Coraggio Consulting
Prince William County School Board Work Session - January 15, 2025 - Capital Improvement Program, Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Place: Prince William County School Board, Virginia
Length: 1h 57m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtxSw5Fp1uA
Official School Board page (PWCS): https://www.pwcs.edu/about/school_board/

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 2026-10-30. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:00:00] William County School Board to order. We have an approval of the agenda. A motion is in order for the approval of the meeting agenda. Mr. Blake. I move that the Prince William County School Board approve the meeting agenda as recommended. Do you have a second? Mr. Chairman. And Mrs. Zargarpur.

[00:00:17] I second. Any discussion? All in favor, please raise your hand. Okay. Any opposed? Unanimous for moving forward. Moving on to our proposed CIP, I'd like to turn it over to Dr. McDade. Dr. McDade.

[00:00:32] day's not ready all right good evening Dr. Lateef as you know the capital improvement program our CIP is our management tool for planning the projects needed to house our students can you hear me our annual review of the CIP enables the division to address changing enrollment patterns and utilize our facilities in ways consistent with sound educational practice and so our CIP provides essentially a blueprint for new construction for renovations and specific projects in response to our student body our CIP is also reflective

[00:01:06] of the vision mission and values and commitments in our pwcs 2025 strategic plan and specifically there are two commitments in our strategic plan that we believe undergird the continuous improvement program every year the first one being commitment number two positive climate and culture where we lay the foundation for welcoming environments conducive to learning and building up responsible and sustainable facilities the second one being commitment four organizational coherence that's where we ensure that our strategic priorities are driving our investments towards addressing

[00:01:42] growth funding renovation projects to existing facilities and focusing on advancing sustainability goals so i do have members of my team from the chief operating office beginning with our chief operating officer mr vernon bach is here as well as chief financial officer mr shaquille youssef they work collaboratively and hand-in-hand with the development of the capital improvement plan and so they'll be presenting our proposed capital improvement program for fiscal year 26 uh 2030 and we also have members of their team here as well that'll be sharing basically our

[00:02:22] content experts will be here to share any additional information as a component of the presentation so i'm going to hand it over now to mr bach and mr youssef thank you dr mcdade and good evening uh chairman latef board members and dr mcdade a few things i'd like to highlight before we jump into the presentation and and we do have several members here from our teams to support this has truly been a collaborative effort and it's been very exciting collaborative effort that started about three months ago and there's a lot of people that supported this effort that are not in the room with us today so

[00:02:58] i think the collaboration between the chief operating officers department and facilities with our counterparts and budget has been very exciting and even more formalized through this process this is the first time that our cip will contain the full cadre of the facilities condition assessment so each score each school has been assigned a facilities condition index score and just a reminder that that was accomplished we entered into a partnership with mosley architects to evaluate our buildings and those facilities condition assessments really did look at a deep

[00:03:38] dive into the infrastructure of the building and the bones and the mechanicals of the building and provide a rating score for that also information that we used that we had at our fingertips and again this is a very data-rich process is through our energy management sustainability team investment grade audit information on our hvac systems also contained within the evaluation was an educational space evaluation and our space is up to part of current educational standards and finally we part

[00:04:13] utilized our all of our energy management and sustainability measures in providing to you what we have here in our CIP so I'm going to turn it over to Shaquille to add additional information and then we'll kick off the presentation good evening Dr. Lateef board members and Dr. McDade I think this collaborative effort has allowed us to meticulously develop and base our CIP on the facility condition assessment priority that gives us a lot of assurance that we're looking at

[00:04:49] things objectively. We have also incorporated the external consultants to provide valuable input into our cost estimates. And as this flows into how we look at our bond issuance and our funding sources, we've done our best to optimize the use of bond funding, at the same time balancing it with other resources, including cash. At this time, I would just like to acknowledge the budget and finance team that is here in addition to I think you will

[00:05:23] recognize yours Joe Mandaro who's our director of budget Kathleen Addison who's our assistant director of budget Dave Beavers who's our budget and planning supervisor and Ed Ross who manages our debt service and from our facilities team at the table with us we have Scott Halsey one of our administrative coordinators in our facilities planning department and we have jessica wymer supervisor of energy management and sustainability and back with us we have vance sammyer supervisor

[00:05:57] of construction matt cartilage supervisor of planning and cip and assam aljabar who's our acting director of facilities so with that i'm going to turn it over to uh mr halsey thank you mr bach uh good evening dr latif members of the board and dr mcdade tonight we're going to go over the student enrollment trends first and then move into the approved and proposed capital improvement programs with new construction additions renovation and maintenance and then lastly we'll talk about the impacts it does have on our budget so first we want to talk about what is happening with

[00:06:35] population in princewoman county we are seeing declining birth rates and this data is from the virginia department of health we receive their data and we geocode where these births are happening inside Prince William County Schools and we're seeing that roughly this past year 5,761 births from September to or October 1st to September 30th occurred in the county so with that being said we're seeing a big drop in births and you can see that declining trend in birth rates along with that we have domestic migration international migration and just the natural cause of births

[00:07:13] and deaths. Domestic migration is still impacting. We're losing roughly 4,000 people in Prince William County and international migration has decreased over the last couple years too since the pandemic. This past year our K through 12 enrollment was 88,651 and we were roughly only 0.75 percentage point off of our projection. The new industry standard is roughly two to three percent so we we were well within that with our new projection model, which we were very proud of.

[00:07:47] Next, we have our population pyramid. As you can see, it goes from kindergarten at the very bottom to 12th grade at the very top. The 12th grade cohort is extremely large in comparison to the new kindergarten cohort this year. Roughly a 1600 student delta in the 12th grade to the kindergarten cohort, which is going to make a drop in our projection next year based off these students matriculating through first second and third grade so that is something we're seeing where declining enrollment is going to be happening based off these lower birth rates and what we're seeing with the population in Prince William

[00:08:26] County next another component of generating new students is new housing construction trends this year we reconstructed our model from a top-down approach which means we would take roughly how many units we thought we would build in the county and then divvy them out within the county to a bottom-up approach.

[00:08:49] This is letting our developments generate their own build rates. So if they have received their site development permit, they would have build rates established if they had been building within the last couple years, and we would take an average of those three years to determine exactly what those build rates could be with single-family detached, single-family attached, and multifamily homes. If they had not had an established build rate, we would take a county-wide average build rate to determine what the build rate could be. You can see in years three and four in the out years, we see a big increase in projected new residential development. This is where we start

[00:09:28] building in our rezoning submitted applications. These are the ones farther out in the process, but we do have more of them in queue this is a lot of the area of the noakesville area of where the rural crescent is starting to go away and they're starting to build more and more of that of new residential development next is our historical and projected enrollment over the next couple years we are seeing a decrease of roughly 1,200 students from 2024 to 2025

[00:10:02] overall we're seeing a decrease of 3,776 over the five-year period and you do see a slight increase in the fifth year and that slight increase is from birth rates we currently only have four years of actual birth rates that we have plotted on of actual births that we can track the fifth year is a projection because those students are not all born yet so we use our county demographer and we use his model to project exactly how many births that could occur in that fifth year and his average is slightly higher than what

[00:10:42] we're actually seeing in Prince William County next we break it down by school level with elementary middle school we have five years of projection data at high school we have seven years of projection at high school we have seven years of projection data because these are students that are already within our system and we're able to continue to progress these students through again at the elementary school level in year five we are seeing a slight uptick in enrollment based off the birth rates that are a little bit higher from the county's demographers model at the middle

[00:11:18] school level we are seeing declining enrollment over the next five year period next is our other category this includes independence non-traditional school paced west pre-k programs within our county last year we were seeing a big uprise in this other enrollment and this year we teamed up with the different departments to help them with the projections and use birth rates at the preschool level and now we're seeing more stabilizing enrollment in the other categories next we're going to start getting into our proposed and approved capital improvements for this coming year

[00:11:57] our new constructions we do not have any changes but we do have ocaquan elementary school woodbridge area school potomac shores number two and the 14th high school for additions we have pennington traditional school washington reed preschool center the noakesville school and we're looking to propose more stellar middle school and dale city elementary school for forthcoming renovations we're looking at brinsville transportation center potomac transportation center grand park vaughn elementary school fred lynn middle school woodbridge middle school brinsville high school and adding dale city

[00:12:34] elementary school now we'll get into detail of the projects one by one first we have the occoquan replacement school this is going to add an additional program capacity of approximately 226 seats for a total capacity of 719. as this is a replacement school you're not going to see the full effect of a 719 it's just the additional classrooms what are being added at that school the schedule opening date is december 2025 so with that being said opening mid-year the students after the holiday break would look to move into the Occoquan replacement school as a mid-year

[00:13:14] change the overcrowding relief is only intended for Occoquan elementary school at this time we do see that it would have some additional capacity but it will be adding additional programs like early childhood special education other autism programs where these students have been going to other schools because the school could just not accommodate these in-boundary students next is the woodbridge area elementary school the anticipated opening program capacity

[00:13:47] is approximately 632 the school has been delayed until the 26-27 school year and schools within the cardinal and neapsco mills district northern route 1 areas are intended to receive the overcrowding relief from the opening of the woodbridge area school again with these schools in this area some of the schools that have been overcrowded will now be able to gain their early childhood special education programs some additional autism programs for these inboundary students and be able to house those inboundary students at their schools with the opening of this school

[00:14:22] we are seeing ample space at in both the cardinal and the neapsco mills area and it should be good for the future years to come we did add a doomsday scenario to our model this year and that's if all residential development was built out within the county and with belmont area they do have a small area plan in that area which could generate a lot of potential residential development and if that were to build out it would then start filling up those additional seats that we are seeing in that

[00:14:54] area next we have potomac shores number two last year the capacity increased from 750 to 1050 seats we are seeing that that was a good move in the cip last year as potomac shores community is continued to be built out we are seeing in our five-year outlook that it would be that area would be close to 90 of capacity utilization and if they continue to build out which we do suspect that they will they would be at approximately 95 of capacity utilization for this region

[00:15:32] the school is scheduled to open in the 27 28 school year and this is intended to help the schools within the cherry hill region of the with the elementary schools with overcrowding relief next we have our 14th high school an overview and consideration the approved capacity last year was 1400 seats the scheduled opening is still the 29 30 school year the schools intended to receive the overcrowding relief are colgan forest park and freedom and it may include a

[00:16:10] robotics aquatic drone lab school-based clinic we do have a community engagement session starting in february and the public will be able to give feedback of what possible specialty programs they would like to see in the 14th high school so some considerations that we're looking at transfer rates are contributing to overcrowding at many schools in the area osborne park is a prime example where their residing population roughly has 1400 students and we see roughly 33 of a net transfer rate transfer in so there's 33 more students transferring into osborne park than are transferring

[00:16:49] out so we could consider with specialty programs of maybe possibly putting like another biotech program or other specialty program which could accommodate these students on the eastern side of the county and keep them in that area instead of them all moving to the biotech program or the the nursing program at Osborne Park. So that could be another possible solution. Approximately 625 students transfer from the east side of the county to Osborne Park. As we look at the projections for the 14th high school, we anticipate with the opening of the 14th high school seven schools

[00:17:25] to be impacted by redistricting. They are highlighted in the red box with Colgan, Hilton, Forest Park, Woodbridge, Garfield, Freedom, and Potomac. The number of seats available in the 29-30 school year is approximately 2,262 seats with the opening of the 14th high school. So we are seeing that we'll have ample space within our high schools with the opening of the 14th high school. Next we're going to migrate into our capacity enhancements. Our first one is the

[00:18:01] Pennington Traditional School. Currently the addition is approved for an eight classroom addition. We are looking to boost that to a 10 classroom addition and it will include four general education spaces, as well as six specialty rooms, music, arts, science labs, and other needs for the school. There is a delayed opening for Pennington because with it being located within the city of Manassas, permitting was a little bit different than in Prince William County, and the timeline is a little bit longer process for us to get the proper permits to build this addition, so it will be delayed one year. Additionally, we have Washington Reed Preschool

[00:18:40] center there is no current change to washington reid we have a 15 classroom addition slated as well as a renovation this is scheduled to open in the 27 28 school year and with the renovation we're looking at a full kitchen remodeling hvac replacement ada improvements and additional parking to accommodate the staff for this 15 classroom addition next we have the noakesville school and marstellar middle school currently the noakesville school is slated for a 30 classroom

[00:19:13] addition, 20 for elementary school and 10 for middle school. The 30 classroom addition would eliminate a majority of the green space at the Noakesville school and we are currently working with the county to review the sewer capacity to see if it could accommodate this 30 classroom addition. And then we started looking at other possible scenarios for the Noakesville school.

[00:19:38] We see that in the Linton Hall region there are a lot of schools that are underutilized in that region so we were trying to think of other solutions if the 30 classroom addition would not work so we're possibly proposing to reduce the size of the Noakesville addition to a 10 classroom addition and consider building it at middle school specs but intended to use for the elementary portion of the school so if we do see that the middle school numbers are higher and it might be needed we could then move the middle school students into that addition as well that is still scheduled to open in the 27 28 school year with reducing the

[00:20:16] addition size at the Noakesville school from 30 to 10 classrooms we are looking to build a 10 classroom addition at Marsteller middle school this addition would open one year later than the Noakesville school addition and that would open in the 28 29 school year during the time the Noakesville school and Marsteller's additions are being constructed we would look at redistricting to keep the noakesville school's boundary coincident we would still keep it a k-8 coincident boundary but we would look to move students from the noakesville school into the linton hall region and look at moving students

[00:20:52] into the addition and space and more stellar middle school and possibly look at Gainesville as well as we see them as well declining in enrollment over the projected five-year period our next capacity enhancement and renovation is Dale City Elementary School according to our FCI it did indicate that Dale City was one of our schools that needed was in the highest need of a renovation I believe it was number eight on our scale Dale said he currently utilizes

[00:21:30] five portable classrooms for various purposes including art L's programs math and reading support ict robotics and small group instruction we are seeing this in a lot of the smaller capacity schools that they do not have the necessary resource space to accommodate a lot of these small group instructions and various other programs they have in the school so we're looking to add a potential eight classroom addition at dale city elementary school in addition to the renovation with new mechanical electrical and plumbing systems ada improvements and parking

[00:22:06] improvements. This is going to eliminate the needs for portable classrooms at the school and is scheduled to open outside the CIP window in 2031-32 school year. I am now going to pass it over to Ms. Jessica Wymer. Thank you so much, Scott. Good evening, Dr. Lateef, members of the school board, and Dr. McDade. Before we continue with project specifics, we wanted to share PWCS's proactive approach to high-performance buildings and how it connects with the capital improvement program.

[00:22:40] there is a related virginia code that we follow specifically called the high performance building act and the act originally specified requirements for state and local government buildings only and although it did not initially include school divisions pwcs was already moving toward more sustainable design and construction so back in june 2020 the school board passed the sustainability initiative and then followed by the subsequent policy and regulation for sustainability so with the updated requirements that were effective July of 2024 the act now references school divisions so we did anticipate these

[00:23:19] changes and proactively addressed compliance by incorporating key measures into our sustainable design principles for high-performance buildings for both new construction and major renovations which was originally published in 2022 And so even before that, we had been designing for LEED certification standards even before the ACTS update.

[00:23:42] So just to highlight some of the sustainability aspects of our new construction that do align with this code, we design for EV-ready charging capacity and pre-wiring. We ensure our systems are measured through energy metering, and we incorporate on-site renewable energy when and where possible specifically with solar of or photovoltaic or as we call it PV arrays and solar PV will be essential as we look into the future and we'll talk about it a little bit later in the presentation but by expanding our use of solar in both

[00:24:17] new and existing infrastructure we are preparing for some inevitable increases in regional energy demands and costs so pertaining to the codes requirements we are working to better understand the impacts to the school division so by leveraging collaborations with both internal and external resources and stakeholders we should be able to accomplish that and considering all of these factors we are affirming our commitment to both sustainability and high performance buildings which as dr mcdade noted earlier is outlined in commitment to of the

[00:24:51] strategic plan so this commitment supports our school buildings being good models for both environmental and fiscal stewardship and that is evident throughout our capital improvement program so at this time i'd like to turn it over to mr david beavers who will walk us through the next portion of the presentation super thank you jessica uh good evening chairman latif members of the school ward and dr mcdade my name is dave beavers i'm with the budget department and we're going to to talk about my favorite subject money as our CFO is noted everything costs

[00:25:27] money here's where we see how the rubber hits the road this table shows us the changes from last year's CIP to this year's proposed CIP in the category of new facilities and additions we have several significant cost estimate changes that are detailed here to reflect input from our professional estimating firm, Downey & Scott, so we've relied on those external consultants.

[00:25:54] Note that here the project total changes differ from the CIP amounts shown in the table because the CIP amount changes from year to year as the funding progresses through time. Numbers will drop out of the CIP timeframe as we spend that money, so those aren't shown in the CIP amounts after that.

[00:26:16] We see significant cost increases for Pennington Traditionals addition of $20.3 million and Washington Reed's Pre-K addition at $13.9 million. We have new projects at Marsteller Middle School and Dale City Elementary School as discussed by Mr. Halsey.

[00:26:33] Please note that Dale City's facility condition index of 21.81 is the eighth most significant in the division. So we're correctly targeting those facilities with the greatest levels of repair needs for renovation also note that occoquan elementary school's pre-k center which we had previously proposed is being deferred and that'll decrease the overall cip cost by 14.3 million as far as project timing changes go we see woodbridge area elementary school moved from 2026 moved to 2026

[00:27:10] and pennington traditional school moved to 2027. this table compares last year's cip for renovations to this year's proposed cip we've incorporated cost adjustments at several schools to better address all the needs at those schools we see grand park middle school the total renovation cost increases by 20.8 million dollars vaughn elementary school increases by 25.4 million and woodbridge middle school increases by 18.9 million and ludwig's pre-k renovation which was proposed previously

[00:27:49] has been deferred yielding a reduction of 18.5 million in the overall cip costs here we see the changes from last year's cip to this year's within the maintenance category we see a net increase here of 158 million which is nearly 90.2 percent highlights here include significant increase in investment in hvac by nearly 121 or almost 80 million dollars we see a significant

[00:28:25] increase in core electrical infrastructure maintenance and electronic systems and enfenestration. And we see $27.2 million increase in sustainability initiatives such as LED upgrades and solar photovoltaic installations. I said that right finally. Thank you. The overall message here is that we're increasing resources to take good care of that which we already own. By devoting considerable resources to maintenance projects we're addressing previously deferred maintenance

[00:28:59] and playing catch-up we're right-sizing the cip to ensure that we're providing equitable facility care across the division and keeping our students and staff safe comfortable and dry now focusing specifically on hvac investments within the proposed cip the maintenance team did a thorough analysis of where investments are needed they reviewed facility condition assessments for specific recommendations on hvac equipment as well as evaluating work orders that we receive

[00:29:35] by school they reviewed investment grade audits that were developed by the energy and sustainability team and they identified schools without dehumidification all these data were utilized to develop the prioritized list of hvac needs significant hvac replacements at 14 schools will total 81.875 million with an average of about six million dollars per school as with other school divisions and facility intensive industries hvac costs represent a very significant investment

[00:30:10] here we're we're detailing the seven schools shown that will receive complete hvac replacements within their renovations so those seven schools that are being renovated will receive brand new hvac systems we're also doing significant hvac replacements or improvements pardon me at the 14 schools that you see detailed on the right that'll moving our focus to sustainability

[00:30:47] in support of the school board's sustainability initiative and the strategic plan improvements are plan to include 15.5 million dollars worth of led upgrades and 14.75 million dollars worth of solar array installations at the shown school this this table details for several highlights of the cips that wouldn't be otherwise shown these improvements address critical infrastructure that must be maintained to ensure safe and comfortable learning environments for our students and teachers

[00:31:25] some of these things are expensive but they're critical and they they have to be maintained to to make sure the facilities are working and lastly to ensure equitable access to artificial turf practice fields we will be undertaking the construction of artificial turf practice fields at each of the listed high schools currently there are artificial turf practice fields at several high schools freedom patriot gainesville brentsville and colgan this project

[00:32:00] will ensure that equitable athletic facilities are provided to students across the division. The construction priority order was developed to ensure that there was a geographic balance to the availability of artificial turf practice fields.

[00:32:16] Now I'll turn it over to Shaquille to share how all this fits into the overall financial picture. Thank you, Mr. Vevers. From an overall perspective, we have increased our CIP over five years from $963 million into over $1,098,000,000 for this year's CIP plan for the next five years.

[00:32:43] This is about a $136 million increase. And as shown earlier, primarily this is mainly in maintenance and artificial track where we have put investments and their offsets under construction and renovation and facility modifications do have a small decrease.

[00:33:02] So overall, our next five-year plan calls for over a billion dollars worth of investment. So in terms of how we're funding this, as I had said in my opening remarks, that most of this is funded by bonds.

[00:33:21] We are also putting money through our general fund transfers. And for the first time, we're showing the available profit funds, which is approximately $25 million. And our understanding is that these profit funds while residing at the county do have a lot of flexibility in terms of where we can use those funds.

[00:33:47] Next slide, please. In terms of how we're going to divide up our bond sales over the next five years, you can see we've tried to keep this as uniform as possible. We are going to have increases in the next three years, and then it'll start declining for this five-year CIP.

[00:34:09] We are in the process of getting our debt service estimates, but we expect that to increase also. Finally, I just wanted to go quickly over some of the budget planning timeline for fiscal year 2026.

[00:34:27] We have preliminary state budget information. Obviously, the governor's bill is now being debated in the General Assembly, and we expect within the next few weeks to get more information as to what is coming from the final budget the county revenue information that is available is preliminary and we are basing it on their five-year plan we anticipate in the next month also to get a better idea of what where the county is going to end with their revenues today we are talking about the cip

[00:35:03] in the work session on february 5th the superintendent will submit the fy26 proposed budget to the school including the cip we have a public meeting on the 10th of february a public hearing on the 19th of february and then we go to work session on march 12 2025 with the school board and with the approval schedule for march 19 2025. the school board chairman presents the school board budget to the board of county supervisors on april 1st and the board of county

[00:35:41] supervisors approves on april 22nd 2024 that concludes our presentation and we'll open it up mr chairman dr mcdade for questions thank you shaquille thank you dr mcdade thank you team questions mr denning um do we know any data about how many kids transfer that are also involved in sports it's just a I'm curious about that number I don't know if it's I know it's a weird question

[00:36:18] but I'm just wondering like can we get that eventually I don't know if that's an easy thing to get or if it it should be we didn't run the analysis on that because you know typically when we look at space utilization it's based on enrollment and programming things like that but we can we can look and analyze and see of the specifically where you were talking about some of the schools that have high transfer in rates like the osborne park and see if it's 33 you know to one how many of those students may be athletes just yeah we can try to figure that out okay and

[00:36:55] then um i i think i've asked this before but i'm not sure i just wanted to make sure i asked it on the record but is there nothing that the city of manassas can do to help us speed that process up at all i'm gonna ask vince to come to the table and vince is our supervisor of construction to see I know he's working closely with Manassas, but Vince?

[00:37:19] Good evening, everyone. Yes and no. So one of our staff members, he's one of my administrative coordinators, has a very good relationship with them. So I'm having him do kind of behind-the-scenes work, trying to move things along.

[00:37:36] They have a lot of internal review meetings, so that's one of the big delays. So we're working, but fingers crossed. Thank you. You're welcome. On page 21, the mention of unspecified pool renovations, is there a list of any of those anywhere?

[00:38:04] Are they just kind of like? Yeah, I'm going to ask Mr. Beavers to speak to that, and I think he's addressed that in our two-by-twos. So I don't think he made mention of it here tonight, though, so I'm going to ask him to kind of review that with you. So essentially those were a placeholder that was included in the CIP last year to reserve money to show that in the long term we would meet our goal of spending about 2.4% of funds on maintaining our school

[00:38:38] facilities it's a benchmark that we like to make with the additional hundred and fifty million dollars devoted towards maintenance this year we're going to achieve that goal so we no longer need to show that placeholder and then talking about the turf practice fields. I love seeing that. My question would be, will these practice fields be available for public use or will they be fenced in? Because I know that there are

[00:39:12] different fields within the ones that already exist, some of which are public use fields that people can go on. I think they're supposed to rent them, but I guess my question would be, have we thought about that in regards to the cost? Because I know the ones that are for public use or people are using on a regular basis, we need to replace sooner than we do?

[00:39:34] That's correct. We have, I think, six, maybe seven. I believe we have seven turf fields at our middle schools where we've partnered with Parks and Rec, and we will share replacement costs for those fields with our Parks and Rec's department. Currently, as it stands, any use of our athletic fields at the high school goes through a facility's use request, and there is a fee associated with that.

[00:39:58] That is something that I appreciate you mentioning. We will take a look at the usage of those fields and potentially take a look at Brentsville and how that's being leveraged as well currently and give some consideration to that and how the public may use those or interface with those.

[00:40:14] I just want to be clear, I didn't ask for the public to be able to use those fields. I know. I just want to make sure. I'm just saying I'm curious the cost difference and the pricing as far as that and if we are making the rest of them public use fields or not. But I know it's going to come at a cost and a risk constantly.

[00:40:32] I could certainly generate some numbers from our facility's use and what we are charging for those fields and come back to the board and share that information with you. Okay. Thank you so much. Jesse. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation.

[00:40:50] On the Occoquan School, what's the status of the old building? So we were – the hope initially was that we were going to be able to leverage that as a preschool site. And upon further review and conversation with the architect, it's not feasible.

[00:41:08] The architect believes actually it would be actually cheaper for us to build a preschool from the ground up than to try to leverage and utilize the old space that would require significant improvements. So after the students move into the new site over the winter holiday, then we would begin the demolition of the old building after that.

[00:41:30] Thank you. The other question, this is sort of strange perhaps, LED lighting, tremendous cost. When I think of LED lighting at home, I buy light, put it in socket.

[00:41:46] What's the difference here? Ms. Weimer, you want to chime in? Absolutely. Thank you for the question. So we show that LEDs compared to the fluorescents save us approximately 50% in energy costs, and also they last 5 to 10 years longer.

[00:42:06] Another factor that we're showing is that we are starting to have some supply chain issues with fluorescent bulbs, and it's becoming harder to source them and stock them, and they're becoming more expensive. So we're finding that the right sizing of the cost of LEDs, so that would be the difference.

[00:42:24] So it's really the light bulbs itself? It's not rewiring or anything? There are some retrofit kits depending on the location, so there are some additional factors when we are changing out the LEDs.

[00:42:42] Okay. I'm sort of wondering because when I buy LEDs for my home, it seems like they don't last nearly as long as it's supposed to, and I don't know if I'm supposed to be rewiring, and so we're not doing a mass rewiring of the schools for the LED light.

[00:43:01] No, it's generally, as Ms. Weimer had mentioned, Sometimes it's the fitting for the lighting that's rewired. So we just went through that here at the KLC, and there's some replacements of the ballast. A lot of the old fluorescent lights use the ballast, so it's replacing those ballasts and retrofitting them to accommodate the new LED lighting.

[00:43:19] And, Mr. Jesse, what we are seeing is longer life out of the LED lighting. That's been our experience thus far, and brighter, much brighter. You know, one thing that just, because it's, I mean, it would be nice to know, and I don't know if we've done this calculation, and what we would spend on if we were just replacing the fluorescent lights anyways.

[00:43:39] So the real difference in the spend on the investment is how much more we're spending on the LED. But in the long run, the savings is what we're really looking for. 100%. Dr. Latif, we could come back to you with those numbers. Just as a thought. Ms. Williams.

[00:43:57] Thank you. I think the LED, just to piggyback on that, we started a few years ago, and it was like as we did additions, we did the replacements. But I can tell you there's a noticeable difference if you have a split building with fluorescent versus LED. the staff and the students tend to prefer the led because that was a major hiccup at rip on a while back is that one hallway was like super bright and and then it was almost like you lost lighting as you went into the older sections um so i just want to clarify from my own brain i apologize for being late because i missed this um when it used fredlin renovation i see it's now in 2028 is is that are

[00:44:31] we still starting on the same schedule that we were and it's now being the completion is being uh pushed out or i don't think i don't think vince if you want to come up to the table yeah start in the same time okay i just wanted to make sure it's just going to extend further out because i know we're not we're doing it as where the building is inhabited so i just wanted to make sure i was still understanding that and then the only other question i have now is not part of the cip and it's something that we've asked for historically is could we get an update on which buildings still do not have science labs or music rooms because i'm still going to harp on that because i know it's

[00:45:09] still it's important and a value and I know that we are working towards it so I'm not saying that we're not doing it I just don't remember where we are and if that's something that's on the facility I can never get the name of that thing right condition assessment I'm gonna master it one day if that's included in there if someone could just show me where to find that that's fine too we certainly have that information Miss Williams and we'll share that with you it was part of the educational space audit that was completed and I will say and we neglected to mention this tonight as we renovate our elementary schools that's a portion of the renovation is making sure that we're including a

[00:45:45] science lab within that renovation okay I appreciate that because I from just from my own experience a lot of my schools don't have that and so like I have a sixth grader now it's never been in a science lab and so they're like he's at Fred Lance he's very excited about the renovations going on all everybody is for having labs and and things of that so I appreciate our attention to making sure that those needs are met and I know it's taking a long time but I'd rather take a long time than not do it at all and do it right so i just appreciate um the continued work on that thank you mr jesse just to make sure i'm clear on the occoquan elementary school

[00:46:25] we're not we're going to tear down the old building but are we still going to have a pre-k facility there that's been tabled at this time mr jesse because what it's been uh deferred at this time we're continuing to study our preschool uh special education enrollment initially we thought we would need it because the uptick but those numbers are stabilizing so at this time we're continuing to watch we will have we we have Ann Ludwig in the hopper we also have a couple other sites that we're looking at as potential sites for preschool the the challenge with Occoquan as well is it is somewhat of a constrained site and we want to make sure we have as much green space

[00:47:04] there for the students and I know the principal is very very concerned this soccer field is going to still remain correct yes sir okay thank you questions oh sorry I have some questions um let me start with page three um the data for 2023 we have this data for change up for migration it's 2020 and 2022 but we're now in 2025 so my question is when do we anticipate the data from 2023

[00:47:45] 2024 being available is that how much of a lag do we get for data like that it's normally on this The site, the NOVA regional dashboard, is roughly a year lag. So we're hoping within the next couple of months that there is the whole data. 2023 update? Yes. Okay. Yeah, because I think that is so dynamic.

[00:48:02] This area especially has been really dynamic. People coming, going, and it's like, are we getting a net migration out? And, you know, the election was recently here, and that makes a difference too because we're so tied to the D.C. ecosystem. And so we know, like, we're going to have a big variability, and that will affect us, I think.

[00:48:21] So, okay. Sometime in the next bit for 2020. Okay, awesome. My second question is on page 14. The comment was consider programming to additional programming to Eastern schools so that we could alleviate the draw of everybody kind of migrating up to Osborne Park.

[00:48:43] And do we have like a timeline or a process for that? Or is there a way for board members to provide input? Or how are we going to go about doing that? And I guess maybe the question is more like the timeline in the process. it's probably too soon to tell but well I'm happy I will share the first step in that is we really want to engage with the community and we're going to start that in February around the 14th high school and specialty program around that so you'll hear an update in the very near future we anticipate starting that in February and having several stakeholder sessions to including up to and including business leaders from the community looking at workforce

[00:49:18] development data also from the eastern side of prince william county and and then through those engagement sessions we'll share that information with the instructional side of the house to potentially consider specialized programming there at the 14th high school and we did put a place order in here may include robotics we know there's been significant interest around robotics and the drone lab and both the air or the land and sea robotics so we put a placeholder in there for that but we are looking at uh as we've designed that we've already started working with the architect at the 14th high school uh making sure that we have available space there for

[00:49:55] some specialized programming to include labs uh as well okay great because i and i i'm assuming we know which one of our programs are the ones that kids really like and which ones aren't as popular anymore we do yes ma'am so i'm will the division be providing that input too not just what does the the community thing but like here's some data yeah I think we'll obviously we're working with the instructional side of the house and that's something that we've talked about of looking at those programs and how we might be able to balance that across the school division and I also suppose having conversations with higher education perhaps like what majors are popular and what are kids

[00:50:33] interested in when they get to college and how can we have programs that are dynamic and interesting to high schoolers so that they actually engage in high school and things that they're considering studying in college yes okay awesome I had a question question on page 15 when I look at the data for enrollment of high school students across the entire county it looks like I'm assuming this is an 879 kind of a light green and then we go to 200 200 2220 62 sorry can't read numbers surplus of seats

[00:51:10] countywide that's and so and I'm reading this that's with the 1400 in addition to that's beyond the 1400 so we add 1400 and then now we'll have 2262 that's available seats across the county that's correct okay that and that's like the size of our almost our biggest high school that's the equivalent of an entirely new high school it's of availability our largest high schools are around 2800 students so it's a little bit smaller than that but it's equivalent to a smaller high school yes okay so i guess i mean it's still a ways out but we'll have to see what that data looks like

[00:51:47] for 2023 2024 maybe even 2025 because we know this is like a rolling plan okay i'm just concerned that that's a lot of excess seats um obviously in the east end we we have a great need for seats especially at colgan which isn't really east it's central but uh in the west we're having the opposite problem and it's hard it's hard when you start having like a vacancy of 829 seats to run all the great programs that families want you start coming to cut classes cut programs and cut sports teams and things like that because you just can't field you know you don't have enough

[00:52:24] you don't have enough students to field it so I'm concerned about this like this data gives me caution so I guess that's just a comment not a question um uh question or my can I keep going yeah okay um i have another question um this is uh-oh i didn't put what page facility condition index it was related to what ms williams was mentioning um the facility condition index you mentioned dale city was number eight on the scale which is quite high because we have 100 schools yeah um but i don't remember maybe this is published do we is this a published document

[00:53:02] on our website or i don't know if i've seen this i don't believe we've published it on our website yet okay I think I know where you're going with your question though because that was number eight the actually if you look at the projects that we have for HVAC and that was on page I'm trying to find that page real quick here so if you look on page 24 miss wall yeah all of those schools that are getting HVAC replacements as part of a renovation those schools are our highest schools they're in our top they are so when you heard that Dale City was eight then you see the other top in in here okay and i'm assuming the hvac is a is a significant contributor to the

[00:53:39] fact that those schools are high on that list it would be a very large contributor yes ma'am and we're talking about like humidity issues mold issues yes that kind of stuff okay awesome thank you that's good clarification on page 19 um the comment was we're preparing for inevitable cost increases such as energy demands energy demands and costs and i was wondering why we were thinking that and is this like because of all the construction of data centers that we're doing are we anticipating a high amount of is this a supply and demand problem that we're going to have Ms. Wall here's why we wanted to put this in there and call this to your attention we we have a pretty good idea of what the new legislation is calling for from the

[00:54:18] July 1st 2024 but we're still trying to understand that to the best of our ability and there could be some cost that we may incur to meet that new legislation so Jess and the team We're really working very closely with folks to try to best understand the full impact of that on us as a school division.

[00:54:37] Okay, so the estimated increase in cost is related to the new law and the demands of the new law. And we just don't know what that's... We don't know what that might be at this point. Might be. Okay. I just wondered if it was... Yes, we're watching energy markets or something. My last question is page 21.

[00:54:55] Increases in costs... Okay, sorry. I think it's 21. These increase in costs from last year's CIP to this CIP, is that market pressure for labor costs, materials? Like, why are those costs going up?

[00:55:12] I think all of the above, some increase in scope as well in some of the renovations and taking a deeper dive and trying to, as best we can, promote the instructional programming that we're trying to achieve within the district and making the best use of educational spaces. Okay.

[00:55:28] So all of the above. All of the above. Because there is a lot of increase in cost, actually. as i look at this um right that's true okay thank you and light my last question is in relation to the turf field you said the priority order is going to be geographic balance did we look at conditions of fields also or is it just kind of like we'll just slowly work our way up through the county or it's a good question so here's what we're doing uh we we are going to be engaging with a consultant to come in to evaluate all of our turf fields we do have some turf fields that we we believe might be getting closer to their life expectancy.

[00:56:06] So we're going to have a third-party consultant come in. And we do annual what's called GMAX testing that measures the rebound of the turf. And that's something we measure for concussion prevention. But they don't come in and actually look at the condition of the turf. So we're engaging in a third party to come in to evaluate the turf for us, to help us better prioritize.

[00:56:25] I would anticipate next year we're going to be adding some additional turf fields into the CIP for replacement. But we'll have a better idea once that third-party consultant comes in, and then we'll get some of those fields that are at that life expectancy into the CIP. So when you say turf, you're talking about, like, turf turf, or are you talking about grass turf?

[00:56:43] I'm talking turf, artificial turf. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Because, like, these, I think these, though, are all of these grass fields that are going to be upgraded? They are going to be upgraded to artificial turf. These are grass upgraded to artificial. But we also have turf fields that we need to, okay. Yeah, I'm sorry.

[00:56:58] I didn't realize you were referring to the, I should have known. no that's okay sorry i mean both need to be evaluated yeah okay yes and so that was my question is like for instance i know my community has been very over many years complaining about their practice field and how poor it is and the schools tried to improve the grass turf and they've tried lots of different things that the counties asked them to do but it's still not a very good field and so i wondered if we had if we were taking that into consideration i'd like to see moved up if possible because apparently nobody really uses the field because they don't they hate it they don't want to break their ankles but um i understand there's lots of stuff that goes

[00:57:37] into that you said that game there's battlefield games battlefield okay okay we'll take a look at that okay great well that's good to know i know the communities really love the turf fields they think they're awesome okay um my never mind i think i'll hold my last question until everybody else gets time to ask more questions thank you for this presentation and for the information Mr. Blake. Okay, Ms. Wall, or Ms. Zargarpur, I guess you have a question.

[00:58:06] Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I have just a couple of questions. I have learned that when we have more spaces at our schools that have impervious, you know where I'm going with this, these nutrient credit things, how are the turf fields going to affect us?

[00:58:27] It'll definitely impact nutrient credits, and we'll have to pay for an offset there because, obviously, those are impervious surfaces and contribute to phosphate production into the waterways. So that is something that will have to be considered in that project. Fun. I love learning new things.

[00:58:43] All right. So to sort of circle back to something Mr. Jenick said about will the public have access to these, I have had people reach out to me about use of our tracks. And I know that Colgan and Forest Park are the two that are available.

[00:59:01] Are any of these going to have a track? These are strictly turf practice fields. All right, so just putting their voices out there that I'm sure they don't all want to come to the mid-county area. But that is something that I know some people across the county are interested in.

[00:59:18] They take their kids out in strollers. have some some of their kids are special needs and they need a nice surface to be able to go and do those exercises that's something that some community members have brought up and then the other thing I was curious about just with HVAC because ever since the pandemic and I work in a in a classroom that's got 50 years of dirt and dust in the in the rafters when we're doing these renovations with HVAC are we it's not the duct work it's just the HVAC system it could when we do a major overall could be both so it would be is there an opportunity to sort of make sure that

[00:59:55] we're getting um uh i don't know if these things are effective but when i went to vsba there were people who were trying to sell us the the the lights and things like that is there going to be anything that's making like filtration systems for to make the air a little bit more healthy for the people who are inside these buildings all day we we use some of the highest grade filters that are out there on our HVAC systems to take out as much particulate matter in the air as we can.

[01:00:25] And that really came about as COVID. So I feel like we're in good shape with the filters. We're using the highest quality that we can in our systems. MIRV 13s and all that good stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are they MIRV? Or something else. Are they 13s, Vince? They're MIRV.

[01:00:41] I think some are 13 and some are still 8. Yeah, well, I mean, I know the mechanical systems have to be able to handle that too. Correct size for the filter. all right and then the other thing I just was curious about and it was on page 15 when we're talking about the 14th high school and we're talking there's the red box with all of the the schools that could be affected Hilton isn't it they're under capacity so are we also talking about shifting some kids into Hilton as well so who do I direct this one to yeah so yeah so when we opened the 14th high school obviously areas where the school is located in the Woodbridge

[01:01:20] region you have woodbridge freedom and garfield who could be directly impacted by the school but then you have that tertiary effect to backfill some of those other schools and we could see maybe using hilton for possibly overcrowding with colgan or using woodbridge then to help uh after they their enrollment declines based off moving into the new 14th high school for colgan students to to woodbridge so it's like a trickle-down effect is that domino effect the cascading effect that could occur um and that's why we include hilton because they're in that region yeah um and they've

[01:01:57] been recently renovated it's beautiful school you should go see it right mr blake all right thank you that's all mr blake and then miss williams okay um i got a question about page 15 i was the red box is when when we redistrict for the 14th high school will we be redistricting for will it impact all the high schools or will it just impact the high schools on each side of the county because why is that that red box I mean that we're just going to redistrict like is it just hitting those schools or are we gonna district all the high schools currently the scope what we're looking at is the seven high

[01:02:36] schools but according to the regulation if the board has an appetite to look at redistricting countywide that is something that we can definitely look at with opening up the 14th high school miss Williams thank you since we're already on this topic when we say I think you said there's 2,000 262 available seats I just want to make sure that the public understands that that seats but we haven't finished our high school capacity program capacity so that number may actually change once because I know where we've all we've done like step one

[01:03:16] I like to think of a step one but please reframe it in a proper way if that's possible or more meaningful so whereas like middle and elementary we have our set program capacity we know how we're utilizing how it affects seats in the building but I think we're in the initial stages if I'm correct on the high school capacity so I just want the public to understand that that number is not set in stone it may change with respect to programming capacity and I also want the public to understand that it's countywide so it could also change by the time we're looking at that depending on who moves where and things of that nature because I think when you hear that number you're like oh my gosh we shouldn't build but it might just be a pocket over here or it might actually

[01:03:55] change once we get the program capacity set in stone so to speak and then I'm gonna say that for me personally I would love to challenge the board to do a redistricting of all the high schools at one time I know nobody likes that idea everybody hates it and I've said it privately I've never said it on the microphone but I think it's time to say it because I think is to our benefit as the school division because part of the reason we're in this situation is when we do a high school it is piecemeal by surrounding high schools and our community changes and the needs change and we keep ending up having the same

[01:04:31] result so to me I think that's the definition of not being in smart is when you do the same thing and you get the same answer and you're looking for a different answer but I know that's not my decision it's whatever whoever sitting in those seats at that time but it may be worth looking at to avoid having to band-aid issues because that's something as long as I've been on the board we've done historically but it might not be the right fit when it comes time to do the boundaries for the for the 14th high school so I think it's worth considering because nobody wins in boundaries someone's people are always upset there are always people are happy but there are also always people who are unhappy so if we're gonna go down that path I just think it might be something

[01:05:10] that the division and the board should really think about it's too early to consider that but I'm happy to take all the hand mail from the people who don't like that idea which is why I'm saying it because I think we've just gone too long without saying it and then I'm just gonna end my comments with that again I just appreciate all the hard work that's gone into this every year we continue to do I think a better and better job of getting a more accurate picture of how our division is functioning the conditions of our schools and really getting a more holistic view of how everything fits together which I do believe makes us operate better so I just wanted to take time to thank all of

[01:05:48] the staff and the superintendent and as well as the public who also provides us with their input because we can't all see everything but sitting here for 11 years I definitely think that we are in a much better position and have a much better view of how to move forward every year and that is because of the people who sit in our seats and because of all the staff so thank you this way just thank you I think you know it's likely that with program capacity there could be some adjustments there I do think we're still gonna have underutilized seats yeah mr. Wilk thank you mr. chairman mr. Bach and team thank you for

[01:06:27] the presentation quick question for clarity where I know we were it was brought to our attention and it's been brought to our attention earlier this year and in previous years long ago about the sidewalk issue at Potomac High School and it was laid out the various fit excuse me phases of what we would be doing and first was you know phase one was the crosswalk and the lines in the road where we where is that in here is that kind of under like an umbrella of things it is oh yeah no I you're good okay I didn't mean to cut you know you're

[01:07:05] good no mr. Bill Miller through our risk and safety department has been working very closely with the county and with Potomac Senior High School and we are accomplishing that in phases and that is reflected in in the cip what year i guess then would phase two then be i can get clarity on that i know he's continuing to work through it and we are committed to addressing it i i don't have that date in front of me right here i don't think but i think it's more of a because they kind of just started this i don't think we necessarily have a hard and fast date right now to give you but i think the the sentiment is in terms of funding um what needs

[01:07:44] to be done we're prepared to fund it okay so the funding's there yeah okay okay now to a more pretentious matter um following miss williams discussion about covington harbor she said rightfully let's wait till we have the cip meeting where we're expounding on a few things and we can look at some numbers and things looking at the subsidiary data that's in this packet it's uh palpable palpable excuse me to see compared to any other school and projected capacity

[01:08:19] in the elementary in the entire county again i did a cursory glance a little bit more than cursory but by all figures and i'm looking at the year before and again albeit there were some challenges and obstacles that we faced in getting acquiring the land and purchasing the land for this building By the projections here, by 26, 27, the year before Potomac Shores 2 is supposed to open, there's supposed to be 326 kids over capacity.

[01:08:52] That's more than any other elementary school. I know we were talking about Haymarket, and Haymarket's nowhere close. It is overcrowded. So even if, and I'm just doing the math, just saying 22 kids per class and do that math, That is about approximately 15 additional total trailers on that property.

[01:09:22] I guess I think it's a flagrant matter, and I don't – I know I made a move last time to have boundaries done, I guess, in a dramatic fashion, but I don't know.

[01:09:37] Maybe I need to talk to some colleagues and just see if we can ask for a presentation on some type of what are our options because this doesn't sit well with me. i don't know i i just think it's gonna ostensibly lead to concerns of people being like the safety concerns of having 15 trailers i know i know colgan's overcrowded but those are secondary kids so we have k5 primary kids with 15 trailers um in that in that area so anyways i'll leave it at

[01:10:12] that i don't really have any questions at this time but this was i felt the appropriate time to reflect on the data that has been presented to me and just put this out there because it is extremely concerning so that's all I have to say thank you thank you miss wall thank you I have a couple of additional questions my my first question is on page 15 I know the red box is the anticipated schools that

[01:10:50] will be affected but I'm curious maybe we should add I mean I would suggest that We add Osborne Park also to that because it is also very overcrowded, and it is clearly a school that students from the east do transfer into it.

[01:11:08] But it's just as – it looks like it's kind of as overcrowded – I mean, maybe not as overcrowded as Goldman. But I would think, like, I'm curious why it didn't get in the red box. But, I mean, obviously it will be affected by it. This is anticipatory.

[01:11:24] So Osborne Park is a very tricky school. They currently only have approximately 1,400 residing students, and their capacity of the school, their planning capacity, is 2,400. So they don't actually have enough students to fill that school. They rely on the transfers to fill Osborne Park.

[01:11:42] So if we were to move students away from Osborne Park, and let's say there is an attractive program at the 14th high school that these eastern end students would like to go to, It could, and if we do redistrict, it could bring Osborne Park even farther under capacity at that point in time because those transfers could go elsewhere, and then they wouldn't have that residing population to fill the school, too.

[01:12:05] Okay, that makes, that elucidates it a little bit more. Is there, so remind me, they have the pre-governor school there, and we're building that up or standing that up. Have we already started that? Is that, that's at a different school in the east.

[01:12:22] Pre-Gov School, was it Freedom? Freedom. And when will that come on board? Because I'm assuming Pre-Gov School is one of the things that draws students to Osborne Park. It opened. Biotech is the main thing?

[01:12:38] Biotech. Okay. I mean, it's both. It's both. Yeah. But the Pre-Gov School did open this year. Okay. And we didn't. We did like a soft open, right? Yeah, we did a soft launch where we didn't. We weren't hard and fast on the boundaries of, you know, who goes to Osborne Park compared to Freedom because the announcement came at a time after families had already submitted applications.

[01:13:03] But then moving forward based on, you know, where your zone determines whether or not you get to apply to Freedom or Osborne Park. So that is going to, you know, have some kind of impact in terms of relief, not significant. To Dr. Lateef's point, you still have the bio program there, too.

[01:13:22] But it should give some relief. But, I mean, the amount of students transferring into Osborne Park is significant. So it'll take more than the pre-gov school to remedy that. So these numbers are somewhat, I mean, it depends on how many kids they allow in.

[01:13:41] It's not, I guess, right, how many are accepted into transfer, which could be curtailed if necessary, I guess is what I'm saying. Okay. And then also, I remember in past years, and maybe we'll get it at a later date, but I have a couple of schools that have, that I'm watching the attendance, whether it's dropping or growing. And so is that not a thing we get with the CIP? Do we get that with the budget?

[01:14:06] Like just the five-year projection for all of the schools? You're talking attendance or enrollment? Enrollment. Projected enrollment. Like on chart 15. Oh, it's in the back. Okay, okay. I was just looking for more information. That's where it is. Okay, great. Because, you know, we have middle school, I think, like middle schools we're doing great at, except that there's a couple of anomalies and one of them is in my district, you know, and so that can be handled in a different way, I think, than through a CIP, but I was looking for that data. So I appreciate that very much. Thank you.

[01:14:43] Mr. Jesse. I've been involved with boundaries for 12 years now. I've worked with Mr. Dr. Cartridge, whatever, Matt, for a long time.

[01:15:03] There's two boundaries issues. You have the boundaries that are made by association of the geographic area. And then you have the specialty programs. When we talk about domino effects, the domino effects biggest thing is going to be specialty programs.

[01:15:27] Because the people at Colgan High School up above McCork Building and so forth used to be in the Occoquan District. But the problem with that came when those folks wanted to go to Colgan and they were going to be jumped over.

[01:15:51] You can't legally, you're going to have issues when you have people, let's say, at Osmond Park, Kogan, and then Woodbridge, and you're going to try to jump some people from Osmond Park over the Kogan folks to get down to Woodbridge.

[01:16:09] That's going to be an issue. Now, if there are specialty programs that pull them in, that's fine. But the boundaries, geographically, you're going to have issues when you try to jump over another district and people don't like that and they took us to court and they won on that so that's one thing the one question i do have is it seems like particularly at colgan and some of the osmond park do we restrict the number of people that can enroll in the specialty programs yeah we

[01:16:49] can cap a special we can cap a program yeah because i you know to me i i think rationale we need to look at that because we do need to even out some of this stuff but uh and the specialty programs are important and i think it's one of the best thing that this county does but it's also we have to be realistic uh a thousand people at kogan i don't think a thousand people are there mainly because of the geographic there's a lot due to that because people wanted to go there and they

[01:17:27] still want to go there because it's one of the better performing schools. So that's the issue, but so forth. Question for Occoquan Elementary School again, Occoquan Elementary. Last summer, last spring summer, I think we had some pretty significant issues with the HVAC system during the hot weather. And I know we got a new school coming, so we can't put a heck of a lot of money,

[01:17:57] but are we prepared for the potential of the HVAC not being working well before December of next year? We are, and we're doing everything we can to make sure that system is continually up and running.

[01:18:17] Mr. Jesse, we do have potentially, if we'd have a system failure, and we do have this from time to time across the division, We'll put spot coolers in place in classrooms to ensure the temperatures are remaining at manageable levels. And then the challenge we're facing with some of our older equipment is finding replacement parts and some of the back orders and backlogs and getting some of those replacement parts in.

[01:18:42] So those spot coolers do help us bridge that gap sometimes, but we are prepared to get through this spring. You know, I know it's just the fact that we got this old school, and we got the spring coming up, and we got the next fall coming up, and it was hot, and they had issues last year.

[01:19:03] So just hopefully we can get them, hey, hang on there, besides having to be in the room. The other question, I think anticipation. In next month, with the tariffs and other potential issues, economic projections are the costs are going to start skyrocketing. And so much of this projected cost, more than likely, might change significantly.

[01:19:40] So we had some discussion on tariffs and potential tariffs. In terms of how it manifests itself into some of our hardware that we use in construction, there's still a lot of speculation there.

[01:20:04] There is also an existing inventory of things that we have that we could look at. It's hard because you don't want to go ahead and just start buying things right now understanding how the federal government is going to forward this program of charging tariffs so it depends on sources of where we get our materials and supplies from but I do understand that there is an impact at this point we do not know what that impact is miss Williams thank you I have two questions

[01:20:44] not to be answered now if you could just give me an update with the Woodbridge middle school renovation if it's gonna have a loading dock unless you know the answer right now. What Bridge Middle School? If they're going to get a loading dock with the renovations, because that's the one thing they don't have. We'll come back to you on that. Yeah, because that's why I say you don't have to answer it right now, because it's kind of like one-offs.

[01:21:04] And then secondly, I'm not asking for this. I just know that someone has already done this somewhere, or else it wouldn't be in here. The difference between why we would do a renovation at Fredland versus a redo. So I'm sure that was already a factor in how we got to this equation, but if you could just for my own education sort of fill me in at an at a later date um that that's all i'm asking and then third from the pandemic i i think we learned a lot of lessons about like when we should buy things ahead of time or not in-house supply chains so again you don't have to answer this now but maybe it would be helpful for the board's understanding if we could have a

[01:21:40] little insight on you know not the nitty-gritty finite details of like how you arrive at that decision but just some sort of um what the plan is and if it's an emergency thing how you would go about reaching out to us and as you're watching the changes go on the federal government because it's not quite the same issue as the pandemic right like when we had to emergency rush by the laptops but I think it would be helpful information for us as board members when we go to interact with the community to provide reassurance to say oh this is the basic way that we would come to the board in emergency if we knew that like the connectors and the light are going to be under

[01:22:17] tariffs and we have just so that we can also articulate when people ask us questions and kind take the weight off of you I think that's kind of what Mr. Jesse was hinting at as well sure so we can share the work the the load if you would be happy to do that thank you I just want to mention Ms. Williams we do have parts departments in our facilities department so we do keep those on hand in in quite a bit of quantity those things that are routine things that break and that we have to replace and Shaquille and supply services we have some items as well that we keep a nice stock of but certainly be able to come back to you on the fred lynn uh question and is in the woodbridge loading dock as well thank you i appreciate that because i know we have all this construction going

[01:22:56] on so there's things that we don't order we don't use until we get to a certain part and so again like for me i always like when you get those rent it's just helpful if i can say something instead of going hold on let me just go back and bother them while they're in if i have something and then if they need more refinement or there's more information needed then then we can proceed with you but i feel like that's part of our responsibility as well okay thank you will do mr denick um excuse my ignorance i did not read through this whole thing and there's a lot of numbers and there's colors is there is there a color guide chart at the beginning that i missed

[01:23:33] no so like when when there's green yellow red i just assume red means we're in the negative simple things like that okay correct with the numbers on the bottom line it that's what it means um is there a column on this that states i know colgan has the specialty program like Mr. Jesse stated, but is there a column that states, this is how many kids from the specialty program are within that number? Like Brentsville High School, for instance, says negative 153 by 2930. Do we have a projection of how many kids are going to be in that specialty program?

[01:24:07] So we can't project how many will be in the specialty program in the out years, but we can get, disaggregate the data to show, for example, at Colgan of the 1,000 whatever excess, how many of those students are actually in the specialty program we get that we should be able to get that I think that would be helpful to possibly dispel the rumor that all of those kids are part of that program they're not we know that for sure so I mean we've got you got boundaries that have contributed to I needed that to be said out loud okay um but also can I there is a capacity am I

[01:24:42] incorrect in saying this there is a capacity to the specialty programs at each school yes correct because kids do not get into the program all the time it's not an unlimited number of seats thank you I just wanted to also make that clear because I thought that that was true um in looking at these numbers and the negatives and things like that and and all of us talking about um you know what could be solved with redistricting um I know it's not a popular thing to say but knowing what's coming in my district and I've talked about it for a long time now um again we just hit 6,000 homes again like we go down we come back up like you're saying

[01:25:18] it's not always approved and this is not approved homes but in the pipeline we're at 6,000 and the only reason we go up and down is because there's conversations being had about space and townhomes and you know different models and blah blah blah blah blah but but we have a lot coming into our district and I firmly believe that a redistricting would help solve that problem in the interim that we're going to face and I know that possibly that's not till 2930 but if we don't start to initiate that now then it would be what how many how many years does it take to do that can I get

[01:25:54] being new here does it take so for redistricting our new policy depending on how many students are affected it could be implemented the very next year depending on when it does start so if we were to start in November it could be implemented the next year obviously we can make grandfather clauses if the board would like on different students being staying at their currently based school or what have you but it could be done within the year or there could be a phased implementation approach to I'm not talking about like school by school I'm saying what if we did a county-wide redistricting how long does that take that we would have to look at it's something we

[01:26:29] have not done right so it would be it would be years though per se it could take years right so in order for it to be done in 2930 I'm gonna ask Matt I'm gonna have Matt respond yeah could I just tag on hers too could you differentiate when you talk about that as projects that are approved versus unapproved and how that factors into yeah I wasn't asking about that I was just asking how long the process takes. Yeah, so we'll take it in two parts. The first part with the residential development. I'm Dr. Cartlidge. It's great to be back, everyone. Happy New Year.

[01:27:05] Thanks to my team for getting us to where we are today with this conversation. So with the feedback that we heard last year from Mr. Dinnick and counterparts related to how the projection model was incorporating future students from new construction, there were some concerns there.

[01:27:24] And so what we did this year was we redesigned that element to fold in students coming from future construction based on the bottom-up approach like Mr. Halsey mentioned earlier. So we're really letting the construction rates at these various communities being built throughout the county guide how quickly they build in our model.

[01:27:45] That's fundamentally different from the way it was done previously where, okay, there were 1,500 houses built this year. So we're going to use $1,500 for the next 10 years in projections. And we'll just allocate those $1,500 wherever throughout the county.

[01:28:03] So it's a more data-rich way to do this. Now, there are some assumptions in there, right? So we worked with the planning department over at Prince William County Government, and we said, this is kind of what we think the typical timeline is for a typical development when it's at this stage in the pipeline.

[01:28:22] What do you think? Does that sound about right to you? So we incorporated their feedback, and based on where these developments are in the pipeline, they might start building next year, two years out, three years out, four years out. That's why when we saw the graphic earlier, you did see an uptick in how many units are anticipated to be constructed in like the fourth year.

[01:28:43] A lot of those are the ones that Mr. Nick mentioned do not have rezoning in place, but they could by then, and they could start yielding students four years from now. It's a bit of a bathtub analogy situation.

[01:29:00] The drains open, that's our declining birth rates, taps on, that's our new housing construction. Who wins out is any data scientist guess right now, because a lot can change between now and five years from now.

[01:29:17] But what we can say is historically these have been the progression rates that we've observed with data. These are the student yield rates that we've observed. And if those developments begin building four years from now, yielding students at the rates we've observed, this is the best practices projection for students.

[01:29:39] Right. Now, the other fun question, redistricting countywide, would that take years and years to do? If you wanted to, it could. It doesn't necessarily have to. So with Dr. McDade's support, we were able to bring in a great consulting firm this last year who worked with each of you to redesign the redistricting process and policy that you will enforce here. So with the extended community engagement opportunities, you know, this is big.

[01:30:14] We're doing it countywide. We would have many community meetings. They would be probably in person. They'd probably be virtual, a combination of the two. They would need to be stretched throughout the whole county because this impacts everyone. I would say it would probably take at least six months to do that at a minimum. And then the question is, well, when do you begin implementing these? How do you begin implementing these? Those are all things through community engagement, Dr. McDade's guidance. We could sort through. Yeah. I mean, the part of why I asked is

[01:30:50] in the public, I'm getting a lot of questions because there are people that are dealing with the overcrowding currently you know Mr. Wilk talks about Covington Harper I have the Noakesville school I have Haymarket Elementary I have some that are right on the cusp of it and those parents will come to me in public and say can you just redistrict our school and I think there's this conception that it's quick and it's easy and it's snappy and that certain people will just get to stay where they are because they can see the school from their front yard that may not be

[01:31:28] what turns out from that process and I wanted to say that and then also can you expound on that a little bit yes so if you'd be taking a snapshot in time and trying to best optimize the attendance areas based on a variety of elements that are out outlined in our new regulation you have the facility optimization you have the demographics and student enrollment you have walk ability closeness proximity school neighborhoods that's going to be as good of a process and result as you can have for that moment, knowing that all those elements will change

[01:32:06] moving forward. So it's a great optimization at that point in time, but things could change. I think it was mentioned earlier with Osborne Park, the school's attendance area has not enough students in order to really provide that school with the programmatic offerings that it has been accustomed to over the years. And so student transfers are augmenting that school's enrollment to stay afloat. I bring that up because if the board provided great attendance areas for all

[01:32:44] the high schools, if there isn't also an investigation and consideration for the policy or regulation 721-2, which governs high school transfers, a lot of your work could be undone through transfers. So my team can gladly assist with saying this is the optimal attendance area based on resident students. However when you start allowing students to flow through with

[01:33:15] intra-district transfers that work can be undone. Thank you Matt. I really appreciate it. Lisa. So stay there. Well so so that this brings up an interesting point though with Osborne Park's territory and it's always been like that I did graduate from Osborne Park and at that time we didn't have as many schools of course and people came from a long distance to go there and it's still the same and and being the school board member for there I don't get complaints because people want to be there for those programs right same thing for Colgan I don't get complaints I get

[01:33:53] I get I get concerns where people are like my kids gonna be there next year I'm worried because it's very overcrowded and then I hear nothing because people want to be at those schools our schools are good we have excellent schools here our elementary schools I know Covington Harper is packed I also know there's some great staff there right so our kids are getting a good education everywhere that is really Dr. McDade's trying to make sure that piece works as well so all of these are sort of like this you know this web of puzzle pieces of things that have to sort of fit together and they're not easy

[01:34:28] conversations right but and then the other thing about Osborne Park is that the people who live in my territory is actually very small compared to probably many other board members so it it makes it these these these can be very challenging conversations I know that somebody came and talked to us about a veterinary program I've had people at OP ask me about a veterinary program but maybe that's not the school to put it in because we need that kind of draw someplace else so I think these are really big they're very important considerations and we want to make sure that every school is a school you want

[01:35:06] to put your kid in that's the bottom line so miss wall I want to commend the bathroom at the bathtub analogy I really like that that's awesome very visual you can under I can really understand that and I know that Colgan for instance just to add to this conversation, since we're on this topic, Colgan has more students in its attendance area than it can accommodate. Plus it has the only fine and performing arts program in the county, which is very popular. So, you know, things like that, I mean, make it a lot of water

[01:35:42] going into the bathtub. And then not as many, not as many students not wanting to go, or out transfers, I guess. But I think what might be beneficial for the board, I'm going to propose that maybe we do this at a future board meeting would be a discussion about our specialty programs, the numbers, how many kids transfer in and out, what the programs are, maybe we could give it a popularity index or something like that, like where we have programs that are replicated and what are our programs that are the most popular

[01:36:16] and what would be easily replicated in another area based on the school buildings themselves because I do know that buildings need to be suited for whatever specialty program it is, that might be helpful in connection to our understanding of all of our enrollment issues because it's a very complex problem.

[01:36:40] And as I alluded to earlier, we don't even know for sure what our area, this area has traditionally grown, the D.C. area, the federal government, et cetera. But we don't know what's coming in the next four years for sure. We really don't. and we don't know the long-term future either so we it is definitely like like you say we don't know the rate of the water going out we don't know the rate of the water going in we can make our best projections going forward but that requires a lot of data and a lot of sophisticated analysis and it's and at the end of the day we could get we could be wrong because I do remember some of

[01:37:15] our data projecting you know 94,000 students 95,000 students and here we are looking at maybe 87 you know in five years and that who could have predicted that that we would have a pandemic and people get tired in northern Virginia you know not stop having babies whatever it is so that might be something worth looking into as a board I think and I'm going to propose that we maybe dive into that I saw maybe four years ago before Dr. McDade's time a really cool graphic where there was a program somebody to analyze the specialty to remember this and it like arrows going in and arrows going out with numbers and you might remember somebody working on that

[01:37:55] yeah you know Scott Halsey okay oh yes and it was extremely helpful there was a lot of good data but obviously that's going to need to be updated because things have changed so much but I do like that we have a lot of specialty programs and kids do really like the specialty programs I know that they are a draw and families are happy about being able to get into programs when their kids are really interested in a topic I've heard a lot of positive things from that so I do think we're moving in the right direction to keep

[01:38:22] them and maybe we improve them thank you okay my turn um a couple things to point out for everyone and if there's anyone in the audience here press there is a number of documents provided to the board this evening i should have gone over this before one is the annual comprehensive financial report the board members have the second and i think this is important to point out especially after some of the rhetoric in last night's border county supervisor meeting we do have the cherry Beckert audit from the Prince William County and page six and seven are very important those are the findings on the audit for the Prince William County

[01:39:01] schools and I'd like to read them on page six we did not identify any control deficiencies that we believe to be material weaknesses and that's the seventh year eighth year tenth year in a row we've done that and it's very important for everyone understand also corrected and uncorrected mistakes there were none noted so I think it's very important to everyone know that the Prince William County Schools, which is around a $2 billion operating budget, all in, maybe even a little bit more than that, continues to operate with strong financial sensibility,

[01:39:36] really strong controls, is part of the reason we continue to have a AAA bond rating from actually all three rating agencies, which is a triple-triple, which is very rare. I think it's important to know that, that the Prince William County Schools continues to operate in that way.

[01:39:55] Tonight's CIP is another example of what I believe is responsible fiscal management and thoughts. The least sexy items today in the CIP that you would see are the HVAC improvements. And if you take a look at those, there's 22 schools that are going to be impacted over the next five years.

[01:40:11] And I think that's really good because as we live in these really cold days and we know that the really warm days are coming up, The HVAC system is really critical to the functioning of the entire school. So 22 of these will be either replaced or renovated or significantly improved.

[01:40:28] Another less sexy item, you know, these days, I guess would be energy and sustainability. Our continued commitments in that will continue to provide long-term savings that I believe are very important for the school division to take those dollars saved and put them into things like HVAC renovations.

[01:40:48] I think it's also important to note that most of our maintenance, and I think it's a question for Mr. Youssef, most of our maintenance and renovation projects are not used, we're not using bonded money. Bonded money typically goes to new construction, is that correct? Yes, and major renovations.

[01:41:04] Yeah, so I think it's really important for everyone to know that one of the costliest things for the school division, as you take a look at the CIP, is our maintenance budget. Maintenance budget is coming from actual dollars, not borrowed monies, and so that's really important. borrowed monies are monies that we bond out that we pay back over time, but the maintenance is really expensive and that comes out of budget that really, you know, I'd love to use for expanding programs or, you know, adding teachers or more curriculum or increased salaries.

[01:41:33] So that does continue to be a big part of the capital improvement plan and I think that's important for the public to be aware of as well. I think it's important, you know, we have done since Dr. McDade's arrival, I think, a remarkable job on working through the CIP.

[01:41:52] And I think it's really important, I want to thank her and her team on their more analytical and precise ways about evaluating our CIP and looking at our enrollment projections, their financial impacts, and the final impacts on capital improvement plan.

[01:42:09] These efforts that she has put in, and the more efficient, they will allow more efficient use of taxpayer dollars with maximum impact. I also appreciate the facilities study because we are now addressing the needs of the school division on what is needed most, what is necessary, what's a true need, rather than what we used to have, which was a completely arbitrary schedule.

[01:42:32] And I think that has gone a long way to, I think the public should know, better use of their taxpayer dollars. And I think that also can help correct long-term inequities and, again, more purposeful with our resources. I think on the boundaries, I think what I would say, and I've been through a lot of these boundary meetings, and I think what everyone should remember is that, you know, while we say we'd like to redistrict the entire county, and those are those are good ideas there are ideas but but the only way to do it you you would

[01:43:08] really have to democracy is an inherently inhuman endeavor so if miss dr cartilage comes to us with this great plan for here's how we're gonna you know balance our school capacity balance are in in my primary goal frankly because all the studies show that the number one impact on student performance is mixing socioeconomic demographics not race but socioeconomic you mix rich and poor you will have better outcomes in the school for all students all boats rise there's a lot of research to support that so any boundary reboundering should take that into consideration

[01:43:46] but if you have six months worth of town halls every group in every community is going to come in here and tell us how this plan that we have will not work for them and they will not tolerate And that is, as I point out, an inherently inhuman endeavor, which will then be prone to going back to the problems that have gotten us into this place in the beginning.

[01:44:10] So one should be very careful on how we look and talk about this when we do it piecemeal by piecemeal. I will say that since Dr. McDade has come, since Dr. Cartlidge has in our improved policies, we are making some improvements. We still have a ways to go. One should also remember there are real challenges on this enrollment stuff.

[01:44:30] We are losing students. The homes are not coming as quickly, and they're not coming with as many kids as they used to be. The cost of living is really high, and I think this community has to consider that. When we're making judicious decisions with their dollars, I don't want to be the one closing schools.

[01:44:47] That is the last thing I want to do. And I'll be very clear. You know, Mr. Jesse pointed it out. Whether he intended to point it out or not, but during the Colgan redistricting, they took neighborhoods that were going to Osborne Park, jumped them over Hilton High School, and sent them to Colgan.

[01:45:06] And that is the reason Osborne Park is dramatically under-enrolled, and we had to create this specialty program, which, by the way, people should note, this is not a common thing in school divisions across the country. Specialty programs, you know, it's sort of our way of addressing school choice maybe, keep that school choice crowd happy, maybe addressing sort of, you know, let's let's let kids bounce around and move.

[01:45:32] It is a good way to conserve resources, meaning not having a computer tech program at every high school. It's probably cheaper doing it in two high schools, one on each side, and moving kids rather than hiring staff. But that is what we have here. We have all inherited a system of specialty programs that I believe really the undermining, you know, the real reason they exist is to provide, quote, school choice and to move people to maybe schools they'd rather go to, not even necessarily on the specialty items.

[01:46:03] So Osborne Park is currently almost, I mean, half, it's, you know, maybe at least over a third of transfer students. And that is because we screwed up that redistricting. And so we have to be aware of that.

[01:46:21] And everyone in the eastern part of the county should be very clear that when we come to the redistricting for the 14th high school, every single school on the eastern side of the county in the high school will be impacted. It has to be. and we're going to have to do something about the specialty programs. There is no way around it, and I think that's very important.

[01:46:39] I will tell you that since Dr. McDade arrived, what I also appreciate, which I've always had a problem with here, is that, you know, I think that this specialty idea has allowed communities to bounce around and move and taken the fire away from fixing the real problem.

[01:47:04] And the real problem is making sure all of our high schools are operating at the highest levels. Because I think we have for too long, in my opinion, this is purely the chair's opinion, ignored accountability of those high schools, especially the high school.

[01:47:21] Accountability and making sure our student performance is where it needs to be. And me, you know, I for one, you know, while I like the idea of specialty programs, I like the idea of being able to, you know, you know, these are nice. I have a real problem when we don't focus enough on making sure that our high schools are performing at the best level. They have the best principals there. They have the best staff there because we know that works. And if we're not focusing on that, that's a problem. Dr. McDade's strategic plan, launching thriving futures has gone a long way to start improving performance in that. And this is

[01:47:59] all part of the capital improvement plan, right? You know, we hear about, oh, let's build a better school, put more windows in this school. More important than the windows, more important than anything else is the quality of the teacher and the quality of the principal in that building. This school board has spent a lot of time increasing salaries, improving recruitment, improving retainment. Dr. McDade has come. She's brought more dollars to teachers in the last four years than we have in any other window in the history of the school division. And I think it's really important that we're doing everything we can to address performance. And that is the most important thing so while I recognize you know capacity issues which are really concerns to me

[01:48:39] and I have real concerns about building the new high school how that's going to impact capacity and what impacts that will have long-term and possibly closing schools I think we we need to be very aware of this work and this is really important stuff and I think the public should be we're very aware. But for anybody to walk out of this room to think that we can just rebalance and change the boundaries, and that's an easy thing to do, it is a human endeavor prone to continuous mistakes and problems that we're all going to get ourselves into. And I'm not saying

[01:49:15] we should ignore that, but I'm just warning you all, as we do this, we need to continue to do it. So we have some reboundering coming up. We have the new high school, the new schools coming. We're going to address that, but long-term, we have to think, as Ms. Wall points out, you know, what are the things we need to do?

[01:49:31] We have to look at specialty programs. Does it make sense to have one fine and performing arts program in the county? Or, as Dr. McDade has put, she is investing money, not in the CIP, and I want to remind the public, on improvements in all of our auditorium. I don't know about all the auditoriums, but a significant number of auditoriums that need the improvements are getting that funding as we speak now to do that work over this next summer.

[01:49:52] And that's a commitment to making sure our theater programs, auditorium programs, vocal, singing programs are going to be at the highest quality at each of the schools. So I want everyone to know that this board, I believe, you know, is directly committed to improving performance everywhere in all categories for everyone.

[01:50:11] We may differ on how we get there, but this is something that I do believe this board is really focused on. Our strategic plan focuses on, and I'll lead into the fact that we will now start asking the public about our next strategic plan. And that's where we need to hear from the public on what their expectations are with what we do with their money.

[01:50:29] And for how long and for where we're going to do that, it's really important. So we need engagement like we did the first time around. Even more would be even more robust would be great. I trust that the superintendent and her team will put together another strong strategic plan. And I know board members here have a lot of new ideas about what they'd like to see in that.

[01:50:48] But it takes a lot of work, time, and energy. I apologize for taking a lot of time here to speak on this. But I think, you know, I left it to be last because I really wanted to make sure that, you know, the high points, you should all know that this audit, we continue to have clean audits.

[01:51:04] We continue to be an award-winning program on our financials. You see, you know, there is money in here. It looks like we're increasing our borrowing for bond projects or primarily for the high school, right? Mr. Youssef, right, Dr. McDade? Most of the money in the upcoming years on the bond borrowing is for the construction of the high school.

[01:51:21] Yeah, I do want to, I wanted to comment on your, to kind of just note. My rambling? No, you said that, I didn't. I just want to. Tyrate? No, I want to comment on the aspect of fiscal integrity and just put a finer point on something you said around, you know, the audit and our management of funds.

[01:51:43] And I think it is important to note that in addition to the clean audits, we do have a fund balance, but that fund balance is based on dollars that are needed to cover the cost of our capital improvements. So we do have current and future construction where we have to have dollars on hand to pay those contracts.

[01:52:04] So because the money may be sitting in our fund balance, does it mean that it's just unencumbered funds that are sitting there with no purpose? So I do want Mr. Youssef to speak to that because I think that it is important for the public to know how we are using those dollars and that those dollars are a part of our capital improvement plan and we have addressed how those funds are and will be allocated.

[01:52:27] Thank you, Dr. McDade. So to put this in context, and just historically, in FY 2024, with each CIP, we develop a budget for our capital improvements or construction fund.

[01:52:45] In FY24, we had a $500 million budget. Why do we need that much money? Well, when you're building a new high school and you have to go out and ask for bids, you have to be able, and this is a state law under the Virginia Public Procurement Act, You have to have the budget appropriation and authority to be able to encumber those funds.

[01:53:06] So that's why you put all this money. The spending of that money can take two years, three years, four years, depending on the length of the project. What happened in 2024 into 2025 is we deferred the 14th high school.

[01:53:25] We still had the budget. We still retain that budget authority. We do a carryover package at the end of the year that we provide the County Board of Supervisors. But prior to that, in April of last year, when Dr. Lateef presented the school budget, we did bring this up that, hey, we're deferring the 14th high school and there will be a substantial carryover.

[01:53:51] So let's just say that the 14th high school is going to cost us $200 billion. and we had the budget authority but we did not spend it, we have to carry it over into the next year and that is what we consider a multi-year project. So that is a common practice that every other jurisdiction does. We do not take the budget and budget every fiscal year because our contractors and our builders need to know that we have the authority to do that and not

[01:54:23] weight every year. So I think it's a little bit of what I consider misinterpretation or misinformation. And secondly, understanding that there are controls that we have over how we spend.

[01:54:39] We have encumbrance controls in our financial systems, internal controls, and also all of our contracts undergo a thorough legal review. So yes, we did have a substantial carryover from 24 to 25, But there is a very, very clear reason why that happened.

[01:54:59] And those funds are all accounted for and allocated. And our auditors are well aware of these are the reasons for why we do that, correct? Yes. And so, you know, as I started out, also, you know, other items that are here is the presentation that the board received, and also important if folks want to take a look at the CIP portal and supporting analysis, which has information about enrollment.

[01:55:21] Dr. Lateef, can I ask you something before you close out real quick? This meeting is not live. I did bring this up last year when we had the same meeting, and I'm just wondering if in the future our work sessions can be live since we do allow the public to attend.

[01:55:37] I feel like it's fair to also allow them to attend virtually while we're doing it. Is that a problem, or can we do that? I'm not opposed to that. We have the capacity to do it.

[01:55:52] We do, and this has nothing to do with the statement about it being live, but I do just want to note that we record it and we do post it for the public to be able to view the full meeting, and the presentation is available to the public. But we do have the capacity to do the live version as well.

[01:56:09] We certainly can look at that. Yeah, I don't have any objection. Does any board member have any objection to that? Okay, we'll look for it. I don't have any objection, but I just wondered why traditionally it wasn't live. i'm here since it's been memory if memory serves me correctly because we did it in this room i think years ago we just didn't have the capacity to do it live and so that's why we started the recording um i could be wrong but i know we've had much better media and technology than we had originally that was like 10 years ago so we've upgraded so we can we can do it you know if it makes sense we could do it back in the boardroom i don't think there's any problem with that if that

[01:56:47] makes sense as well it just takes away from the work we're prepared um either way our team's prepared either way. I think that's all I had. And again, I want to thank everyone for all the hard work that goes into this. I think the public should take a look at this. This will be part of our budget. I want to thank everybody who's put in the time and effort on this. Is there anything else I'm missing here? Did we cover everything, Dr. McDade? Any other comments? No, I think we've covered everything that was in the plan today. Okay. At this point, if there's no objection, the meeting will be adjourned.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com