Nov 14, 2024 Work Session #1 - FY 2026-2035 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget

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[0:00] All right, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get our work session started. I'm going to call it's order. And we have Ms. Jacinta Green is joining us remotely this evening. And I do have a roll call on the agenda board members. So when I call your name, please indicate that you're present. I can order it on our way. Tim Beauty. Kelly Carmichael booth here. I've Del Ramon, El Nuby.
[0:26] There.
[0:27] Just into green.
[0:30] Here.
[0:32] For Harris, he's here, but he's down in the room momentarily.
[0:37] That team of Naseo is absent.
[0:39] Dr. Simpson-beard.
[0:42] Here in the show.
[0:42] We have seven present at the moment.
[0:46] One on the way.
[0:47] And one absent.
[0:49] All right.
[0:49] And at this time, I will turn over to you.
[0:52] Why it?
[0:53] All right.
[0:54] Thank you, Madam Chair.
[0:55] we have a full team from Dr. Hartstein this evening here with us and tonight we will just be focused
[1:03] on the FY26 portion of the 2635 Capitol Improvement Budget and I'll turn it over to Dr. Hart
[1:12] so we hope she's feeling better she is at home but we do have her amazing leaders here with us this
[1:16] evening so Dr. Hart I will toss it to you and then I'll allow you to do an intro and toss it to your team
[1:22] Thank you and good evening everyone.
[1:24] As Dr. Kay Wyatt just stated,
[1:26] we are here tonight to specifically focus on the FY26
[1:30] Capital Improvement Budget.
[1:32] I'm going to turn it over to my amazing team
[1:35] that would include Dustin Davis,
[1:37] who is the executive director of the facilities,
[1:40] as well as Sophie Humer,
[1:41] who is the director of Capital Programs
[1:43] Planning and Design.
[1:44] So, a team, please take it away.
[2:03] Great.
[2:04] Thank you, Dr. Hart.
[2:05] So tonight we're here to talk about the FY26 capital improvement, budget, and so we're going to talk tonight a little bit about what's included, what adjustments were made to the FY26 budget to accommodate some of the city guidance, as well as the textbook and technology upgrades that are proposed and that's agreed in the FY26 budget.
[2:27] So these are very familiar to the school board. These are CIP budget priorities for the next year.
[2:33] with the focus tonight. Of course, we're going to touch on text books, technology upgrades,
[2:38] building system upgrades, and a number of other projects in our FY26 budget.
[2:46] So the budget summary for FY26 is approximately $21 million. This includes
[2:51] in totality of non-capacity projects. Couple highlights are $1.5 million for the Charles
[3:01] renovations to the transportation facility, as well as some much-needed elevator
[3:06] modernizations at Charles Barrett and William Ramsey, and then a number of
[3:10] repairs and renovations throughout the school system, and alignment with our FCAA
[3:14] and our budget priorities. And then of course we have curriculum and
[3:18] instruction materials and technology funds which total about four million
[3:21] operators.
[3:25] So some of the major adjustments to the FY26 budget, the city
[3:30] requested that we shift the six million that have been planned in the Transportation Center
[3:35] to an out-ear. There are still some essential repairs needed to that building, including the roof,
[3:42] as well as some emergency repairs. The feasibility study for the Transportation Center is going to be complete in the spring.
[3:49] We wanted to include the implications and the results from our midday shuttle
[3:54] at between many Howard and King Street into that study.
[4:00] And so we will be bringing that to the school board next year.
[4:04] And then hopefully incorporate into the next CIP cycle.
[4:08] So the FY26 budget is about a 7.1 million decrease from last year's approved budgets.
[4:14] And a couple other non-capacity projects were also deferred from FY26 to accommodate the city's guidance.
[4:21] One, we did kind of in concert with RPCA, we were talking about the George Washington fields and with many Howard coming back online, there's enough capacity to kind of defer a non-essential recreation and parks and cultural activities with the city.
[4:38] So, you know, partnering with the city because we know that's a major need.
[4:43] And so that was moved into a later fiscal year.
[4:47] This is just comparing the guidance to the superintendent's proposed CIP budget.
[4:52] Some of you on the board last year will know they asked us to break it down in these year chunks.
[4:58] Years one through four years five through seven and years eight through ten.
[5:02] There are a number of critical non-capacity projects and years one through four, including HV,
[5:08] or sorry, including roof at ACHS.
[5:11] King Street, which is a significant non-capacity cost, but then in the years five through seven,
[5:17] those are also our provisional funds that we included for the K8 study.
[5:23] So overall, it's about a surplus of 51 million in the total variance from the guidance. But again,
[5:30] a lot of those are the provisional funds to accommodate the K8 analysis in the middle school.
[5:34] And we'll be talking a lot about that next week. We will have a capacity utilization
[5:37] presentation.
[5:43] So moving on to text, text books and curriculum materials, fine arts is about
[5:49] 420,000. Secondary math is 1.2 million per total 1.65 million. Again, these are the double
[5:56] adoptions, duties, and legislative acts from the VDOE in KC Hoffman. Questions?
[6:05] So technology
[6:05] modernization remains the same from last year with one notable edition, which is the least
[6:12] fiber-opted network for the city, is being migrated to a city owned municipal fiber-opted
[6:18] network, and that's going to require some upgrades to our core network.
[6:21] And I believe Dr. Hupver is here to answer your questions about that.
[6:27] So this is the overall budget summary. Again, for FY26, there are no added capacity projects.
[6:32] We are busy closing out many Howard and George Mason, and then we're looking forward to the
[6:37] next kind of critical SD needs and again we'll talk about those at our next
[6:41] website.
[6:44] So we're here at work session number one. Next week again is CIP
[6:48] work session number two and then questions are do I believe on Monday.
[6:56] What was it from our question?
[7:00] Thank you. Can we go back to slide number nine please
[7:03] with the summary? Yeah. I just wanted to as we get started. I know I've gotten
[7:10] some questions from the community about the Jefferson Houston and Patrick Henry conversions and I just wanted to reiterate a point that was made in the superintendent's presentation that no decisions have been made yet.
[7:24] That's something.
[7:30] Anything, I know, we'll be talking through as we go through our CIP budget meetings here. So just to reiterate, the decisions have been made in terms of what schools being converted.
[7:42] If a school's being converted, so we're going to continue to have some more discussion about that, and I'll just kind of kick it up with a question that I have.
[7:51] The funding is listed for those possible conversions in the years 2030 to 2032.
[8:03] I know we have talked about if we're going to make that decision doing it as a part
[8:09] of the redistricting process so presumably that funding would have to move up earlier
[8:14] and to FY26.
[8:18] Yes.
[8:19] That would definitely have to move depending on the board's decision to move forward.
[8:23] I do think it's wise that we have that discussion as we continue with our redistricting
[8:27] meetings and decisions.
[8:29] And so Dr. Hard, I don't know if you would like to speak or add anything additional
[8:33] around how we placed it there and just knowing how we were making decisions with the new guidance
[8:37] from the city.
[8:39] So I don't know if Dr. Hard or someone in person would like to respond a little bit
[8:43] that that is a placeholder and so you yeah those out years would have to shift a bit.
[8:50] So. Yes. So I will definitely turn it over to the team, but essentially I just want to reiterate.
[8:55] This is a planning planning placeholder. I should say within the CIP, we wanted to be proactive
[9:01] and ensuring that we had some funds dedicated to any potential change related to the K8. So then that way,
[9:08] as we are progressing through a 10 year iteration of the CIP, there are no surprises on either end.
[9:14] regarding our needs to be able to continue to move our capacity projects for, but so for
[9:20] destined, please feel free to jump in if I can missed anything.
[9:26] Thanks, Dr. Hart.
[9:27] Now, excuse me, I don't think you've missed anything.
[9:30] And again, we're really hoping to capture some rough order magnitude pricing as a release.
[9:34] So, some of these conversions with the thought as Dr. KY mentioned, that we would have to adjust
[9:38] into the future.
[9:40] So, we're really looking to just capture what we think is going to cost to make some of the
[9:43] proposed adjustments, and ensure that we've got placeholder there with the ability to
[9:47] to adjust in the future.
[9:51] So I'll open up to board members for questions.
[9:55] Be back.
[9:57] Okay.
[9:58] Ms. Beuse has a follow-up question.
[10:00] Yeah, and I think you, so I know we're still,
[10:03] like there's a lot of conversations happening in tandem on this.
[10:06] I'm going to try not to look away from the mic to get the note.
[10:11] But so I guess what I'm trying to understand is if this board does say,
[10:17] So let's convert Jefferson Houston or Patrick Henry to a middle school and the other school to an elementary school.
[10:24] Are we saying that that wouldn't be able to happen until these outer years or are we saying like that.
[10:30] We do this. We do part of redistricting. We're sending. We're essentially sending.
[10:34] You know students to three middle schools starting in fall of twenty twenty six, which is aligned with the redistricting plan.
[10:42] So, first is a decision of course. I think that's what we need to determine. The second thing is, yes, the time I have to move up.
[10:49] But I think Dr. Hart, do you want to speak to what that timeline would look like? Because we would have to do it in a way that we have to move different schools at different times.
[10:58] So, I think it's required for a part of the redistricting conversation, but it would be kind of like a multi-step process because we can't do an
[11:11] to happen as we go into redistricting when we're talking about drawing our boundaries.
[11:16] So, Dr. Hart?
[11:19] Yes.
[11:19] Excuse me, yes.
[11:20] So, thank you, Dr. Kay Wyatt.
[11:21] We definitely have to put thought into the timing of implementation of any decision regarding
[11:25] K8.
[11:27] I do think that we shared when it was first presented as an idea during a work session that we wanted
[11:33] to manage expectations and know that there would need to be some flexibility in the conversation
[11:38] in that years in terms of construction of these items could potentially change so I know that
[11:44] we will be bringing additional information to the second work session specifically related to the
[11:49] out years and I would like to say of course we welcome any questions tonight but I think there will be a number
[11:54] of things that we'll be able to answer next week as we get into conversations about the out years.
[12:05] I would just add to that that the and this is kind of a preview for next week but the
[12:10] years that were included in the CIP were
[12:13] factoring in a number of things.
[12:15] One school board policy on redistricting,
[12:16] we look at our boundaries every five years,
[12:19] looking at just the capital outlays
[12:21] that the city guidance has put in front of us,
[12:23] knowing that ACPS accounts for a lot of the debt service,
[12:27] and so just being mindful of that
[12:28] and reflecting that in kind of the 10 year,
[12:31] but also knowing that we have some urgent middle school
[12:33] capacity needs.
[12:35] And so these years in tandem with how we were planning
[12:38] the design, construction, or expedient, but also kind of in concert with all of that thought
[12:45] behind it. And again, the Jefferson Houston conversion, one Patrick Henry, as a larger
[12:51] school, can accommodate more elementary school students, Jefferson Houston, in terms of converting
[12:58] into middle school, maybe easier in terms of facilities need. So that's where that was coming from,
[13:05] but we'll kind of expand on those as we get into the presentation
[13:08] next week as Dr. Hartman.
[13:12] I just wanted to thank you for that.
[13:13] That was helpful because so what I'm hearing is some of it
[13:17] was related to the guidance that we received from the city
[13:19] and so trying to put that placeholder funding in years
[13:24] that would align with the city guidance.
[13:26] I think we as a board need to have a conversation
[13:29] about what our needs are for the school division.
[13:32] And then once we've settled on where we land
[13:34] with the proposed budget, then we can have that conversation with our counter parts on city council.
[13:42] I'll go on to Mr. Beaty.
[13:49] Thank you for your presentation and for the budget book from the CIP budget book from last week.
[13:56] A lot of helpful information.
[14:01] I think it's just a clarifying question.
[14:04] page 4 and in a lot of other pages. There's no line for the swing space. So we're going
[14:11] to be, you know, in the swing space for at least four years, over there on Boerigard. There's
[14:17] no line for it. Is that because, in any particular year, any CIP related activity in that space
[14:27] is related either to Mason or to Kelly depending upon which year it is or I mean it's not
[14:36] it's not in 26 because we'll have finished the reconfiguring of it this year so that part's
[14:44] done I get it but we're still going to be occupying that space for four years it's going to get plenty
[14:48] of use and I'm just wondering if there's some place here where at least even if it's a zero
[14:53] where we're considering the idea of CIP needs for that space.
[15:00] So thank you for that, Dr. Hart. Go ahead, please.
[15:03] Yes, so thank you for that question, Mr. Beatty. Once we open facilities, whether it's through
[15:09] a new modernization or through renovation, all operations and maintenance calls come out of the combined funds budget,
[15:16] I think it would be highly unlikely that we would have major capital needs in a building that we would have just renovated,
[15:22] but we do always have emergency CIP funds that are budgeted as part of our CIP,
[15:28] will see IP budget proposal every year, so I hope that answers your question is that day-to-day
[15:32] maintenance and overall maintenance will come out of the combined funds budget for that facility,
[15:37] but if there are any unplanned capital improvements or capital projects that need to be taken
[15:42] care of, that would come out of emergency fund planning that we have available every year in the
[15:47] CIP.
[15:50] Yeah, I would also add that as part of the Swingspace renovation, we included an HVAC upgrade
[15:56] as well as roof improvements, so I think the major system there, I might be the fire panel
[16:03] system, but we have to take a look at that maybe in five to ten years.
[16:10] So, we're not expecting any CIP costs for that space for the next ten years.
[16:16] Correct.
[16:17] Okay, can I ask the second question here?
[16:21] I second question, I'm new to the board, new to these processes, and so I, I, the interest
[16:27] and just understanding better, you know, the idea that we're getting guidance from the city.
[16:34] We're trying to match that with our needs as you're explaining through this process.
[16:41] We've got years when we're coming in above their guidance, we're coming in below on a couple of years.
[16:46] Can you give me an end? We only got like a super hard number this time of year for the next school year.
[16:56] What's the strategy on this trying to be cooperative and working with our partners in the city in order to, you know, I get it's sort of an expectation game. They don't know depends on what's happens with tax revenue and all that kind of stuff, but I just could you give me a better idea about the dynamic of how this works between us and them with, you know, hard numbers like this as we work.
[17:22] Sure, well, we get the guidance pretty early on, we've worked with the city, probably, well, I'll say since the last couple of years since I've been sitting in this role to make sure it's early enough so we can start to plan.
[17:33] At that point, Dr. Hart and her team work to see what projects that we can, I don't want to say shift out, but we did again, I want to be very clear that we did go above the guidance because we think that's what we need to move our infrastructure along.
[17:47] So, there's a conversation with myself and the city manager, after we get that, I do alert
[17:53] him of some projects and things that we have, which I'll say are high needs to make sure
[17:59] that our schools are operating at their maximum efficiency.
[18:03] So, Dr. Hart, I don't know if there's anything else you want to add, but for us, Mr.
[18:06] B.D., we're always going to, you know, we respect it, we receive the guidance, but we
[18:12] are also going to do and put for what we think is best for our school division as a whole.
[18:19] Yes, so thank you, Dr. K. Wyatt. I do want to just add a quick clarification as relates to timing.
[18:25] So we received the guidance fairly early on in the city's budget development year, but it is actually not that we don't receive it too far in advance of our CIP budget development.
[18:36] Just because of the fact that we start CIP budget development in August.
[18:41] And we generally receive the guidance around that time frame, so we are trying to incorporate
[18:47] the CIP specific guidance in a very tight time frame as it relates to combining R2 calendars.
[18:55] As Dr. K. Wyatt did mention that we definitely want to take heed to the guidance that
[19:00] is provided to us by the city, specifically the city manager, working with him and his team
[19:05] to see where we can find alignment because we do understand that there are fiscal constraints on
[19:10] in a very real fiscal constraints and we want to be cognizant of those as well as making sure that we are still
[19:16] proposing covering any critical needs for our facilities. Our major goal in the capital budget is to ensure that
[19:25] we do not fall back into a deferred maintenance pattern or cycle. We have literally had to climb our way out of a
[19:32] pretty bad deferred maintenance hole over the last six to seven years and the team has done an
[19:38] So we want to make sure that while we are cognizant of the guidance that we are also proposing items that will keep our buildings in the best shape and help us avoid again deferred maintenance to the extent in which we were a few years ago as well as any major critical system failures.
[19:54] And Mr. Beatty, we did receive that guidance this year in September and we did share that document with the board, so you could see that detail guidance that came from the city manager's office.
[20:05] But it did come in September, which is after the team has already started their work in planning for the CIP.
[20:13] I just wanted to add a little bit more context to respond to your question, Mr. Beatty.
[20:20] knowing sort of the history of capital planning between the school board and the city council.
[20:26] There was a lot of work about 10 years ago with this long range educational facilities plan that was developed.
[20:33] And then there was this joint facilities task force that led to this joint facilities master plan that we have.
[20:41] And so I think there's been a lot of investment because of maybe years past, lack of investment
[20:49] that had been there.
[20:50] And so there's been this as Dr. Hart was saying, there's been this process of catch-up.
[20:54] And I think what's happened now is that we've kind of gotten to the point where we're
[20:58] maxing at the debt service level that the city wants to be taking on.
[21:03] And so I think figuring out the kinds of hard decisions that we have to make now, knowing
[21:09] that there are still so many needs.
[21:12] I think that's kind of what we're trying to balance.
[21:15] And I don't know if Dr. K. Wyatt or Dr. Hart,
[21:17] if you have any insight.
[21:18] I mean, one of the questions I kind of had
[21:21] just from the City Manager's guidance, generally,
[21:24] was that the guidance was the same across all city
[21:28] departments and also for ACPS.
[21:32] So I'm still trying to figure out how we are working
[21:36] as two bodies to kind of understand our needs collectively and where it would make more sense
[21:45] to put money here versus there on that kind of thing. So I don't know. I know the last update
[21:51] we had on the joint facilities master plan was in the spring of 2022. So if there's any insight
[21:58] you have on that, I'd love to hear. Dr. Hart, I'm sorry before Dr. Hart goes, I just want
[22:06] to have a little bit of discussion around that balance of you know everyone gets the same across
[22:12] the board of course that comes straight from the city but we as as a division when we're doing
[22:17] our budget we have to prioritize what that limited guideline does for us and that's very challenging
[22:23] I just want to say that and even in my conversations with the city manager I alert him that it is
[22:30] The challenge for us to make sure of all of the things that you just shared to make sure we can maintain those infrastructures and not go back to kind of the deficit state that we were in.
[22:39] And so Dr. Hart, I will turn that over to you.
[22:43] Thank you.
[22:44] So I'll quickly just add that we do work with our city partners and conversations about just general capital processes.
[22:53] is we do have a standing meeting with our city colleagues once a month where we have opportunities
[22:58] to just talk in general about upcoming CIP needs, whether they're planned or unplanned,
[23:06] and to continue to find ways that we can't collaborate and work together where possible.
[23:10] I will say that there will always be areas in which we have very different needs because we serve
[23:16] very different stakeholders and also have different requirements as relates to the stakeholders
[23:21] that we serve in terms of building code, building requirements that we have to keep in mind throughout
[23:27] this process. So there are opportunities for us to be a lock step on certain things. And I think
[23:32] evidence of that is how we are continuing to work on our shared service conversation with the city.
[23:39] And also understanding that we definitely have unique needs as a school division, where sometimes
[23:44] there can't be that alignment. So where possible, that is where the team and I will go in and say,
[23:49] where can we flex, where can we either defer,
[23:53] or potentially even reduce the scope of a project
[23:56] to free up some of those funds?
[23:58] So it's an iterative process that has multiple parts to it,
[24:02] but yes, Dr. Reeve, there are opportunities
[24:04] for us to touch base with our city colleagues
[24:06] and see where there are opportunities for alignment.
[24:10] I know that you also mentioned the JFMP,
[24:12] sof is our resident expert as a release to the JFMP.
[24:16] So, sof, did you have anything to add regarding
[24:18] and the joint facilities master plan?
[24:23] No, the joint facilities master plan laid out a roadmap
[24:29] for as we plan capital projects,
[24:34] looking at ACPS and city properties
[24:37] and seeing where there were certain synergies
[24:39] and then also lining up project readiness
[24:41] for different capital projects.
[24:43] And so it's really a joint database
[24:45] that we use between all the departments
[24:48] to, you know, we continually update, you know, the FCA's when we do that.
[24:52] So the city has all of our data that we have the city's data in terms of the FCA's and those buildings.
[24:59] And so, you know, when we go to, say, look at middle school capacity, you know,
[25:05] aside from the K8 analysis, we can also look at, you know, Francis Hammond and
[25:10] George Washington for what the JFMP might have said during that process.
[25:16] It was definitely a roadmap for some of that CIP planning and definitely had some start to project a implementation,
[25:24] but I don't think it really ever kind of came to fruition the new city guidance came in,
[25:29] and then we kind of continued those discussions.
[25:32] The Long Range Educational Facilities hasn't been updated in a little while,
[25:38] and we do have project planning funds.
[25:40] I think, you know, under the guidance of leadership in the school board, that would be kind of in the next, you know, kind of long-wrench planning efforts that we have going on as well.
[25:53] Thank you. Thank you for this comments. That's helpful.
[25:55] I mean, I've been kind of looking back at some of those old documents and recommendations that came out of that task force around kind of joint planning.
[26:03] And I think we've certainly made progress, but I'm just wondering again, it's still, it's always hard from the school board lens because we don't.
[26:11] As school board members, we're not as familiar with all the projects that the city wide and how the school fits into that and so, you know, just I'm always thinking about ways we can collaborate, you know, more with our counterparts.
[26:25] Madam Chair.
[26:26] Dr. Simpson.
[26:27] No, I was.
[26:28] Thank you.
[26:29] Thank you. Thank you for the presentation.
[26:32] I'm thinking a lot, essentially, I give them what you just said, Dr. Reef,
[26:35] There's so much history and there's so much behind all of these decisions, and I just wonder
[26:44] especially as we get into the conversation with our council colleagues, which are inevitably
[26:48] tense, right?
[26:50] There are limited amount of resources, and we want to make decisions that each meter
[26:56] own needs.
[26:56] But I'm just wondering if it would be who vests to recount the story every time, right?
[27:03] like tell the story of deferred maintenance and how we got here just to remind people to get them back
[27:08] and how now the plan we have in place for these regular maintenance schedules is to prevent that
[27:14] from happening again because I think sometimes at least my perception of council's responses
[27:18] some of our budget proposals are asking for more again and it just seems like they're not seeing
[27:27] past the surface of that and I know there's so much intentionality and so much thought and so
[27:31] playing that goes into this. I just wonder if we could package it a little bit better by reminding
[27:36] them where we've been and how we've gotten to this place. Like I know you all and I think it's
[27:44] actually in the JFMP that, you know, the roofs are on these schedules. The H effects are on
[27:50] these schedules and if we could maybe just make that clearer to them, it's not like we're just popping
[27:55] it up and throwing it in here. There's really intentional planning. So I'm just thinking about that
[28:00] as we prepare to talk to our council colleagues around this.
[28:07] And something else I was thinking about,
[28:09] like you mentioned the, you know,
[28:11] a King Street needing a new roof,
[28:13] that's a very large cost.
[28:14] And I'm wondering if it's things like that
[28:16] where we can contextualize that in the deferred maintenance story, right?
[28:19] So how do you think about those trade-offs, right?
[28:21] Like when does it make sense, you know,
[28:24] their roof, that was 2007, right?
[28:26] So the roof's gonna be 20 years old when you replace it.
[28:28] Like, what is the thought process?
[28:30] Like, if we don't buy in at the 20 year mark,
[28:33] then it actually relates to, I don't know,
[28:36] other maintenance costs later on,
[28:37] like how can we,
[28:38] I'm really talking out of my field here,
[28:40] so I don't know if I'm using the right words,
[28:42] but I just think that the packaging of it
[28:45] and how we tell the story is so helpful
[28:47] to getting to where we want to be.
[28:50] And I think there's a great story in particular
[28:51] to tell about middle school now.
[28:53] Like, how many times have we said this roundtable
[28:56] and then be like, what about middle school?
[28:57] And now we have an answer and we're doing it in a way that spends less money, right?
[29:02] Building a new middle school will cost three times what we want to spend to increase
[29:06] middle school capacity. And I think that is a thing to celebrate. We are responding to what we
[29:11] heard them want in a way that isn't spending as much money as building a whole new comprehensive
[29:18] middle school. So I guess I'm thinking, you know, both for all of the ways that we communicate
[29:24] this to council. I think we can be more strategic, especially if we are asking to go above the
[29:30] city manager's recommendation.
[29:34] Dr. Kay, I'm sorry. Madam Chair, may I respond to Dr.
[29:39] Sinsenbeyer really quickly. Thank you so much for those comments, Dr. Sinsenbeyer. I'm taking notes
[29:45] and we will definitely make sure that we fold that into our narrative. Just a quickly answer
[29:50] a point that you did mention in terms of we brought up the key street roof. Life cycle management
[29:55] is a huge part in how we plan for actively plan for a replacement.
[30:00] Commencements of major building systems. Generally, your roofs are going to have a lifespan of say 20 years. Your HVAC systems will have lifespan, you know, 20 to 25 years, depending on the system component, elevators will have life cycle, life cycle management plans, so on and so forth. So with that, we make sure that we are trying to stay within the expectant life cycle of a major building component, because then the likelihood of a critical failure should be few and far between if you're staying within that cycle.
[30:30] The moment you start going beyond the recommended life cycle for a major building component
[30:35] is when you start increasing the chances for a critical building failure that is unplanned
[30:40] and that will also start adding additional costs to whatever the repair may be.
[30:46] So I just wanted to make sure that we shared that I shared that as part of response to your comments
[30:51] as well as wanting to promote that the budget book is honestly in my opinion the CIP budget book a
[30:57] great way for individuals to start familiarizing themselves with the schools with various construction
[31:05] components related to the schools to include years in which we have built either renovated
[31:11] the school or added additions. There also is a snapshot of the 10 year plan for each school
[31:16] in terms of what projects are plan for that school in the CIP. So I think that that helps us tell
[31:22] that story and I do want to make sure that I am continuing to promote that because that is
[31:27] really an excellent source in my opinion of information, and one that we continue to revise and
[31:33] refine based off of feedback that we receive through every CIP development cycle. So thank you,
[31:39] Dr. Sinsenbeer. Yeah, and that's in your comments are super helpful. I think what I just heard
[31:43] you articulate is really a philosophy of how you approach the CIP, which I know you all are thinking
[31:49] about all the time and maybe just kind of elevating that a little bit more in the conversation will help
[31:56] both our board and the council see that level of intentionality.
[32:04] Thank you.
[32:04] Other questions from board members?
[32:11] Mr. BV.
[32:13] Are we going to hear some presentations on some of the detail here?
[32:15] Did I understand that right or not?
[32:24] Okay.
[32:24] I have a couple of questions about if related to FY26.
[32:28] Since I know our focus for just to reiterate for any of the listening public.
[32:33] We're focused on FY26.
[32:35] the first year of the CIP and then next Tuesday at our second work session we'll be
[32:39] discussing in more detail years two through 10. I want to talk about the transportation
[32:45] facility a little bit. So this was part of the City Manager's guidance that funding
[32:52] or the Transportation Facility Renovation that had been previously in FY26 that was for $6
[32:59] million dollars that that be delayed or pushed to FY30 or later, and there's also a recommendation
[33:06] in here strongly encouraging ACPS who consider an alternative model to busing when that
[33:13] utilizes dash more intentionally and rethink the centralized bus facility model that has
[33:20] cost implications.
[33:21] So I was wondering, I just wanted to get kind of an update on where I know we've been doing
[33:28] study and the kind of condition. I know this has been something we've been talking about for several years now.
[33:33] The state that this facility is in. So I wanted to hear more about that and then.
[33:39] How you all are thinking about approaching this.
[33:43] Encouragement from the city manager around busing.
[33:48] That's all right.
[33:49] Okay. Thank you. I'll all start and then I will pass some of this to to Sophie to speak specifically to the transportation study that's ongoing.
[33:58] So in a few ways, Dr. Reeve, first I do want to mention that our FCA, that was completed in 2022.
[34:08] 2023, I'm sorry, the years are escaping me now. The most recent FCA did list the Transportation Center as the worst facility that we have in our portfolio, which is why we did want to make sure that we dedicated funds to continuing to maintain that facility until a decision was made.
[34:26] We have had conversations with Dash, not necessarily full-on related to them taking on their ability to service us in a, I would say, in a more robust faction.
[34:41] But essentially talking with them about the services that they currently provide for our student body.
[34:46] We had conversations with them right before the opening of Minnie Howard because we wanted to make sure that we leverage their support,
[34:52] in transportation knowing that that was such a different model.
[34:55] Dash has always been a great partner to us and we continue to work with them.
[34:58] We do have an upcoming meeting with them next week to specifically talk about any additional
[35:03] ways in which they can continue to support us as a release to taking one more.
[35:08] One important question and I know I've mentioned this before and I'm going to continue to
[35:13] to share this is that I have asked Dash if they have both the infrastructure in terms of
[35:18] a number of buses and human resources to take one more.
[35:22] From my understanding, there have been recruitment challenges on their end as well over the last few years.
[35:28] And so I want to be able to go into a conversation understanding what their constraints are as well.
[35:35] So then that way as we come back to the table and just share out on our continued conversations, we're able to give full context to what it is that they can do now.
[35:44] and potentially what it is that they can do to support in the future. I will say that the study
[35:49] that we are undertaking now is looking at potentially a decentralized model. And again, the
[35:56] one thing that I would keep in mind there is that in order to decentralize, we would need space to do
[36:01] so. Space is a premium here in the city of Alexandria. We know that just from the standpoint of
[36:06] trying to build schools. So while there, I know as a lot of conversation about things that
[36:12] But we could potentially do, I always want to make sure that I am adding context to real
[36:18] life constraints, whether that may be resource allocation, land allocation, and still making
[36:24] sure that our ability to deliver efficient transportation is not impeded by any change
[36:29] to our current model.
[36:30] So there are a lot of conversations that are ongoing and have been ongoing.
[36:34] We will continue to make sure that we update the board, we'll continue conversations with
[36:38] And so I don't know if there's anything that you want to add regarding the transfer study and specifically as it relates to our ask for them to evaluate decentralization of the transportation model.
[36:53] Yeah, I will just add that when we look at decentralization, we also think about we know we have a larger EV fleet of buses as well. So thinking about that infrastructure that goes along with that.
[37:07] safety security measures and then just, you know, how do bus drivers get their keys in the
[37:13] morning?
[37:14] I know, you know, we can look at Fairfax and, you know, I definitely drive past schools
[37:17] where their buses kind of just sitting out there, but it's a different school system, different
[37:22] neighbourhoods, different considerations that have to go into that decision.
[37:26] So, the ball schedule will take a look at different, or at the...
[37:30] Transpars study will take a look at different sites as it relates to decentralization, but it will also look at other efficiencies in our transportation system, including Bell schedule, looking at our tiered system, and then incorporating the midday shuttle, which has had an impact on our transportation operations.
[37:48] just to bring it back to the CIP and kind of the decision to include the 1 million in this year.
[37:54] There are some much needed repairs in that building, including the roof.
[37:58] John and educational facilities have done a great job kind of keeping out the flooring,
[38:04] remediating, addressing emergencies kind of as they come up.
[38:08] But looking at the 10 year CIP with regard to the Transportation Center,
[38:15] I think we need to look into, after we get the results of that, of the study looking at,
[38:23] just one, because there's two parts, right? There's the building, and there's the parking,
[38:27] and I think we have enough parking, but looking at the building, does that need to be modernized?
[38:33] And so what kind of modernization does that look like? Is it a renovation? Is it just the
[38:37] base? Is it the building itself? I know we've done a lot of work out there. So there's
[38:41] different ways that we want to approach it. And again, be sensitive to the city guidance.
[38:46] That's 6 million number has been dropping ever ever since I think I've gotten to ACPS in 2020.
[38:52] I think it started at like 17 or 15 million and it's dropped kind of every year.
[38:58] Based off of that city guidance, so it's definitely something that we need to address.
[39:05] Thank you. And when did you say when the study, when you anticipate the study results?
[39:10] Yeah, so we've been re-engaging and kind of working through the procurement process with
[39:14] Transpar.
[39:14] They're under an existing contract and we had to get a new quote and so we're re-engaging
[39:18] but that timeline should align to include into next year's CIP and then reports out to
[39:23] the school board before the end of the school year.
[39:29] Dr. Simpson.
[39:30] Yeah, I just wanted to follow up with some other transportation questions.
[39:34] I see that sort of over the 10 year period, it looks like roughly $19 million on either
[39:42] new school buses, bus replacement vehicle replacements.
[39:46] Are we still accessing any of the federal clean school bus grants, are there other funding
[39:54] sources that are supporting some of those purchases?
[39:59] So, yes, Dr. Simpson Bayer, we are still applying for all grants related to clean bus
[40:03] programs. And I do want to just reference the point that so just made part of the challenge with continuing to build an EV or an electric fleet with our buses is having the charging infrastructure.
[40:15] We have to actually have space to do so.
[40:18] We cannot install any additional charging stations at our current transportation center. So we would have to find space within the city to add more charters. So as we increase that fleet our buses would have similar to go to charge.
[40:31] So that's also part of the consideration, is that we are applying for those grants, but we
[40:37] do face a real constraint in terms of where do we go with this infrastructure, because right
[40:42] now we know we have a limitation with space.
[40:45] Thank you, that's helpful to know.
[40:46] And then I will also just say once we have a better, maybe plan or conception for what that
[40:54] facility, the transportation facility will look like, I think it would be great for all of
[40:58] and maybe council colleagues to take a field trip to there. I have actually never been there
[41:03] and we talk about it a lot and I think having a visual and understanding what it's actually
[41:09] like would facilitate some of the decision making that needs to happen around it because it's not
[41:14] just a place where, I mean I know this even though one of the bit, it's not just a place where buses
[41:18] park that is also people's work environment and that relates to the quality of their work
[41:22] experience and so I think seeing that and having a better understanding will help facilitate
[41:28] implementation of of those plans.
[41:35] Are there other questions?
[41:39] Okay, I have another question related to FY26 and that is in the system why the
[41:44] sustainability and energy efficiency. So just kind of looking at what was allocated in FY26
[41:51] for the non-capacity projects. I noticed that this category increased from 157,000 to 1.7 million
[42:00] And I just wanted to inquire what that was related to.
[42:06] I don't know if that's related to solar connection fees for our net zero buildings,
[42:13] but I'd love any if there's anything you can provide on.
[42:17] So I'll defer to you, please.
[42:19] Yes, that is a typo.
[42:21] And it will be corrected in the superintendent's technical adjustments.
[42:26] Thank you.
[42:27] Thank you for that clarification.
[42:29] are there other questions?
[42:31] Can I follow up on that, Dr.
[42:33] Do you have any updates on the solar panel connectivity status?
[42:42] We do not at this time.
[42:48] Yeah, I will just say it should be $165,400.
[42:56] We will bring that in.
[43:05] Since I know Dr. Hoover is here,
[43:08] I would be interested.
[43:11] I spent a number of years on the IT Commission
[43:14] for the city where there was a lot of talk about the infrastructure for the city's own fiber
[43:20] optic cable. And I would love to just hear about is that I know there's going to be some
[43:28] cost for some infrastructure this year. Are we going to see cost savings over time or can you just
[43:33] share a little bit more about that project with us? Yes, so this is the city's municipal fiber project
[43:40] that's been going on. I think for at least 10 years. And so it's very exciting to see
[43:45] fiber being laid across our city and team coming in and what team has offered our kids
[43:52] eventually. Our families in Alexandria are three internet access into their homes. So where we are
[44:00] now is, I hope we are preparing to move off of Comcast. I believe it's, I don't have the exact date,
[44:05] So we need to be off Comcast, so right now we rent our fiber from Comcast, and so we are moving to city owned fiber, which is very exciting to us.
[44:15] And we right now pay a cost to the city to rent that fiber.
[44:21] I do not know, I do not want to say definitely what kind of shared costs we will have within going forward because we do have shared costs now.
[44:30] But what we were asking for in the CIP is funds for new servers, new courts, which is, we're
[44:37] going to have our central course at King Street and on Wheeler Avenue.
[44:41] So we'll have redundancy, it's going to be really great not to be rely on Comcasts for
[44:47] when they go down.
[44:47] We'll have a lot more control.
[44:50] So I think they will potentially be lower cost for us, but with new technology, cost don't always
[44:58] go down.
[45:01] Anyway, very exciting project, very huge for the city and for the schools, and it's been a collaborative project for at least in years.
[45:14] We also get an update on the type of someone joining us to the Sanders. Would you like to take that textbook question or should I turn it over to Casey?
[45:27] Casey's going to do it.
[45:28] Okay,
[45:34] so I think I mean this year is a little bit unusual because we're having a double
[45:37] textbook adoption.
[45:38] So maybe if you could just talk a little bit about the rationale.
[45:46] Thank you.
[45:47] The rationale for this year's double adoption is based on two factors.
[45:52] We are trying to move our elementary math adoption in our secondary math adoption to be more concurrent
[45:59] So that we can see, so that the ISG team can better support the implementation of the school level.
[46:09] And then the fine arts adoption, the rationale behind that is that we've actually never made a resource adoption for fine arts ever.
[46:23] So this was to support the fine arts and the music resource needs K-12.
[46:38] I would, could you tell us a little bit more about what the fine arts process looks like?
[46:44] Are they buying books? Are they buying instruments?
[46:46] So they need, they're not buying instruments, they currently have two digital resources that teachers use for day to day instruction that have very high usage rates.
[47:01] But we will be going through an RFP process for a recompete for resources for it's the music curriculum K12 and the art curriculum K12.
[47:15] So just to provide a little bit more context on that, I apologize, I'm a
[47:22] more camera because I'm in the car. But the art supplies over the numerous
[47:29] years we know, classic significant amount of money when we start talking about
[47:34] things like ceramics and some of the other advanced art courses that ACPS
[47:41] offers and then to just extend with Mrs. Hoffman mentioned about the math adoption. We know that
[47:53] our elementary math just went through a very intense adoption process and so to ensure that
[48:02] there's alignment across our secondary schools as well, bringing that adoption up was very important
[48:10] to us as we know that math is a very critical
[48:13] content area for our school division.
[48:19] Thank you for that.
[48:20] And I wanted to ask this question
[48:22] because I know with some of our conversations,
[48:24] we've been having around the state's new accountability system.
[48:27] We've also talked about how the standards have been revised
[48:31] for all of the work or subject areas in the last two years,
[48:36] which is a lot of changes coming very quickly.
[48:39] and so I'm just thinking too about the cost to school the visions to fund that and what support
[48:47] or not not support the state is providing to support that. So I just kind of wanted to elevate
[48:53] that issue.
[48:55] Yeah, Brittany.
[48:56] And we definitely have seen inflation as well in our purchases for instructional materials.
[49:06] And I think part of that goes back to what our teachers are asking for.
[49:14] We run adoptions, like a full project, and that means getting a lot of teacher input into what they would like to see and what they need for data data instruction.
[49:23] And what we've overwhelmingly heard from teachers is that they would like a comprehensive resource.
[49:30] And a lot of times with the most often when we're talking about a comprehensive resource,
[49:38] it means that it's coming with materials to support our L-populations and to support
[49:45] specialized instruction needs.
[49:48] So it really is become like a one-stop shop, what we're adopting and what we're paying for.
[49:54] We are definitely seeing costs increase because of that that we're not peace-mealing or
[50:00] just like, well, this is what you can up for that.
[50:05] But to your point, a deafening, we will have opportunities in the future to talk about how we can streamline or find alternative funding to help support this to support what we're asking from CIP.
[50:18] And I know we've also had some conversation over the years about the professional sort of learning support for teachers with the new instructional materials.
[50:26] is that something that's included in these costs or would that be separate?
[50:31] It is included in these costs.
[50:34] We definitely have more of a guideline based on what we currently see on the market for fine arts.
[50:40] But for a secondary math, I went through a pricing process with for the big publishers
[50:48] and what we were most likely to see from the video we in regards to their recommendations.
[50:57] From what I have been told, or at least the information I've gotten from the video,
[51:02] is that they are not going to do, like what they did with the VLA,
[51:06] where they're going to have required resources like choose from these.
[51:11] Right now, the math resource approval process is in a public review,
[51:17] And they've released their first list of resources for public review, but that list is going
[51:24] to be continued.
[51:25] They're going to keep adding to that as the publishers provide information to the video
[51:30] we selection team.
[51:33] But I kind of forgot where I was going to go.
[51:35] Because I got on a tangent, but we went through a pricing process to make sure that we would
[51:44] not have to pull that we wouldn't have to cut back on any portion of the resource, including
[51:53] professional learning. And so far this year for elementary math, I can't even count on both
[51:59] hands, probably hands and toes, how many professional learning sessions, Ms. Newford,
[52:25] and
[52:25] questions and I understand I heard that there's going to be a presentation on like in
[52:29] room.
[52:30] Government projections, capacity and utilization is part of Tuesday's presentation, because I'm looking forward to that.
[52:39] I'll hold them. All right. Anything else? Mr. Beauty.
[52:46] I had the privilege of attending on Saturday nights, 12th night at the high school. It was a fantastic presentation and for any of you in the public listening, you can still go.
[52:58] And you've still got an opportunity to have the same entertainment that I wonderfully received
[53:03] this coming Friday and Saturday night at Alexandria City High School.
[53:07] I would recommend to see you the prices right five bucks for a great night of entertainment.
[53:12] I'd recommend it to you Shakespeare over 500 years old.
[53:17] Still got some stuff that applies to our reality.
[53:21] So I'd recommend it to anybody listening.
[53:23] All right, thank you for that closing remark, Mr. Beauty, and I'll just share I'm going to put in a budget question about the auditorium sciences, though, and upgrade, so that's the preview.
[53:35] But I know, just a reminder to everyone, our work session, our second work session is on Tuesday, but the budget questions on the CIP R2 on Monday, budget questions for the CIP R2 on Monday, everyone.
[53:49] Could you explain that process?
[53:51] The budget questions for the CIP or due to, we just did a bunch of questions.
[53:56] So, if you have written budget questions, you know how we did during the operating budget,
[54:02] yeah, same process here, you can submit written questions and then we'll be receiving the
[54:08] responses.
[54:09] I think about a week out.
[54:14] Any other?
[54:15] Final thought.
[54:16] All right.
[54:18] All right.
[54:18] Thank you, everyone.
[54:19] We're adjourned.