your question is very timely. And this is something we do have to look at, as Mr. Triner already said, that, you know, we do need to get into making sure that the portfolio that is aging in the cohort together, all hitting the same life cycle replacement timeline at the same time, we need to look at the overall plan.

[01:15:09] I appreciate that. I don't think of 2000 is 30 years ago, but I guess it is. Last question is really with, and then I'll turn it back to my colleagues, but with Dr. Spence, did you have something to add? Well, I just wanted to mention a couple of things, too.

[01:15:24] So the capital budget, obviously, is separate from the operating budget, and it's not impacted the same way by enrollment, and it is based on county guidance. So if you look at the summary document and you see go across until you get to 2033 where it says no guidance, what that's saying is we haven't received guidance from the county that far out but everything else is based on county guidance at this point in terms of capital dollars which are really based on the bonds that are issued and so separate from the enrollment conversation the the piece that we're talking about with mr ramoon and mr trainer talking about bringing somebody on board to help us take a look at it we'll be looking at things like so how does enrollment change where we might

[01:16:04] put programs how does enrollment change what we might need to build inside of a school to address those program shifts you know example came up earlier with Robie high school so we've always planned on putting Robie in a separate building but does this give us an opportunity to rethink while we do secondary school rezoning whether or not that's necessary based on enrollment shifting so those kinds of things that we need to look at with some specificity and you saw obviously an example this evening of some renovations to two middle schools that are being pushed back because of enrollment flatlining in those buildings so those are the sorts of conversations that will allow us to sort of identify where do we

[01:16:41] shift capital funding to better meet the needs of the schools while being cognizant of what the enrollment projections mean for each of the schools. That gives me a perfect segue to my very last statement slash question is and I want to kind of piggyback on something that was said earlier as far as Roby I know right now Roby has 65 students who do such tremendous it does such tremendous good for a very specific group of students if we were to find a new site for Robey we could expand that program is that correct we could and the the site we're

[01:17:18] looking for is based on the projected expansion appreciate that thank you dr. Spence did you want to say something yes actually i'm having reflected on last week's conversations let me be clear that we're not saying that Robey isn't it's slated to be in a separate building that's still in our project plan um it's it was just an example of what the ways we may be looking at at our facilities as we go forward and all of the different programs that we operate thank you miss ricardi thank you madam chair and thank you guys for this this conversation so you know i think um as we're looking big picture at the budget and our financial situation going forward i think

[01:17:58] one of the conversations um that would be interesting to explore is kind of the co-location of a lot of these special programs that we have and special schools and whatnot that we have so So we can co-locate resources or shared resources in one facility for the number of different programs that we've got kind of somewhat spread out.

[01:18:23] So I think that would be an interesting conversation to have. I think with the lighting project, I would be really interested in us really getting the data in line with a safety risk assessment to figure out where the lighting is most essential.

[01:18:44] because it's the darkest, it's perhaps, you know, the surrounding area just needing lighting. I think there's some risk assessment analysis that we probably need to think about doing in that, and then obviously the cost piece to that.

[01:19:00] I'm a little reluctant to get super behind any new, I mean, lighting is expensive. And we're talking, I mean, I don't even wanna guess, but I'm gonna gather 100 million-ish more, many more i don't know i have no idea right but taking on a really significant additional capital project like that is um i don't think we're in i don't think we're going to be in the financial situation to be able to necessarily do that so i'd like to see what it looks like for now before we commit to anything or even come close to committing to it it's not that i don't think

[01:19:39] we need it i think there's a lot of things that we're going to find that we want but the problem is i don't know we're going to be in the position anymore to be able to finance and afford a lot of the things that we think we want so I'm I'm not saying I'm not supportive of it it's just I'm I'm really concerned about whether or not those kind of things which are important may not be able to get the financing and the be in a financial position to be able to do that although that said there may be opportunities to partner with Leesburg or the county or other municipalities where we want to do these things to be able to help them or have them help us

[01:20:18] offset those costs I don't know I don't know what that all that whole package looks like I think it'd be interesting to gather some of the preliminary data and kind of work this step by step so that we're not committing to a huge capital project a new capital project at this point so that's one I secondly I'm gonna say and I hope it's still the case because I'm gonna give you big props but I understand that you know Parkview's building is ahead of schedule and under budget or at least it was several months back so I'm gonna that's a huge huge undertaking, and congratulations to the team on that. I know we're being able to use some of the

[01:20:53] savings from that in other projects, and I think there's something very commendable about that in this environment, to be honest with you, because it's a huge savings. I'm also really excited about the additional classrooms in our Sterling and Leesburg schools. So one of my questions there is, I know there's going to be a design process, but is that primarily classroom expansion at Guilford?

[01:21:19] You know, they've got the cottages out back that were just renovated, but they're pretty old. And it's not exactly adjacent to the school. It's off to the side a little bit. So what is the—we're funding a project, but what is that?

[01:21:38] I'm not asking you for the design plans either. So we don't have the designs yet. We would start the designs next year, FY28, with that. The intent, the idea would be is that when the project's approved, we would bring an A&E on board, sit down with the school, with the school leadership, sit down with the school community and identify what they need that's in approximate the same size as a three-classroom addition would be.

[01:22:10] And it may be five or six resource rooms. It might be one resource room, one classroom, and a storage space, an office. I mean, we're really flexible. We want to sit down and understand what the needs of that school community is going to be three years from now and 15, 20 years from now and design an addition, approximately the same size addition at each school, that meets those school-specific requirements based on what the school has now.

[01:22:42] And these schools have, they have no resource rooms right now, which is a standard in all of our more modern elementary schools. But they have very little space other than traditional classrooms. And so we don't know what it's going to look like just yet.

[01:23:00] We have an idea. We've priced it based on an approximate square footage that we're going to be adding to the building. Thank you for that. And then I know that we're going to be looking at some additional end of year fund dollars on Tuesday next week.

[01:23:18] So I noticed that part of that was money for the bathroom, moving up the bathroom project. Does that money, is the end of year allocations, is that earmarked specifically for CIP projects?

[01:23:38] or is that just how we've recommended the allocation of the money because i know there's an operating there's a list of operating fund items and then there's also this the the bathroom project so does the county designate like how that allocation happens or is that something that staff determined so and i believe ms willoughby if you want to step in sure um exactly as you've described so they will if they were to approve the request they would appropriate the um the dollar amount

[01:24:11] requested to the school operating fund and they would um appropriate the dollar amount requested to the capital improvement projects fund technically they don't have the authority to designate the uses we just as a process with the county and to be transparent and to support knowing that they would like to know what the money would be used for we provide the additional detail and breakout of how the funds would be used okay so that was a staff driven decision about the budget and the kinds of uses for those items okay that's great thank you and

[01:24:46] then the the face resource hub project i'm not going to push you on where you're thinking that's going to go i'm looking forward to where that might be but is there was there additional money was there additional money um that you all needed to get started earlier is was that in i know we talked about that briefly but could you run me through that again really like that yeah so the

[01:25:20] yeah the face resource hub it's part of that request for um the additional year-end funding that ms mille we just talked about okay that that would help um towards you know if we were to get into that space that we're you know considering that that those funds would help with you know configuring that space as well as pay for pay for the the any lease amounts okay and could you provide a little bit of clarity I think on is that a fully LCPS funded is that LCPS and LEF is that grant money like

[01:25:56] is it a combination thereof like how is that full project getting funded but So that's not LEF-funded, that is not LEF-funded, that's a LCPS project, the suggestion and recommendation to provide space for LEF was based on the idea that that's an in-kind piece of service that we can provide LEF, because what they do in that space is send food to our kids.

[01:26:27] Right, absolutely. But they're not paying for the recommendation. Okay, I was just curious about that, because I've been asked that a couple times in some different ways. I think for the public also to understand, too, that one of the things I noticed pretty early on in working in Sterling is that we have a number of really, just a huge number of incredibly gracious organizations from churches to community groups to non-profits to companies that want to

[01:26:58] donate. And one of the things I think that our family liaisons are right now, and I'm going to they kind of saddled with is they're having to do things way above and beyond I think what that that role was initially created to do in order to serve our students and our families and so this hub is actually going to help centralize all of those donations into one place so that our family liaisons can get back to the business that they were brought in to do and really being very very community facing and family facing and then allow the right kind of donations to go to

[01:27:37] the right location at the right time and miss Allen I see miss Allen nodding back there I just want to make sure but this is I mean I know you all have recognized this too and so you know I just want to acknowledge that you know we've got in this whole budget process some concerns around the investment of this but the reality of it is I think we're probably spending a ton of money with this not being centralized right now and so I think this is ultimately is going to wind up being a really great cost savings for us and ensuring that our staff actually doing the work that needs to be done and serving our most you know our most challenged some of our most challenged students and student

[01:28:16] population so thank you for clarifying that because I think there's been some question about is this fully an LCPS project or an LEF project but they're really providing a lot of legwork we were just out at sterling middle yesterday with another huge donation for the PRI project there and you know when that stuff comes in we've got to have a way to be able to to manage it so right And if I could just add to that super quickly, any savings that LEF accrues comes back to the school division through the field program and through the other programs that they do in support of us.

[01:28:50] So, I mean, that anything that they accrue in terms of savings is also something that our teachers will see through their grant programs, our students will see through their scholarship programs. So it's a win-win all the way around for us. Thank you. And then the final thing I was just going to add, again, I'm very much into us looking to consolidate facilities that are like, for example, for Robey, I'd love to see it instead of it in its own facility.

[01:29:15] If we have the ability to save costs and co-locate it someplace where we're already running a building, I think that would be great. And I'm also very much for expanding it if there's a need for that. I'm not offering up any specific location. I know that but I do know that Parkview is being built with additional capacity but I also know we have other programs coming in there so I don't know what the out-year projections are for usage of that facility and I also don't necessarily think we want to move Robey around to different places we want to find a good home for it but I again in this environment I'm concerned with us

[01:29:49] acquiring yet another new facility I think they're you know I want to be really careful about how we're choosing that move as we move forward so thank you so much you um anybody who hasn't had a chance yet thank you madam chair um i just wanted to clarify my comments uh before um i know we discussed um that we're not going to close the schools now but it wasn't a presentation and it was confusing um for a lot of communities um i i didn't find

[01:30:28] out about it until our meeting. So I just wanted to clarify that. And with that, and this may not be you, because that was more of an enrollment issue, but I'm curious to know, not closing those schools, how are we going to save money? I'm not foreclosing those schools, by the way, but where's the money coming from if not closing the schools? I'm just curious about that, if you're able to answer that for me. Thank you. Dr. Spence. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:31:01] So just to separate two things, this is a capital budget conversation. This is separate from the operating budget conversation. Just a reminder for the board and folks who were watching when we brought that forward, we stated that that was not a recommendation, but that was something for the board to consider and provide direction on in terms of whether or not further analysis would be warranted. And it was brought forward because it was tied to the enrollment conversation that we're having right now. As was stated and has been stated several times tonight, it's clear that that's not something the board wants to consider. So what we'll be doing is we'll be looking at

[01:31:37] other things within the budget. And I mentioned, I think at the end of the last meeting, but again, we're sort of now straying into the operating budget conversation that when we came back, we would be talking about other areas where we feel we'll be able to realize savings. And then also, I want to point out what I pointed out then.

[01:31:55] And again, this is similar to what I said earlier about the capital budget. We are continuing to see projections for increased revenue. It's just not at the same rate that it has been. And so it's going to be a balance of where we find savings and then where we spend new revenues when we get into that conversation.

[01:32:11] But again, for the purposes of tonight, this is an operating budget, CIP budget discussion and separated from that conversation well I'll go I'll just want to take a few minutes to address your specific questions in the presentation tonight but I wanted to start by saying I really enjoyed the presentation and I found the graphics to be at what I don't believe the graphics had been presented exactly this way before but I found them to be very user-friendly and readable So I just wanted to make note of that.

[01:32:49] I definitely appreciated having the lines specifically called out in the presentation and also love the graphs and the charts. So it is just very easy to see where our investments are being most efficiently made. With that, I also am, I would be open to exploring the idea of lighting without making any sort of commitment at this time.

[01:33:16] I find that, like some of my colleagues, I'm also a little bit hesitant. I also uniquely live in a community that does not support lighting, and that's a countryside thing, right? We don't have streetlights, and so that's not necessarily – it would probably take changing our governing documents to participate.

[01:33:40] So I don't know. I mean, I think it would be interesting for you to see if there are other similar situations as well. i am incredibly in support of the accelerated expedited plan on the bathrooms especially given the feedback that we've had around the projects that have been completed for me this issue is about safety and security i know it's something that i've heard directly from students that these bathrooms feel more secure and safe for use and it's it's more convenient and private of course but really when it comes down to it what we've heard from teachers and

[01:34:18] principals and staff is that these restrooms provide a better opportunity for making sure that students are safe in the hallways and it's just easier to monitor and observe and ensure that the students are doing what they're doing appropriately so I am very much in support of that and with that board members if there aren't any further comments or questions all right well thank you so much with that we will adjourn the November 5th 2026 fiscal year

[01:34:52] 2028 to fiscal year 2033 capital budget public hearing and work session this meeting is now adjourned thank you and have a lovely evening

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