School Board Work Session

Carolyn Pitchesladies and gentlemen all right good evening ladies and gentlemen tonight is monday october 19th of 2026 and this is the work session of the city of fairfax school board we will have presentations of the board this evening starting with the elementary capital project update dr wright you want to start us off.

Dr. WrightstaffThank you, Chair Pitches, and good evening to the City of Fairfax School Board. It's a pleasure to be with you this evening. I'd like to welcome a guest that we have from Brailsford and Dunleavy, the owner's representative for the City of Fairfax Schools on our capital projects, Mr. Dan Nebbitt who will be supporting this presentation. The goal for our conversation this evening is to provide the board updates around the programming that will be in both of the elementary school modernizations and renovations as well as to provide an update on the Fairfax High School roof. What we are seeking is consensus from the board of the direction that the programming is going so our architects and engineers can move to the next phase of this project which

is called the design development phase. in a little bit. So as we look at the agenda, you can see we'll go through both of our projects. We'll stop for questions after each one, and then we'll keep moving through the presentation this evening. On the next slide, you'll see just a quick overview of how we got here for the two elementary school modernizations and renovations. There was a request for a proposal that went out in the summer of 2025 for architectural and engineering and design services for both Daniels Run and Providence Elementary School. That solicitation was completed in collaboration with the City of Fairfax government, and contracts were awarded to two separate design firms in September of 2025.

And we've had the great pleasure of working with Mosley on the Daniels Run project and Architecture Inc. on the Providence project.

Dan NebhutIn terms

Dr. Wrightstaffof the scope of each project that the architects have been designing to, they were working towards a scope of systematic modernizations of each building and then modest additions of seven to ten thousand feet with a goal of adding four additional spaces in each building so that's I think important for this board to just remember kind of what they were starting with and what guidance and direction they had and this is also what was budgeted for in the project so what we're going to look at on each of our projects that our elementary schools is just a recap, I think, of some of the highlights of the project that have gone through the schematic design process and the conceptual design process so far. And then

we've developed a before and after chart to help the board understand what will be changing as a result of these exciting projects. So as we look at the next slide, we'll be going to the Daniels Run section of the presentation. And as we continue on, you'll see a list of some of the highlights. And these mirror what was presented to the board at the September update. And so I won't go through all of them in detail, but at Daniel's Run, there'll be a complete modernization of the building. There'll be a two-classroom addition that is happening on the north side of the building. And that will include additional classrooms and learning spaces and meeting spaces, plus a three-story circulation stairway.

Daniels Run will also feature a reimagined main entrance and new facade for the front of the building, a dedicated sack suite that's moving to a different part of the building with its own entrance, upgraded libraries, playgrounds, blacktop areas. I think it's going to be really exciting to see what it's done in the two courtyards at Daniels Run in terms of not only the ease of maintenance but the intentional instruction that can happen out there. And then there will be an outdoor amphitheater and gathering space as a part of the plans. And just overall, that addition and the three-story staircase should really help a lot of the circulation in the building. And then as we talked about before, every aspect of the building in terms of systems and interiors will be updated, replaced, and modernized.

Dan NebhutAnd then as we look at Daniel's run and the

Dr. Wrightstaffbefore and after chart as we've come to know it, The more technical term that our architects and engineering designers use is the programming for the building. So talking about what is the actual program of each space. But we've tried to put it into one spot. So at Daniel's Run, again, we started with that goal of having a modest addition that adds four additional spaces. For just teaching and learning at Daniel's Run, there will be seven additional spaces with the current plan. You can see increases in grade level classrooms, our art and music classrooms, and then the other instructional spaces category is where our special education students, our multilingual learner students, and those flexible teaching

spaces where adults are going to be working with smaller groups of students so they're not a full-size classroom. You can see those increasing as well. As we move through the bottom part of the chart, you can see some of our support areas with group restrooms that will be fully modernized and we'll be asking for some board input on that later on during the design process. An increase in classroom student bathrooms or en suite bathrooms. Single user corridor accessible bathrooms, I want to clarify that. These are single user bathrooms off the hallways and through the design process will determine which ones are the right fit to be adult bathrooms, which ones are the right fit to be student bathrooms and multi-gender bathrooms so but making the the goal of this part is to show that there'll

be an increase in in those spaces and there'll be enough to distribute throughout the building in a way that makes sense our sac classroom we talked about that moving and having an upgraded exterior entrance as we look at the next slide before we pause some of the shared spaces throughout the school. The gym will remain, it will be modernized, but in terms of the shape, it will remain fairly similar. The library will have added conference and workspaces. The kitchen area will have upgraded the backside of the kitchen that we don't see as much as either parents or staff members. We'll have some really important upgrades, especially around walk-in freezers and coolers. And then that stage and multipurpose room, which right now has to be used as a music

classroom will be returned as just a multi-purpose room that can have lots of different uses throughout the school day. And then finally for staff support spaces you can see an increase in the number of workrooms, the number of offices, and the number of conference rooms that will be a part of this design. And then the final thing that we'll look at at Daniel's Run is the proposed exterior elevations which this board has seen before. There have been no changes to this. And we think this is a really powerful way to honor the history of Daniel's Run, but to revitalize the entire school while incorporating the addition in a way that makes sense from an aesthetic perspective and also does it in a fiscally responsible way.

So with that, I'll pause to see if there's any questions around the programming that we're proposing for Daniels Runner.

Kristina CecereMs. Sessori. Yes, just a few clarifying questions. On slide seven, when we talk about the program area, I see there's three additional extended learning areas, or there's pullout areas that usually small groups are done in, like,

Dr. Wrightstaffyes, absolutely. So the one, I think the distinction on those is the plan right now does not, it's, they're typically three-sided areas so they they have they're not enclosed classrooms we're talking about looking at some like some glass like floor-to-ceiling doors that could move on a pivot but that will be something that we'll have to look at through the the costing and process but but they're dedicated areas for and supposed to be really flexible depending on what the teachers need and the size of the group

Kristina Cecerethe the glass door piece is that something that other schools have used for

Dr. WrightstaffYeah, we've seen that and it just provides the options to say, hey, is this something where we're just going to pull a small group quickly or do we want to have a dedicated, you know, more focused lesson? So trying to make those spaces as flexible as possible.

Kristina CecereYeah, and definitely the help with probably the sound effects too, just so students can focus. Absolutely. And then I noticed on slide eight, you talk about the stage of multipurpose room. I'm not as familiar with Daniel's run, but whenever I hear a partition to cafeteria, I think about the partition that we have at Providence. Is that kind of the idea to separate that space?

Dr. WrightstaffYes. So it's one of those movable walls. It'll be a newer one, and I can tell you that the acoustic properties of those newer ones are better than the one that is currently there. But I think the distinction right now is that there's not right now there's a teacher teaching in that classroom. Oftentimes while cafeteria is happening on the other, excuse me, lunch is happening in the cafeteria on the other side of that partition. And so based on the projected uses of this building, that won't have to be the case right now. But I still would recommend that we have a partition there because there will be times when it is used as a stage and it gives us a lot of flexibility.

Kristina Cecereto hear about the acoustics. Thank you. Ms. Kelsey.

Sarah KelseyAre the additional in-classroom bathrooms for, is it just the pre-K, kindergarten, firsts? Are those the only ones that have the in-suite?

Dr. WrightstaffMr. That's a great question. I think the, so right now the way that we're planning to do it is pre-K through second would have those classrooms. And so that's kind of primarily where you're seeing the increase in those. The other reason we're doing an increase is to just provide flexibility for the future uses of this building. There might be times where we might have more first grade, and there could potentially be a scenario where maybe there's a third grade class in one of those spaces that would have that en suite bathroom. But

Dan Nebhutprimarily they're designed for pre-K through second grade.

Dr. WrightstaffAnd, Mr. Nebbitt, if I misspeak on anything, just feel free to chime in.

Lauren BartelmeMs. Barlmay? I think my question's got answered.

Carolyn PitchesI just have a question about the gym. I am assuming the flooring will be replaced because the flooring in the gym currently has been problematic over the years?

Dr. WrightstaffYes. Yes, all floorings throughout the building, unless there's a really unique case, will be replaced and new. So in the gym, that would be a new flooring. Now, we might have some conversations around, like, the type of flooring that we use, and that will factor in through the pricing process, but there will be new flooring in that space.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. What other things are being done to modernize the gym?

Dr. WrightstaffSo I think, you know, it's lighting, audio visuals in there, some of the sound paneling in there to try and keep it. We're definitely looking at, if you can imagine at Daniel's Run, the gym has these spaces that connect to the cafeteria. They're kind of frosted over windows, trying to think about what is the right way to separate those two spaces. I think are the big things, the teacher office areas and bathrooms down there as well. So anything in that gym, whether it's a scoreboard or anything that is a part of it will be new.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else have any other questions? Okay.

Dr. WrightstaffAll right. Thank you very much. We're going to then look at Providence. and as we look at some of the highlights and i will just name that intentionally there there's some similar things because we think it's important that we have two really wonderful and amazing buildings for our students in the city of fairfax you'll see some overlap but again at providence we're currently proposing a two-story addition which is a part of the concept that was approved by the this board earlier this spring and and that overall modernization of the building Through the addition on the front of the school, there'll be an opportunity for the exterior facade to be redone, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute.

This is another spot where we're going to have that improved building circulation and layout because the second floor of Providence will be connected, so it'll be a full loop, which again, there's a lot of very clear advantages to that, and then just the day-to-day life of a teacher a staff member in the building that will help

Dan Nebhutwith a lot of different things.

Dr. WrightstaffThe library will be increased in size and then similar to Daniel's Run, new playground and blacktop area. Two big things that we would like to highlight is that the cafeteria will be reconfigured from an L-shaped space which has some operational challenges to a more traditional square and rectangular space. And then we'll have the upgrade to the Kiss and Ride configuration and additional parking will be added to that space at Providence. So we'll be doing a significant amount of engineering and site work to ensure that that is something that improves the user experience at Providence Elementary School.

Dan NebhutAnd then as we look at the chart, so similar layout

Dr. Wrightstaffto Daniel's run, Providence is a larger building overall. We have a little more land to work with, but you'll see some, based on the addition, some increases in grade level classrooms. and then the art and music classrooms, they will all be in the building, none of them in trailers. And then an increase in the amount of those instructional support spaces that we talked about. Similar to Daniel's Run, we have the restrooms and student support areas where you're seeing increases in the en-suite bathrooms, the single-user corridor bathrooms, and then no changes except the modernizations for our SAT classrooms. of this chart you'll see the gym to miss pitches your question on Daniel's run similar approach new flooring modernization the library will increase

it's currently undersized as compared to the ed specs for a building of the size of Providence the cafeteria will have that reconfiguration that we talked about and then that black box space will still be there but one of the things that it will not have to be used for instructional spaces throughout the So again, there will be another flexible space for Providence to utilize. As we looked at workrooms and lounges, you can see increases there. And then I want to provide a little bit of a clarification on the offices and conference rooms. I would encourage the board to think about those numbers combined. So 18 offices and two conference rooms, think about that as 20, and we'll be increasing to 13 offices and 10 conference rooms, increasing to 23.

And let me provide a little context on that. As we've worked with our partners, all of the different spaces through the systems they use get labeled in different ways. And there's some things that I think will clearly be offices are coming up in the system labeled as conference rooms. An example of that is our counseling offices. That's where the two counselors at Providence will be. Technically, the system that this firm is using shows up as a conference room, but we know it'll really be more of an office space. So I say that to inform the board that the overall amount of office and conference spaces is going to increase, and I think it'll be a really good match for the needs of this building.

And then the last thing, which might be a, you know, so this might be a two-part conversation, is just looking at two different exterior elevation options for Providence. This board was able to preview the concept that you're seeing now in September. and it is one of the proposals from the architecture firm. And then we also wanted to provide an option for a different direction and to try and get some input from the board on what is more of the vision for what we're looking at at Providence. So you can see on the second exterior concept just a different, I would say, more traditional approach to the exterior design of the building. So with that, that's the update that we have on Providence I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Barlow, may I start with you?

Lauren BartelmeI might want to come back, but I'm okay for the moment.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Kelsey.

Sarah KelseyOn the library with conferences and workspaces, is that I guess the only way I can think of Is like at KJ how they have those rooms kind of off to the side? I think they may be more used for offices at KJ. But is that kind of the idea of the workspaces? Is it they're going to be like almost mini offices off to the side? Or is it just going to be in this library space? Mr. Nebbitt, do you want to take a crack at that one?

Dr. WrightstaffYeah, sure. The Meyer Nebbitt Library has a... Just make sure your green light is on. There you go.

Dan NebhutHow about now? Not closer. Yeah, the modernized library has a, I believe, a workroom and a conference room within the structure. So programming accounts for the amount of size and shelves, linear feed, and all that sort of thing for the appropriate use by the school. But then that is not at the detriment of adding something like a conference room or a workroom within what's programmed as the library.

Sarah KelseyWell, because currently right now I know the librarian has a large office because it's for the librarian and the librarian assistant. THAT'S NOT THE WORK ROOM THAT THIS IS TALKING ABOUT. IT'S TWO

Dr. WrightstaffSEPARATE. THAT WILL REMAIN. I THINK THE CLARIFICATION I PROVIDE IS ANY OF THESE SPACES WILL BE, AND I THINK THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE ASKING, THEY'LL BE SEPARATE ROOMS. THEY'LL BE ATTACHED TO THE LIBRARY, BUT THEY'LL BE DOORS AND WALLS. SO IT'LL BE A GOOD RESOURCE TO HAVE THERE. AND THEN DEPENDING ON WHICH ONE, SOMETIMES THOSE SPACES MIGHT HAVE A BACK DOOR OUT INTO THE MAIN HALLWAY. IT JUST REALLY DEPENDS ON THE layout and how that works. There's probably some good examples of that more at Daniel's Run where off the back of that library you can get into the back hallway. We might be looking at some of that to just provide extra functionality and not interrupt anything that could be happening in the library.

Sarah KelseyGotcha. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that Ms. Mayrides wasn't losing to her office for that in case it's that being used. The other question I had was the three single user corridor bathrooms that are in the cafeteria. Is that just kind of like in one section or will they be spread out through the cafeteria kind of thing?

Dr. WrightstaffThat's a wonderful question. They'll be in one section and they're fairly close to the kitchen. So kind of thinking the main entrance, the overall main entrance of the cafeteria, I don't anticipate that changing. But they'll be up at that end. They will not be spread out throughout the cafeteria.

Sarah KelseySorry, clarifying on that would be, are they going to be more adult or student? Because, like, for the cafeteria workers to use, or is it going to be more, is that still just to be decided?

Dr. WrightstaffYeah, that's a wonderful question. So these, I think the primary intent would be for the students to be able to use during the day, which helps with the supervision and some of the behavioral choices that might get made in the group bathrooms. But there are, for the adults in the cafeteria, there's office space and locker room space and a bathroom space that's dedicated to the cafeteria staff in the kitchen area.

Sarah KelseyOh, perfect. Okay. I was just trying to think how if they had to go during lunch. It's a great question. And then I'd be interested to see how all of these staff support rooms, where they're going to go, because I know how tight it is right now. So I'll be interested to see that.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Sessori.

Kristina CecereYeah, thank you. I will say having many meetings in the conference rooms for my own child for IEPs and whatnot, I'm a little curious what, like going from 2 to 10, because I know there are two dedicated conference rooms and what that looks like and that functionality. And definitely I hear you about finding different ways of maybe helping with the flow as those conference rooms are needed so that maybe they're not interrupting library. That does sound interesting. I just want to make sure that footprint for the library doesn't get reduced in that process. It's kind of to Ms. Kelsey's point. The one curiosity I have is I'm not seeing any information about flux spaces like we saw with Daniel's run.

Can you tell me a little bit about that here with Providence, what that might look like?

Dr. WrightstaffSo let me try and answer the conference room question first. So, again, I think in terms of the large conference room that's off of the main corridor that gets used for a lot of meetings, there will not be 10 of those in the building. I think there will be, it's safer to say, there will be three large conference spaces where teachers can meet, where parents can meet, where staff members can meet. and then a lot of them because of that naming convention or will probably end up feeling more like office spaces or large office spaces that that are then suitable for meeting with a with a small group so so there's that clarification I think the it's a it's a good question around the the flexible spaces one of

the things some of that might be a little bit easier to answer with the floor plan there's a there's an area i can think of on the first floor where that had over time actually been closed in that's been opened up and that will be a flexible space that is able to to be opened up there will be as part of the addition there's a a couple open areas that will allow for we can put in various types of furniture that can allow for some of that flexible space so I think we'll find it in the building. It's just not as dedicated in the actual design process as we're seeing at Daniel's Run.

Kristina CecereI will stress, whatever works for the staff and whatever's best practice for the next 10, 20 years or so, I certainly support that. The other piece, too, I think when we got the initial schematic layout, I was noticing that some of the admin offices were more central to one side of the all. It didn't seem like there was anything to the new. Will we see, like, as those conversations are had, will we see what that revision looks like and kind of how that movement of where, say, admin offices or anything like that might shuffle around as we're kind of finalizing that design?

Dr. WrightstaffSo are you talking about the, like, the location of the admin suite?

Kristina CecereYeah. I was noticing, like, some of those were, like, I think they were, like, a red color on the mapping and some of them were more on I don't know my direction on on that but it was more toward like the parking lot side of the building versus like the addition side that we're adding on so and so I was thinking like you know if we're talking about adding additional classrooms in that direction I don't sometimes you see in addition to an admin room in that particular new part of the school and I'm just curious what the thought behind that would be

Dr. Wrightstaffno that's a great question so I would say the the administrative The administrative suite and the front office will remain in the same basic location. One of the things that, and this comes from requests from the staff, is to try and be thoughtful about having office spaces throughout the building. There is a space that, in these preliminary plans, and I appreciate very much your statement around the people that are going to know the best uses for this are going to be the ones, the teachers, the staff members, the principals that are there day to day. But in the preliminary plans, it would be a space for an administrator to be up on the second floor, which has not been there. And then in the addition, which you are correct, is on the opposite side of the building.

From the current administrative suite, there are office spaces over there. So right now they're not dedicated to say this should be an administrative office, but there is space if they should so choose. I would say that based on the amount of time our administrators spend in their offices right now, it's not that it would be a moot point, but the team over there is out in classrooms and out with the students. But I think it's a great observation because there will be some ability to design what are the best needs for that new space that comes as a part of the addition.

Carolyn Pitchesokay um so just to clarify did i hear you right that they will reopen some of the previously uh the spaces that used to be open flexible spaces they were considered they were called like the wet dry open areas are will those be reopened or are they going to continue

Dr. Wrightstaffthat's the current plan. I can show you where some of those are, which would provide some of those flexible spaces. The numbers that you're seeing allow for us to increase the number of classrooms and to gain those spaces back.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Hickman is unable to be here, but she had a question about Daniel's run. I know I'm going backwards now, but she just messaged. um so because currently there's only one additional classroom being added to daniel's run but there are four is it four art rooms so

Dr. Wrightstaffthat's a great question uh miss king would you mind backing up to the run no i i

Carolyn Pitchesguess i could go back in this too

Dr. Wrightstaffyeah no i'd be happy to point it out so there will um daniel's run is increasing by four four um right dedicated classroom spaces total One of them will be designed to be a general ed classroom, and then we're going from one art room to two art rooms, and then from one music classroom to three dedicated music classrooms.

Carolyn PitchesSo her question is, if there is a need in the future for more classrooms, like general ed classrooms, will the new or the additional art classroom or music classrooms be able to be transformed into a general ed classroom to be used should that need arise? Absolutely.

Dr. WrightstaffAnd that's something that happens from schools over time. When we've been thinking about the square footage size, because we can change some cabinets and we can change the type of furniture that's in there. It's very hard to move a wall once the building is where it

Dan Nebhutis. So

Dr. Wrightstaffthe square footage size of those spaces all are designed to actually be very, very nice full-size classrooms. So this idea of trying to think about future-proofing and if there are enrollment increases over time, we'd have the ability to do that. And then when you start thinking about where there's the multi-purpose room, so if they ever needed to pick up, they could have a music class work in there instead of one of these classrooms. So in terms of size and square footage, it would be very feasible to do that.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Just personally, my last, I just want to ask about the exterior facade.

Dr. WrightstaffMe too.

Carolyn PitchesI'll just say I prefer the pop-out. I know we're not there yet, but is there a cost differential between the two? Is one more expensive than the other?

Dr. WrightstaffSo that's a great question. And we sort of were getting really close to being there yet, to use your words, Ms. Pitches, because where the designers are going to go starting in early December is start actually working on all these designs. They're going to take the feedback from tonight around the programming and going, great, we know the type of rooms. Now we're going to actually design those rooms. So having some clarity about what direction we want to go on this is important. There are some price differences, I would say. They are, and we can provide all those to the board. I know that the first one that you did see is the less expensive option. The woven? That is correct. But I don't know if we'll provide it to the board in terms of the exact differences in prices.

I would tell you that it's not, we're not, one isn't $10 million more than the other. an increase but it i would say it's not enough that it's going to drastically impact our budget or our ability to do the rest of the program

Carolyn Pitchesokay and i know like the the facades are generally just an aesthetic but is there any benefit of one one over the other or do they each have their own benefits

Dr. Wrightstaffso that's i think that's a really important question and and on this there's an aesthetic purpose to this but but remember the whole front of providence is going to be bumping about eight feet because of how they're reorienting those classrooms. And so we definitely need to account for that design. And so I think what you would see, Ms. Pitches, is the amount of windows, the amount of sunlight that you're getting in each room. I think that's going to be something to consider. I know that the woven idea incorporates lots of metal panels. Sometimes there's potentially maintenance issues with those over time or discoloration issues with those over time. And it's really hard to line those up. So I think, you know, that's something to consider

Dan Nebhutas well.

Dr. WrightstaffMr. Nebit, anything to add on that topic?

Dan NebhutI would echo, while not cost neutral, like Dr. Wright mentioned,

Dr. Wrightstaffneither of these are putting any other part of the

Dan Nebhutprogram at risk. Yes, there's an aesthetic portion of any facade, but there's also a performance difference, to Dr. Wright's point also, because he's been listening. Metal panels can be difficult, not only to design, but to select. Imagine somebody's drawn a picture and showing you some colors, and now we have to go out to find those colors, and then finding the match, costing it, installation and attachment can be difficult. something that I'll point out here that we intentionally brought forth was just the malleable nature of this fenestration while you see all the windows that imply the daylighting there's also some shading elements that are in place and so you can improve building performance

with choices and then also make perhaps more gracious entry areas at the front of the building with overhangs and pin lettering and that sort of thing

Carolyn PitchesI will just make one comment the Catherine they have the metal feature over the front door area. It didn't last 10 years before it needed to be painted to the tune of, I think it was $60,000. So I will likely steer clear of some metal. But to your point, I can see where you think you're getting one color, and then maybe it doesn't come out the exact color that you want. be sort of stuck with something you didn't intend to have. Okay. I do not have any other questions. Ms. Barlmay, did you want to?

Lauren BartelmeWhen is the decision point for the exterior of Providence?

Dr. WrightstaffI would say as soon as possible. You know, the ‑‑ and I think, you know ‑‑ What's your preference, Ms. Barlmay? I would defer to ‑‑ I'm with you. the chair in terms of how you want to as a board decide that you know what what the one thing i would say is that these are concept designs right now and so if if if the board were to you know direct staff to say we want to go in the direction of concept to you know we like that more traditional design and some of the performance features that that will help us get where we need to go From a design perspective and a pricing perspective. But I would say as soon as possible to help everybody keep moving.

Carolyn PitchesBut your preference is

Lauren Bartelmedesign, too. I agree. I also like design, too. I mean,

Carolyn PitchesI would like to know

Lauren Bartelmethe

Carolyn Pitchescost.

Lauren BartelmeMs.

Carolyn PitchesEssary, do you want to? I'm just like, what direction do we want them to go in?

Kristina CecereI'm leaning toward the pop-out option. Okay. I have thoughts on it.

Carolyn PitchesBut that would be the direction.

Kristina CecereThat's the direction I would go. Only because I feel like the woven option can get dated quite fast with some of the features that are there. And to your point as well, that the coloration of the metal can be a concern. But I still have comments on the pop-out, but I'll table those for a moment.

Carolyn PitchesSo we'll just say in general we prefer the pop out facade. Okay. Ms. Bartomee, did you have any other questions?

Lauren BartelmeNo, I'm good.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Ms. Sessori, I know you had a go back. Did you have a? Okay. Ms. Sessori, sorry.

Kristina CecereNo, it's okay. It is about the exterior concept. I'm glad Ms. Bartomee asked about when these decisions should be made. I'm just curious about like I hear you with with the design of this exterior and sort of that strategy if I'm hearing correctly that when we sort of I guess what I'm what I see is like the windows are kind of sunken in a little bit I'm guessing that adds a little bit more of a cooling feature to the the classroom that's there is that right? Is that is that a fair assumption?

Dan NebhutCorrect.

Kristina CecereOkay I think, you know, I like that idea quite a bit, having been at Fairfax High School in a classroom with a window and how the temperature varied quite a bit. So just being mindful of just want to make sure that I guess, you know, now 20 years after that these windows will likely be a little more energy efficient. And just even that design strategy, I think, is really important. I would like to have a little more feedback or provide more feedback as to like maybe what this could look like. And I feel like that might be more of a dialogue here, but I don't know like how we can schedule that so that way we can do it all together appropriately.

Dr. WrightstaffYeah, that's a that's so first of all, thank you for those questions. Yeah. And the on the windows, brand new windows that will be much more thermally efficient. One of the design choices that a lot of schools work with. with where Fairfax County is, they will have buildings where they are solid windows that don't have the ability to open for that. Those are actually way more efficient in terms of keeping the heat in or keeping the cool air in. As of right now, we are moving towards the windows that open because that is typically what you will see in buildings. In terms of the exterior concepts, if this is kind of the preference to go, we can work with that. I think we can find times to schedule some of that dialogue.

Really like early December is when I need a ‑‑ when the architects are going to continue moving forward. Does that work okay, Mr. Nebbitt, in terms of timelines? So I think maybe we can look at one of the upcoming conversations, whether it's in a work session or just we can have other ways for that dialogue to provide that feedback.

Carolyn PitchesMs. King, is there any room on the November work session for conversation? That way.

Sarah KelseyMs. Kelsey. I want to move back in the building. My question is for both buildings. As we were talking about art room and stuff like that it got me thinking I know both of these schools have dedicated closet space for storage like the art room has a whole art storage where they store all their papers and all that the math has you know for all their supplies for the teachers so that they're not having to go in the classroom I just want to make sure adding these classrooms is not going to take away from that space because as a teacher, you don't want that all in your classroom. So it makes it too cluttered. So I'm just curious to make sure we are still getting storage space for these other.

Dr. WrightstaffYeah, really great question. And I feel like you were eavesdropping on the last couple conversations I had with Mr. Nebitt as we were finalizing this work. And I was like, hey, is there any chance we could get like a breakdown of the storage and the closets that

Dan Nebhutwe're going to

Dr. Wrightstaffsee? What I can tell you is it's going to be increased. If we want to find specific numbers, I can look at that. But as we added in our classroom at Daniel's Run, and really both of them are shifting a little bit based on location, both of them come with big, large storage closets because we know that's part of the educational specification for that type of space. I feel confident in saying that there's two things. that there'll be an appropriate amount of storage space to go with a modernized building. And that's definitely something we're thinking about through the design process.

Dan NebhutI would also say we'll never have enough because there's always a need for

Dr. Wrightstaffa little bit more and a little bit more. But there have been intentional design choices throughout to make sure that we have spaces that allow for the right amount for our staff.

Sarah KelseyAnd can we also make sure that they don't become offices like where we stick a teacher in the storage room?

Dr. WrightstaffSo, I think, so, yes, you know, and what I think one thing I would share to this board and to any members of the public that are watching is one of the reasons, I think one of the big things that you're going to see out of this, and it provides some context to the, you know, amount of increase in classrooms, is that, yes, you know, at Daniel's Run we're and we're either meeting all the educational specifications or exceeding them. And those are the things that are going to, I think, add to a lot of the day-to-day comfort and usability and just great experience in the building because there will actually be a closet as opposed to we lost that closet and now it's an office. That office space hopefully is already there designed for the amount of students that will be there.

So I feel that that's going to be something we've addressed through this design process.

Lauren BartelmeThank you.

Dr. WrightstaffOkay. We can go on to Fairfax High School. Thank you, Chair Pitches. And just to clarify before we move on, in terms of the charts that you saw, again, there will undoubtedly be, you know, little tweaks here and there. But for the direction of going, that's a good direction for us to move forward with for the design process.

Carolyn PitchesYes. have changed their minds about

Dr. Wrightstaffthat. Yeah. Okay. Thank

Carolyn Pitchesyou so much. I believe those were the choices.

Dr. WrightstaffAll right. Thank you. So the last thing to talk about on this is just an update for this board and the public about the work at Fairfax High School, which is currently part of the bond-funded work of our capital projects. We've recently, with our owner's rep, we did a site walk of the roof at Fairfax High School. and then the next steps that are taking place is we're working to bring in something called an envelope consultant which are just groups that look at the exteriors of buildings to do a full workup of the needs of the roof which will then lead to the right next steps for for this project right now having a we want to have a really clear understanding of what specifically needs to be done to to replace this roof what is the current state of it and that

budget and have a good idea of what some of the costs are. But I just wanted to provide that update that there is active work moving forward on that roof. And once we have those reports from the envelope consultants, I think it will inform what the right next steps are with and provide this board some options to move forward. Mr. Nebbett, anything to add on the roof project?

Dan NebhutNo, that's complete.

Carolyn PitchesI meant to send you, Ms. Gray sent me the list of all of the incidents of leaks for the last, I think it was the last 24 months that were sent to Tom Wood and then from Tom Wood to, I forget the name of the person who deals with that. But I'll send that to you because I know we had the discussion about, you know, where we see most of the issues on the roof. Thank you so much. That'll be very helpful. Ms. Sesserey.

Kristina CecereJust to clarify, I know we did a comprehensive analysis similar during our 2023, I'm looking at it right now, the facilities condition assessment. I believe I was looking at that. It's just more of we're doing this again just as we're moving forward to the final steps and really make sure that we are putting the money where as appropriately as it needs to go, right? I just want to be transparent with why we're doing another one now, four years now, right, and what that difference is.

Dr. WrightstaffSo that's a really important point. So in 2023, the City of Fairback Schools did a facilities conditions assessment. That has been some of the information we've reviewed so far. that i think leads us to making these next steps i would say that there's good information on the roof but it is mostly around the roof is this old and and typically at that stage of the the life of a roof oftentimes it's 25 years that's when you want on a traditional roof we have a non-traditional roof on on this building that's when you want to look at it i think what we need to do now is really do there's a there's a variety of things that I think will happen there'll be core samples that are drilled into the roof to have an

understanding of what's actually in there there'll be some structural analysis on the the roof structures underneath the current puff roof to ensure that we have we have a good idea of what this project will entail so the to my knowledge at least and it's it's about a thousand pages of documents but between BND and myself. We reviewed what was in that FCA. It's helpful. It gives us a good starting point. And then we want to actually have some roof experts up on the roof giving us guidance on those next steps.

Dan NebhutMr. Nebbett, did I miss anything on

Dr. Wrightstaffthat or anything you would want to share with the board?

Dan NebhutNo, I think it's important to note the structural element is a big part of the equation.

Carolyn PitchesThank you. Was there in the FCA, I don't recall, Did they just, was there any discussion, for lack of a better word, of where the old roof met, like, that's the structural piece that I'm most interested in, where the old roof met the new, like, the new part of the building when they did the renovation? Do we see a lot of leaks there? I know the M&N wings, we replaced the roof there because it was extensive. So

Dr. Wrightstaffreally, really important points to bring up. I would say that to my knowledge, that level of analysis was not done as a part of the facilities conditions assessment. We will go and double check, but I don't believe that level of analysis. That level of analysis is what we're proposing is done now to ensure that we move forward with all the right information and have a really clear 2026 current state of that roof, which then will help whoever works with us to address the issues on the roof, do it in a way that there'll be as few surprises as possible. There's always going to be a few. And it helps us budget in the right way.

Lauren BartelmeOkay, great.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Barl, do you have any questions?

Lauren BartelmeCessary got my questions. Thank you.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. All right. I think we're good.

Dr. WrightstaffAll right, well, thank you to the board for this feedback. This will help us move forward with the programming for each of our elementary school projects, and we'll come back with some information on the exterior facades.

Carolyn PitchesPerfect.

Dr. WrightstaffThank you.

Carolyn PitchesAnd then we'll move on to the Blenheim Boulevard recommendation options. The goal of the board for this is we'll just review the variety of options we have, And then we'll sort of take a roll call on what each individual board member favors, which option. And Ms. Hickman sent me hers.

Dr. WrightstaffThank you, Chair Pitches. I'd be happy to just give a brief introduction to follow up with the good framing that you gave to this conversation. And this is an identical set of potential scenarios that were shared with this board at the October regular meeting. What you'll see on the next slide is the layout of the Fairfax High School property that is impacted as a part of the Blenheim Boulevard multimodal project. And you can see that there are really two components that this board has asked to consider. One is related to an amphitheater slash outdoor classroom. And then the other is related to several sets of seating. There's three distinct seating areas that are, again, on the high school property and are a part of this project.

And to clarify, these are things that are not currently there. What is under consideration on the next slide is the different recommendations that this board could make to the city council regarding this project. One of them is no changes to the current plan. This project has been approved and gone forward and it's under construction now. One is a potential recommendation to remove that amphitheater section. One is a recommendation to remove just the benches and seating. And one is a recommendation to remove the amphitheater and the benches and seating. And again, it's the purview of the board if there's another recommendation they want to consider. But these are the four that have been presented so far.

Carolyn Pitchesokay so i hope everybody's had some time to think about these from the last time we met um miss bartlemay what is your preference

Lauren Bartelmeum i think i'm leaning towards removing the amphitheater but leaving the benches and the seating miss kelsey

Sarah Kelseyso i think removing the amphitheater but then um I don't want to remove all the benches and seating. Like, I think that one on the circle, the one on the far left, should be removed, but the other two keep. I know I want to be difficult. Okay. So, in other words, move the two boxes on the outside.

Carolyn PitchesI don't think they're going to change the design. I'll just tell you that because they already did it. So, it was either, like, remove all or remove certain things. We can, you can, let me say this. You can vote

Kristina Cecereto remove the amphitheater and that one that you don't like, but leave the other ones? Yeah. Okay.

Sarah KelseyYeah. No, I'm not. Yeah.

Carolyn PitchesYeah. So you want part of the menches, not all of them.

Lauren BartelmeYeah.

Carolyn PitchesOkay.

Lauren BartelmeMs. Sessori.

Kristina CecereI would recommend removing all of it.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. So Ms. Hickman also wants to remove all of it. I would like to remove the amphitheater. So now we're stuck because we have two, two, and...

Lauren BartelmeWhat did Ms. Heckman vote?

Carolyn PitchesAll of it. All of it. To remove all of it.

Sarah KelseyMadam Chair?

Carolyn PitchesYes.

Sarah KelseySo to explain my thinking on it is that circle one on the left is closer to the school area to like entrance. And that's where so mine was the safety concern for those more than the other ones. But I mean if it needs to be I can be fine. I don't think the other two should be removed because I like having some seating for those people who when they're walking right there. So I can be fine with all three of them keeping. I just have a slight safety concern for that circle

Carolyn Pitchesone. Let me just make sure I'm going to read Ms. Hickman's. So I it's on the record. Hold on. She said that she does not want any of the seating, but if the board would prefer some, she prefers the smaller ones. But she's a hard no on the amphitheater. So it looks like the majority are saying absolutely remove the amphitheater. we have Ms. Sessori and Ms. Hickman who would prefer all of it. It looks like three people would prefer to remove strictly the amphitheater. So if we were going with the majority, do you want to make a comment, Ms. Sessori?

Lauren BartelmeIf I'm

Kristina Cecereable to. Yeah, yeah. I just want to clarify because I noticed on the back slide the resolution and vote. Is that our resolution and vote or is that going? to counsel just to

Carolyn Pitchesclarify it's our recommendation our resolution to okay for the recommendation for council could just You know they yeah, it's their final

Kristina Cecereabsolutely,

Carolyn Pitchesbut it's my understanding that they are amenable to whatever we prefer I

Kristina Cecerethink I think my wonder right like is like what I Know we heard briefly from dr. A and that staff as to like if there been any comments about thoughts of like what those even if they are on the other side of that retaining wall, right? Is there any thoughts from staff about the impact of what those additional seating might be on, you know, just general security of the school?

Dr. WrightstaffI've not heard any additional comments than what was shared with the board previously when Dr. A was here. I think that the biggest area of focus was the concerns around the amphitheater.

Kristina CecereI think my only thought, the reason why I'm going for no on all of this, is I do see the bus stop that's there. It seems to be extended and additional seats there, from what I can tell. I'm squinting my eyes. And to Ms. Kelsey's point, I do agree. of removing something, I would remove the circle, and I could live with what's on the sidewalk side. But if the option is, like, benches, all benches or no benches, I would rather lean toward no benches. And that's kind of why my vote was there.

Carolyn PitchesCould we compromise and remove the amphitheater and the seating that's close to the amphitheater and leave the other seating. I'm just saying if we go with the majority, it's just the amphitheater, but I think that I'm okay. Ms. Kelsey would prefer to have both seating areas on that end removed, and I could get on board with that.

Kristina CecereWas it the circle that you didn't want to remove? You want to move on to the ends.

Lauren BartelmeWhich ones? These two.

Carolyn PitchesOh, those. I thought you were talking about the one all the way to the left. Yes, that

Kristina Cecereone I would like to remove. I would prefer to remove that one just because that is on the, like, that's pretty close to that parking area. You know, if, like, if I had, like, if, you know, staff is coming, but I won't reiterate my comments, but I could lean in. So you would compromise on it. I

Lauren Bartelmecould

Kristina Cecerecertainly compromise,

Carolyn Pitchesabsolutely. Is that to remove the amphitheater and then sort of the end caps seating?

Lauren BartelmeI can compromise on that.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. All right. Does that sound like a good compromise? Okay. So the recommendation is to remove the amphitheater seating and the seating that is closest to the parking area all the way to the left.

Dr. WrightstaffThank you very much. what the next steps of staff will be to prepare a resolution for this board that reflects that. And then

Carolyn Pitchesyou can

Dr. Wrightstafftake action on that at the November meeting, and then that can be transmitted to the city council.

Carolyn PitchesAnd I would like to remind the public that there is seating in the outdoor classroom space THAT IS JUST BEYOND THAT PROPOSED SEATING BY THE JUST OUTSIDE THE ACADEMY. JUST SO WE'RE NOT ALL THAT TO SAY THAT WE'RE NOT SHORT ON OUTDOOR SEATING OVER THERE ON THAT SIDE OF THE BUILDING.

Dr. WrightstaffWELL SAID, CHAIR PITCHES. THERE'S A BRAND NEW OUTDOOR CLASSROOM THAT IS ON THE FAIRBORK SEISCHO

Carolyn PitchesPROPERTY. IS ALSO OUTSIDE OF THE ACADEMY ON THEIR PATIO

Kristina CecereAREA THERE.

Carolyn PitchesOKAY. ALL RIGHT. THE NEXT THING, NEXT ITEM FOR PRESENTATION IS THE CASH PROPER AND METHODOLOGY OPTION DISCUSSION.

Dr. Wrightstaffokay so i'll go ahead and provide a an overview of the conversation for this evening we are very fortunate that earlier this school year mr eric foreman from the the city's planning department came and provided of presentation about potential cash proffer policies. The City of Fairfax did a level of service study to look at proffer policies, and they have reached out to the school board to provide input and a recommendation as to what direction they should go as it applies to school proffers. And Ms. King, if you could be so kind to go to slide three. Just as a review, proffers are a voluntary offering from a developer to offset the impact of a public facility. And so when we think about public facilities, it's all types of facilities that can receive

proffers. So parks and recreation can receive them. Roads can receive proffers. And oftentimes schools receive proffers. And these usually come on a voluntary basis from the developers of either residential or commercial properties. And specifically when we're thinking about school proffers, it is a recognition that the development of this new property may increase the enrollment in our schools. And so they would provide a financial compensation for the needed services to address that increased enrollment. So I think the two other big things to think about on this is that there are pretty specific restrictions on these that they can only be used to enhance capacity of buildings. And then it's just to kind of emphasize again, these are voluntary proffers.

So they cannot, there can't be a restriction or a requirement of an approval process. So the city can't say, well, we'll only approve your project if you provide us X amount of dollars per student. quick overview of cash proffers and how they apply here in the city and as we move forward to slide 12 miss King what has been asked of the school board and mr. Foreman talked about last time is thinking about two options one is a a methodology based on that LOS study or the level of service study that looks very specifically at each project, and it can vary a little bit from project to project of what that recommended cash proffer would be. Or it would be aligning with the Fairfax County Public Schools proffer policy, which

was most recently done in 2022, and it provides a set amount per student that is then applied to each of these new developments. And if you actually back up to slide 10, Ms. King, we'll be able to see how Fairfax County does it. And if you'll recall from Mr. Foreman's presentation, they have that specific number per student. And then they look at the yields of each different type of unit, and that's how much they would estimate to developers. The level of service study does a slightly different approach. And on the next slide, you can see how those two numbers compare. And so what we're looking to try and do this evening is to think about and have a discussion about those two options. So as we go back to slide 12, you'll see the level of service study recommendation or aligning

with the Fairfax County Public Schools recommendation. So

Dan Nebhuthopefully Chair

Dr. Wrightstaffpitches that provides an overview of the topic and I'm happy to answer any additional questions. Does

Carolyn Pitchesanybody have any questions before we? Okay. Ms. Essary, would you like to provide your comments?

Kristina CecereYeah. I'm leaning toward the superintendent's recommendation of embracing the FCPS proffer structure. I believe it provides a little more consistency.

Carolyn PitchesAgree. Ms. Bartlemay?

Lauren BartelmeI agree. I feel like with our relationship with Fairfax County, we can justify it. Ms. Kelsey.

Sarah KelseySorry. I was kind of going up and down because I had my question. Can I ask a question real quick? Of course. So whatever we say, it's just a recommendation and city council can still say no to that and do what they decide or is it still, is it kind of stay with what we decide?

Dr. WrightstaffThat's a wonderful clarification. I appreciate you bringing that up. This will be a recommendation to the city council as they approve their new proffer policy as a result of this study. So I think they're looking for the specific recommendation of the schools because it impacts them. But at the end of the day, it's part of their development policy as it relates to proffers.

Sarah KelseyAnd if they have proffers that go towards, like, if they have it for something else, CAN STILL SAY, OKAY, THE SCHOOLS WANT TO DO THIS, BUT ALL THE OTHER PROFFERS CAN GO TOWARDS THIS?

Dr. WrightstaffTHAT'S A REALLY GOOD QUESTION. I THINK WHAT I HEAR YOU ASKING IS THERE MIGHT BE ONE METHODOLOGY USED FOR PARKS AND REC PROFFER, BUT A DIFFERENT ONE FOR THE SCHOOLS. THAT IS CORRECT. THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, THEY MAY USE THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE STUDY AS IT APPLIES TO STREET PROFFERS PROPHERS AND THEN USE THE FCPS RECOMMENDATION HERE. MOST DEVELOPMENTS USUALLY HAVE A MIXTURE OF PROPHERS. SO I CAN'T SPEAK TO A CERTAIN, A SPECIFIC ONE OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, BUT YOU'LL OFTEN SEE THEY'LL PROPOSE X AMOUNT OF DOLLARS FOR SCHOOLS, Y AMOUNT OF DOLLARS FOR STREETS, AND Z AMOUNT OF DOLLARS FOR PARKS. SO YOU'LL SEE THAT MIXTURE.

Sarah KelseyIT DIDN'T REALLY CHANGE MY ANSWER, BUT I JUST KIND OF WANTED TO CLARIFICATE. THAT'S FINE. Yes, I agree with the FCPS, though.

Carolyn PitchesI think you have four for the FCPS proffer.

Dr. WrightstaffThank you, Madam Chair. We will pass that information on to the Community Planning Development Board.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. And we are going to return to the Policy Manual Option discussion as our last presentation.

Dr. WrightstaffAnd again, thank you, Chair Pitches, and I'll just provide a brief introduction for this. At the school boards for Street in September, there was discussion around potentially doing some work to provide some updates to the City of Fairfax Schools Policy Manual. This information is available publicly on our website and it is a document that guides a lot of our work. We talked as a group about the need to look at reviewing and refining some of these processes but also thinking about potentially bringing in some additional support to help with this process because it is a large one. So as we look at the next slide, as I left the retreat, I moved forward with a request to gather some information on what some of this could potentially cost or what could

be some of the timelines related to some of these proposed actions. So I'll review these briefly, and then I'll turn it over to Madam Chair for a discussion on it. So one suggestion from the retreat was working with an external consultant to analyze the current policy manual and to provide recommended next steps. So it would be looking at our document, having an outside consultant tell us what are the strengths of it, what are some of the areas we want to improve, and then in terms of doing an update, what would be those recommended next steps. As an estimate, I think that's something that could be done for approximately $5,000. Another thing that we talked about is Virginia School Board Association, VSBA, has a policy service that provides lots of resources for school divisions as they work annually for the governance and policy update process.

It provides model policies on every different type of policy a school division could ever need. school divisions use it as they look at those model policies and they modify them to meet the specific needs of their division. Subscribing to that service, we work we do other work with VSBA currently subscribing to that service would be $2,500 annually. And then I think it's very feasible that if the school board wanted to begin this process at a retreat this spring and I I think we could hopefully align the recommended next steps in the report from the consultant for the school board to consider in the spring, and then we could move forward with those next steps. I think after that, it's a little bit to be determined in terms of costs and time.

And I'll provide one piece of context on that. But undoubtedly, this type of work would require some technical review and some very important legal review. and so I think it just depends on the scope of what is recommended by someone and then what the sport chooses to decide they want to move forward with in terms of the scope in terms of what those costs might look like I would say that a lot of school divisions are in a constant process of looking at their policies so at there each meeting there often is a component of either updating or looking at policies. Now, these are divisions that might have a different operating structure than we do, but I would say that we'll just have to see what the recommendations are for the next steps

to determine how long that will take. So with that, Madam Chair, hopefully that's some helpful information for this board to consider.

Carolyn PitchesDoes anybody have any questions? Ms. Sassari.

Kristina Cecereto clarify with the VSBA policy service is it's with your experience in another school to two other school districts what does that look like is that just purely an information sharing to where like here's here's your selection of policies you can pull from or is it is there any kind of like support that's attached to that?

Dr. WrightstaffIt is primarily the former and a little bit of the latter. And I want to manage your expectations on that, right? So it is primarily access to thousands of policies. And then what I would say is on an ongoing basis as well. So when a mandate comes from the state around a new expectation or a new set of laws or something might come at the federal level, an executive order that says all, you know, all school divisions or all states must do this. They're going to provide updated model policies on a lot of those issues in a very timely manner. In terms of the actual support, they do not have someone that would be able to provide an analysis of our school board manual, to my knowledge. and they do have people on staff that we could call about a specific policy to ask questions or to take a look at that.

But I would still say it's limited in nature.

Kristina CecereCan I ask a follow-up question if I may? Yeah. So in theory, like what I'm thinking, what I would maybe lean toward is utilize a consultant given our unique situation. and then after that lean into the VSBA to monitor those updates as needed if we're pulling from common policies that other school districts use in the Commonwealth. Is that like a, I guess that would probably be, that's my thought. That's a good hybrid. Yeah, yeah.

Carolyn PitchesCan you just clarify for the board? the $2,500 that's annually, do you have to sign some sort of

Kristina Cecerecontract that

Carolyn Pitchesyou'll participate in that for any length of time, or can you do it for one year?

Dr. WrightstaffYou can do it for one year. I will be, when I received this number from talking to them, I think there was a comment along the lines of, and if you sign up for five years, the price stays the same. So there's potential that in 2028, it could be $3,000 a year. I'm just speculating. But to answer your question, Chair Pitch, is could we look at it for a year or the extent of our review process and then no longer subscribe? That's completely possible.

Carolyn PitchesMs.

Sarah KelseyKelsey. So mine's just kind of clarifying and getting into my head. So basically the VSBA is going to give us kind of the base level broad, but then like an external contact will do the deep dive more into the policies that we currently have. Yeah, start with that.

Dr. WrightstaffSo I think that's a really helpful way to think about it. WHAT I THINK IS A OR WHAT THE PROPOSED NEXT STEP IS IN TERMS OF WORKING WITH SOMEONE EXTERNAL. AND I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS. ONE IS JUST IN TERMS OF THE CAPACITY OF STAFF. BUT ANOTHER IS JUST TO HAVE SOMEONE WHO'S NOT WHO JUST HAS AN OUTSIDE OPINION ON IT. I THINK THAT'S HELPFUL. THEY WOULD LOOK AT WHAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE AND GIVE US A GOOD IDEA OF IN THESE FOUR AREAS, YOU'RE IN REALLY GOOD SHAPE. In these two areas, you need a lot of work, and then here are three things that you don't even have anything that you might consider adding. Or they're not going to help us at that price point. They're not going to help us wordsmith particular policies, right?

What I think would then be something that the board could consider is following those recommendations. then if we use the VSBA service then we would have a sort of a generic policy on on a on a on financial procurement and we would have that and then we could have the language to start with which I think takes about 90% of it of the work and then we can customize it to the city of Fairbanks specifically and then you're always going to have it's always going to be my recommendation that we have a A LEGAL REVIEW DONE OF THAT. THE NICE THING IS THAT THE VSBA HAS DONE A LOT OF THAT VETTING INITIALLY. SO YOU'RE STARTING FROM A GOOD PLACE AS OPPOSED TO STARTING WITH A BLANK PAGE.

Sarah KelseyOKAY. ALTHOUGH I WILL SAY CARRIE IS A GOOD WARDSMITHER SO WE DON'T NEED SOMEBODY ELSE.

Dr. WrightstaffI COULDN'T AGREE MORE.

Sarah KelseyMY OTHER QUESTION THEN IS BASICALLY, NEVER MIND, GO ON. IT JUST CAME OUT OF MY BRAIN. I'LL COME BACK TO IT IF I

Carolyn PitchesHAVE. Okay. Ms. Baromi, do you have any questions or do you have a preference?

Lauren BartelmeI think my questions have been answered. I do think we need a consultant. I don't think we have the staff to manage a project like this. And I think we are a very unique school system. And so I don't think we can get by with just the VSBA policy service.

Carolyn PitchesI would agree. I think Mecessory's hybrid version is probably the best. Could you just, the $5,000, what is that based on, like your estimate? Is it like an hourly rate, a typical consultant's hourly rate, and the number of hours we think it will take, or just?

Dr. WrightstaffI think it's based on some very preliminary conversations. TO GET A BALLPARK IDEA. I THINK IT'S BASED ON A TYPICAL HOURLY RATE AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE SCOPE OF A PROJECT COULD BE FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS. BUT IT IS JUST AN ESTIMATE. BUT WHAT I CAN, SO TWO THINGS, YOU KNOW, NOTHING WILL BE SIGNED OR WE WON'T MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT AWARENESS OF THE BOARD. And then I could tell you that in terms of our budgeting as a division, we probably shouldn't exceed this number. So I would say like this, you know, I could take the guidance of the board that we definitely wouldn't exceed this. And if there's something that could work below that, we could try and do that as well.

Carolyn PitchesSo we're just looking for a direction that we want to move in. Okay. Ms. Kelsey, do you have a different direction? No,

Sarah KelseyI just have a question. I will say, okay, my direction is yes. I agree that the hybrid kind of thing but then obviously when we do a consultant we have to send out a bid and all that stuff um is the february 27th a feasible date with that time frame

Dr. Wrightstaffyeah that's a really a really great question so at this price point that we're looking at we're under the um we're under the threshold of having to go through a publicly uh procured process And so the this but we would still want to be thoughtful. We would still if it makes sense look at multiple bids and if we had or multiple quotes on what something like this would take. And if we did end up using someone specifically we would certainly have a sole source justification of that. But this price point would not require a public procurement process.

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Ms. Kelsey. Okay. So I think we can all agree that we want to look into the consultants. So if you could gather some information on what we can get from that. And then the VSBA, I assume we just want to do it for a year to start or do people have?

Kristina CecereI have a question on what that might look like. and that kind of leads to some of the comment I have made earlier. Like, I guess, would the consultant need the VSBA to help support that, or, like, do we start it right after we're done with the consultants? I'm just trying to figure out, is it a chicken-egg situation? Where are we at with this?

Dr. WrightstaffSo my recommendation would be the second scenario that you described, where we work with the consultant, we get an analysis, we get a set of recommendations. And then if one of those recommendations is to work with a group like VSBA, move forward with that. So I think the first step is to get some outside help on this, and then that will inform us as to what we do next.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Can we all, is that agreeable to everybody? Yeah. Okay. All right. So that's it. That is our last presentation. before we adjourn. Okay. If there's nothing else before the board, I will adjourn this meeting at 745.