School Board Special Meeting

Carolyn Pitchesall right good evening ladies and gentlemen tonight is monday april 13 2026. this is a special meeting of the city of fairfax school board please stand for the pledge of allegiance

Speaker 4I pledge allegiance to the flag of

Kristina Cecereby voicethe

Speaker 4United States

Kristina Cecereby voiceof America

Speaker 4and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Carolyn PitchesOkay, we do not have any changes to the agenda or any announcements. So the first item is the adoption of the agenda. May I have a motion, please? Madam Chair.

Sarah KelseyMs. Kelsey. Fairfax School Board adopt the agenda as written and distributed. May I have a second?

Amit HickmanSecond.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Kelsey moved. Ms. Hickman seconded. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. None opposed. The motion passes unanimously. Okay. The next is presentations of school board and we do not have anybody signed up for citizen participation so we will move right into Dr. Wright's presentation of elementary renovation updates. Dr. Wright.

Dustin WrightstaffGood afternoon, Chair Pitches and the City of Fairfax School Board. It's great to be with you. And good afternoon to any members of our public that are here in attendance. We are here today for an important discussion that I was asked to prepare with, from direction from our school board around our capital projects here in the City of Fairfax Schools, specifically on our elementary schools and the current path that we're on with them and any discussion that we want to have about that. Before we begin I would like to introduce two guests, two really great partners with the City of Fairfax Schools. We have Miss Molly Merlot from Mosley who were in the conceptual design phase at Daniels Run Elementary School and Molly and her team from Mosley are

leading that work so a big thank you to Molly for being here. And then Miss is leading the design efforts from Architecture, Inc. And they are the design firm that we awarded a contract to last fall for the work on Providence Elementary School. I'd also like to take a minute to thank Ms. Carrie Dorsey and Ms. Barb King for all their support in helping this presentation come together. This afternoon's discussion is going to focus on our elementary school capital program. This is a continuation of the work from the 2023 Facilities Conditions Assessment and the 2024 bond referendum that was voted on by the city residents here in the city of Fairfax. And our goal for this discussion today is to review the current path that we're on,

discuss any potential options that the board would like to consider, and to ask the board to provide clarity on the direction we want to continue on moving forward. I want to start by taking a few minutes to review the agenda for our time together this afternoon. We'll begin by walking through the key questions before the board this afternoon. We'll briefly revisit some of the goals of a capital program and how we arrived at our current path. We'll look at some of the options, including financial implications and tradeoffs. And then we'll talk about some of the possible procurement approaches and other key considerations in front of this board. And then finally, we'll close with the next steps and any discussion that the board would like to engage in.

So as you see on the screen before you today, there are two key questions that this conversation will center around. First, should we stay on our current path of renovations at our elementary schools with small additions? And if not, what should change? To be really clear, this is a directional decision, not a final design approval. We're not picking paint colors or tile colors or even anything related to the design of either of these projects. It's about is this the path that the City of Prefect Schools wants to move forward with. Clarity at this stage is important to avoid delays, added costs, and potential inefficiencies. Now on the screen before you, you'll see some of the things that school boards and other public entities consider at the outsets of major capital programs like this.

And it's critical to clearly define the outcomes that a group is seeking to achieve as those goals drive decisions related to scope, design, cost, and timeline. While this work here in the City of Fairfax is already underway, the current decision point today presents an important opportunity to reconfirm and, if needed, refine these goals before proceeding any further into the design and procurement process. and establishing clarity now will help ensure that the selected path fully aligns with the board's long-term vision for both of these projects as part of the decision today the board should consider some of these core objectives and the current direction of these projects and at the level of alignment

between the current direction and these considerations so when you're thinking about a big capital project like this there are lots of different things to consider but we could anchor ourselves in some of these potential goals for a like this. Some of those goals could be meeting capacity needs now and into the future, eliminating modular buildings, supporting strong and evolving instructional programming, thinking about what are the needs of our schools today and then what are the needs of our schools 10, 20, 30 years from now, ensuring that flexibility for future use, thinking about our sustainability and wellness objectives here in the City of Fairfax, but also what do we want in these buildings and then maintaining overall cost effectiveness so different options prioritize

these goals differently so trade-offs can be expected now i want to before we dive into some of the information on where we currently are just take a quick moment to review how we got here and i think as this board knows but for the public in 2023 the board worked with mosley to do a facilities conditions assessment on all four of our buildings and green acres. That work identified the need for systemic renovations at our elementary schools. Following that FCA process, the voters approved a $220 million bond in 2024. And based on that direction that came out of the FCA and the bond work, design contracts were awarded in 2025 that were focused on systemic renovations and small additions at both of our elementary schools the current path that you're

going to hear about today reflects that original plan and investment by this board and by our community so we'd like to take a little bit of the numbers of where we currently are today the current program and this is very similar to what was messaged to the public during the bond process is a renovation and some small additions at Daniel's run the same thing at Providence Elementary School and then an allocation of some funding for the replacement of the roof at Fairfax High School the costs that you see in front of you today are based on estimates from February of 2026 but I would just remind the board that these are estimates and that in a fluid situation that they are estimates and we could potentially

see movement in those. So thinking about the overall context of this is I think something important for us to do. And you can also see in the final column the expected timelines. And these are with if we stay on our current path and our current course. But again these are estimated timelines and we all there's always the potential for unexpected delays in any of them. I want to spend a little more time talking about breaking down the elementary projects. And so we know what goes into those numbers. On the previous slide, you saw just a little over $80 million for Daniel's run. So let's break that down a little bit more in terms of what the current estimates, how that number breaks down. So you're going to see what is very typical for large construction projects, especially in the public sector.

going to see a breakdown of hard costs, soft costs, contingencies, and then F, F, and E. And let me talk a little bit about each of those. Our hard costs are any of the actual construction costs. So it's the site work that needs to happen in the building. It's the actual demolition of parts of our building. It's the construction of new parts. The soft costs are typically design fees. They're permitting fees. It's work that does not involve big equipment, big machinery, but it's a critical part of the process. What's typically standard in all of our cost modeling that was done by a firm called Forello, they typically recommend an owner's contingency of 15% of the hard cost. So when you look at that hard cost number in the second row, they recommend saying 15% of that is what you should keep around for a contingency.

And so that's how we've derived those numbers there. And then FFME is our furniture, our fixtures, and our equipment. So in a school setting, you want to be thinking about your chairs, your tables, your lobby furniture, the bulletin boards, the smart boards, the TVs, all of the things that bring a school to life that falls into that category. Now, I want to take a few minutes to talk about this current path that we're on. We've been talking about a systemic renovation with some small additions. Sometimes it's easier to imagine what that looks like with some pictures and some visuals. So what you'll see on the screen right now are some 3D renderings done by the team that's supporting our work with Daniel's run

that are conceptual images of what this renovation and addition could look like at that school. So these are not final designs, but they're illustrative of the scale and approach that we're talking about in these projects. And they show how the current path is focused on modernizing the building while working within the existing structure. So I know all of you are familiar with Daniel's Run, and so what you'll see is something that looks fairly similar to the current state of Daniel's Run on the outside. We're going to spend some time talking about the inside later on and how it will be much, much different. But in terms of what we're talking about around the scale of this project, it's a systemic renovation of all the systems within the building, every surface with inside the building.

But the exterior of the building is going to look very similar in some parts and then very different in others. So you can see that main entrance view of Daniel's Run, which resembles a lot of it, except currently a proposed, just proposed right now, covered walkway with some solar PV arrays on the front. And then you'll see what is potentially a large addition on the far side of the building. And you can see the front view of that and then what it would look like from the rear of the building. So just to try and give some context as to what some of this could look like if this is the direction that we continue on. for this next section of the discussion we want to take a few minutes to think about

the advantages and considerations of a few different options the goal of this section is to clearly present the trade-offs across cost timeline and educational outcomes for each of these potential paths we're going to start by looking at the current path that we're on for both of our elementary schools this is the path of a comprehensive renovation between 5 to 10,000 square feet. This is the most cost efficient and the most current option that we have based on the work that's been done to date. It maintains the current timelines and minimizes disruptions to that timeline process. It also has lower levels of risk since the planning is already underway. However, it does limit some of the abilities

to fully redesign spaces, and it may not align future forward goals of the board. But I am very confident that this type of approach would provide us with a high quality product and a great learning environment for our students. And we're working with some excellent designers that can support that. And you can see the estimated cost which aligns with, so all those previous cost tables are aligned with this potential option. So that's the current path that we're on. I was asked to provide some information about a few other possible options. on these sites so the next one to consider is still renovations at our schools but with much larger additions or demo demolitions of current parts of our building and rebuilding them with new construction this option would

increase flexibility and allows for more modern learning environments it could potentially better address some of the long-term capacity and programming needs of our schools however would require a significant redesign work it would have Because that design work has not begun for this type of approach, it would undoubtedly introduce timeline delays. It also creates potential sunk costs from the design work that we've already done. We'd be essentially having to start over with a different approach from a design perspective. You can see that estimated cost. And again, we would have to see more about what the potential designs would look like to see if that's in the right ballpark. I do not think it would be any lower than that.

And just to clarify one more time, no work has been done on this option. The other potential option that I was asked to share with the board is the possibility of new construction at our school sites. Could we have new elementary school buildings instead of renovations and small additions? And you see the word prototype up there because one of the most viable options that K-12 school districts are looking at are looking at prototype builds. So a building that's been designed and it has many similar features and it can be put on lots of different sites. So a lot of the design work has been done already and there's a proof of concept that the building is an effective educational environment for students and staff and community.

But then we could bring it to one of our sites here in the city of Fairfax So this option provides the greatest alignment with a potential long-term vision It allows for fully modern flexible and adaptable facilities It also creates the opportunity for a cohesive signature design of the buildings here in the city of Fairfax However, as you can see it has the highest cost it would require essentially a full restart of where we are In terms of the design process and it introduces significant logistical complexity require swing spaces, particularly for Daniels Run to allow this to happen, and you can see some of the estimated costs. Again, to be clear, no work has been done from a design perspective,

procurement perspective for this potential option. The last thing that we'll talk about in terms of some of these potential options is what it looks like when you look at the current path that we're on right now compared to a new construction path. So side by side, there's a table at the top of this chart that compares those prices directly. You can see that the new construction costs increase significantly the total across both schools. There may be some potential efficiencies at the Providence site because of if we looked at a new construction there and to just in broad strokes you would be potentially looking at building a new building behind the current one while the current one is occupied by our students that could

potentially allow for the construction to happen quicker which would allow for some cost efficiencies but again as I mentioned on the previous screen there'd be higher overall costs and there'd be cost associated with the timeline delays for that to happen if we were looking at an option like that at Daniels run a swing space would be required because it would not be possible to do a new on that site while students were still on that site. So a swinging space would be an alternate site for a temporary amount of time that the students and the staff and the community would utilize for that educational setting. You can see on the screen two potential options, both that have significant logistical challenges to them

and also have significant costs associated with them if we were to look at that option for a swing space.

Molly MerloBefore

Dustin Wrightstaffwe move into the conclusion, Another important part of a capital project to talk about with this board, and it's our procurement approaches. The current path that we're on is using something called a design-bid-build procurement approach. Now, this is all aligned with the Virginia Public Procurement Act and the standard procedures that public entities use. We are fortunate that in the City of Fairfax with some very recent changes to our our city policies that there are now Multiple options for procurement available for these type of projects So the three options that are available in the City of Fairfax now Following a city council vote a few weeks ago is not only the design bid build that we're currently looking at

But something called a design build approach and then finally a construction manager at risk approach and sometimes people call it a C-mar All of these have different potential advantages and disadvantages. I'll start with the design build because that one is not an option for us right now without completely restarting because essentially what you do is you hire one firm that takes care of the design work, the construction work, and does it all together. We've already hired firms that are doing the design work for us and they're doing it very well. The design bid build that we're currently on is you engage in two contracts. contract is for the design work and so we have contracts for both of our schools for that design

work to happen and then when that design work is completed you put out a bid for a second contract and that's with the builder so it's it's two it's essentially think about it as two separate processes and so the design work happens you finish all the drawings all that work and then And that is handed off to a builder, and the builder goes and constructs that design. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. One of the things I would bring up for this board is that the two groups are not working together during the process. While the design work is happening, we don't know who the builder is. So the ability for them to connect and discuss and work together and collaborate is not there.

Additionally, if there are any issues during the building process that are related to design changes or issues with the design that are not able to be built, that can lead to additional costs that were not originally budgeted for. The construction manager at risk process is one that is now available to us in the City of Fairfax, and it's still two contracts, like a design bid-build. is that you bring the builder into the process much earlier so if we were to pursue a process like this we'd be looking at bringing a builder into our City of Fairfax projects during the next phase of design which is called schematic design we're currently finishing up conceptual design and we're going to go into schematic design in the very near future one of the advantages

of this is then we would have a builder that could be working with our designers during the design process. A second advantage that you'll hear me talk about towards the end of this presentation is that through a construction manager at risk, you also agree on a guaranteed maximum price for your project. So a GMP is agreed on through that process with the construction manager at risk, which I think brings a lot of advantages to planning our costs and to knowing where our risks are financially over the course of a four to five year project. I'd be remiss if I didn't share with the board that there are multiple things to consider when making decisions like this and thinking about the path forward.

We've talked at several points throughout this conversation around our timeline. We're currently estimating that these projects on their current path can be finished by the fall of 2030. Any changes to that probably would delay the timeline, which again could lead to delayed costs. You can see some of the things we want to think about about our current levels of funding and our potential future levels of funding. We talked a little bit about the swing space requirements. We're currently focused on a capital project that does significant work at our elementary schools and some roof work at our high school. I would say that it's a decent summary of the facilities conditions assessment from 2023,

that our middle school and high school will need some significant investments in the next decade. So being thoughtful about that while we're making decisions now. And then just thinking about what are our sustainability and wellness goals here in the city? And then what are some of the things that could make timelines and costs uncertain or lead to potential escalations over the next four to five years? unknowns that could have an impact on our budgeting process.

Amit HickmanIn terms of

Dustin Wrightstaffnext steps for our community and this board, we're going to have online community forums for both the Daniels Run community and the Providence community later this week. Our awesome design teams will present some of the conceptual design options. They'll show those pictures that I was showing you. They'll show more detailed versions of those. and they'll go through and have the opportunity to take some feedback from our community and our staff members who want to be a part of that and then next monday the school board has the opportunity to hear some more information about the specific conceptual designs and to give our designers some direction on do we want to go with option one or option two or option three

again today's conversation is just trying to receive clarity around are we staying on this current path. And then next week we would be talking about which of the specific options the board would like to direct the designers to continue to move forward with. So we return to those two key questions about staying on this current path and if not, any changes that should be made. Based on the analysis of the options, the current project status and broader implementation considerations, I would like to provide the following recommendation to the school board. It's my recommendation that we continue on the current path of comprehensive renovations with small additions at both elementary schools. This approach maintains momentum,

avoids delays, and minimizes additional costs associated with restarting the project. It's my recommendation that we incorporate modest budget adjustments of approximately $3 to $5 million per school to allow for targeted enhancements. These investments would support elevate the quality functionality and distinctiveness of our schools. And it's my recommendation that we consider through the procurement process transitioning to a construction manager at risk delivery model to establish that guaranteed maximum price, to introduce the contractor expertise earlier in the process, to increase our flexibility while maintaining cost discipline, and to reduce risk of delays and costs overruns. It's my hope that this

recommendation balances fiscal responsibility project momentum and long-term quality and positions the division to deliver high-quality facilities while maintaining public trust and confidence at this point we're open to the board for any discussions questions and feedback I have two wonderful colleagues here that can help answer detailed technical questions and I'm happy to clarify any areas where additional information is needed so thank Thank you, Chair Pitches. This concludes the presentation.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Barlmay, do you have questions?

Lauren BartelmeYeah, I guess my question is to both of you about the construction manager at risk. So I know when we started the contracts with both of you, our only option with the city was the design bid build. So I was curious about both of your firm's experience with that model instead.

Molly Merloat mostly we have done many many projects i can get you a specific number but it's something that we do regularly we have full confidence in that procurement method it is nice to have a contractor on board early to be able to discuss design decisions discuss materiality be able to talk about what they're seeing in the supply chain coming that was one of the things that we saw with COVID and the escalation, having the contractor in early helps avoid specifying materials that might look at alternatives that would save you money and still give you the same performance. So we like to work as a team and collaborative. So getting that contractor on early, having them be part of the team really does set you up for success

in the long run, I would say.

Allison LeggAnd same with Architecture Incorporated. We have experience with all three of the procurement types that Dr. Wright mentioned. What we found particularly helpful in the CMAR, like Molly said, is it develops a partnership, a collaboration early on. And also the school division has the opportunity to control the selection process a little bit more. So with a design bid build, typically the lowest bidder is the direction that the school board must follow through with. when you do engage in a CMAR type of delivery, you can control the requirements a little bit more. So it's not necessarily the lowest bidder that wins the job. It's somebody that has a good price but also gives you those relationship kind of partnership feelings

that everybody wants to move into in a project that is going to be part of our lives for the next four to five years.

Dustin WrightstaffThank you. And I would just add two quick pieces of context first the there's a very large project under consideration of the city of Fairfax the Willard Sherwood community center that is currently scheduled to utilize a construction manager at risk procurement process and then second any contract that would be with a construction manager at risk would come before this board for approval

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Dr. Wright.

Molly MerloMay I say one other thing that's advantage? Those were all great points. Another thing that Dustin mentioned is having that guaranteed maximum price, which is nice to know when you're budgeting that they're part of the team. We'll use independent cost estimators. You've seen the work from Pharrella, and I know Downey and Scott does a great job too, but having the CMA on board throughout at each milestone, we'll have our cost estimator and the construction manager will go through their subs and vet the prices so you'll get almost a double check on the price at each milestone and then at that final milestone they will give you the guaranteed maximum price for you to decide on that does not account for if there are changes from the owner and

directions you want to go that would be an additional to the guaranteed maximum but for anything that's included in design up to that point that you will that will be included and you shouldn't see change orders do

Carolyn Pitchesyou have another question I'm good okay miss Kelsey

Sarah Kelseyyeah I have a couple actually so I need to go back so you're fine yes no okay going along with that question is there a cost difference or is that how does it affect our current what we have going right now them if we switched from the design bill bid build to a cmar

Dustin Wrightstaffthat's a great question i don't i think if if anything it would allow the cost to come down slightly because we'd be holding less of those contingencies because that at risk part of the construction manager at risk is that that moving over to their side but i still think we're in the right ballpark budget-wise whether it's the design bid build or the construction manager at risk i think these that are the appropriate ones for the board to consider. So it's not necessarily a cost savings, and I don't anticipate drastic cost increases if a different procurement approach is selected. And if there are significant costs that we're trying to keep as a board in a City of Fairfax School Division, which I think lines up with what we've been doing all along,

we can write the contract that way or we can do the design work to ensure that we're within those cost parameters.

Sarah Kelseychange anything with where we're at? Like right now, like does it say we have to go back through the whole bid process again or can we just step? I know how long the bid process takes and that's why I'm thinking is it something that like if we decide to go with the CMAR, we now have to go back to the step one and pick new teams?

Dustin WrightstaffYeah, that's a great question. And so I'm going to take a first crack at it and then I'll look to my friends or maybe I'll get the scientific head nod that I'm we have not done any procurement bid process on a builder yet. So that process would not have to start over because it has not begun. For design work, I think our contracts are able to shift at this point in the process where we are. What I would say for this board is there's some time sensitivity to making a decision to go to a construction manager at risk, and we're okay. We're in that window. but you typically want the construction manager on board either during at the latest during the schematic design or at the very latest at the end of schematic

design and so that's something that that's the next phase that we're moving into so it would be something that I would be bringing back to this board for consideration hey we're gonna go down this procurement approach very soon

Carolyn PitchesDo you want me to keep going? Go ahead. That has not been gone, but also the

Molly Merloschematic line is currently scheduled in the June.

Sarah KelseyYou tell me. Do you want me to pause? No, no. We'll

Carolyn Pitchesjust get them done.

Sarah KelseyOn slide 13, I just have a couple questions on that slide. Between and new builds, and this may be because of location purposes or whatnot, when you look at the renovation, Providence is the higher amount, but when you look at the new build, Daniel's run is the higher amount. Can you explain that to me?

Dustin WrightstaffI'm going to do my best. Okay. So two things. First, these are estimates. We have, we worked with one of our estimators to get a detailed estimate on what a new build But it's based on it starting right away. So it's lower than the number that you see for Providence of $110 million estimated. It's closer to $100 million. If we were to go this direction, it would delay the projects. The Daniels Run one is higher because one of two things would happen. We would either have to start the work later on because of the swing space options, or we would have to do a significant amount of work on a swing space that would have costs. So that's why that's hard. So it's either going to be work that's not going to start until 28, 29,

which is just going to increase the cost, or we're going to have to do a significant amount of work right now to make sure that we have a functional swing space.

Sarah KelseyOkay,

Speaker 4that

Sarah Kelseyanswered that question. of that it does say we'll be operating two elementary schools on one site for approximately two years we would we have both schools so

Dustin Wrightstaffwhat

Sarah Kelseyif you use the old Providence building yeah

Dustin Wrightstaffso I mean that that's a you know I'm probably stressing out Molly and Allison you know by saying two years but it would be thinking about how long do we actually have to have the Daniels run community in that old building right and so um and and two years you know between two years which was also three summers could the demolition and construction work at daniels run it's in the ballpark it might be a little bit longer than that just to be honest of how long it would take

Sarah Kelseyokay and then are we estimating this timeline you bumped you said 2032 so we're estimating that it will take two years to build each school between the design and build

Dustin Wrightstaffthen two years would be the actual construction time the design time is is probably what we've typically been looking at is about two years one year for design you know and then one year for coding permitting zoning um that type of work sometimes a little bit longer but the two years would be for construction work

Allison Leggand i did want to say that if a new build prototype direction is taken we can use a prototype for the building but there are very different sites so the site process would still follow as if it were a new building so there is that consideration to take as well we would be still required to follow the same timeline for submitting for site plan review and special use permit and all does not get shortened or decreased if you're using a prototype building that has been you know designed on another site

Carolyn Pitchesthank you miss hickman

Amit Hickmanum i don't have any questions i just want to kind of give my thoughts behind this first off i appreciate all of the information i do strongly agree with the superintendent's recommendation of continuing on the path that we're on i think we were very clear to the public the importance of getting these renovations started and done um i'm ex definitely very much i would even say opposed to going with a new build option for the fact that the fsa did clearly state that daniels run needs the work or sooner rather than later so to hold off to do a new build of providence and then daniels run i think would be really um challenging uh to those students who are in the school who would be kind of dealing with

the in-between phase there um and i fully support and i appreciate but all of your feedback on um the cmar style a bit i think that is open openings up opens us up to better options than we've had and so i think we can go down that road with the current path with the understanding of that there expenses if we are wanting to add on a couple of other things that maybe we didn't originally know about or think about in our initial bid however many when we started this whole process

Carolyn Pitchesthis is sorry

Kristina Cecereby voicethank you my my thoughts around this was more looking to Daniel's run I'm not of that community so I really do want to put my trust in this Hickman since that's her community very much so I'm I mean we're all representing all schools but when you raise your kids for 10 years at Providence it's kind of hard not to you know it's hard to put your shoes in elsewhere my my thought though is whenever I go into Daniel's Run and I see Daniel's Run it's such a small plot of land built in 1956 and it doesn't look much different than when it was built as Leighton Hall and so you know, when we started having kind of these conversations, what if we could do a new build for Daniel's run? I don't know if putting them into Providence,

waiting two years is the right solution, but I also don't want to delay any further given our timeline of our bond. And that's kind of where my, I'm just sharing my thoughts out loud really with that. So I guess here's my question, right? If we go down the path of sticking with whether it's a CMAR or a design bid build, whatever path with that. Can we, and we do have three really nice designs of Daniel's run, but it doesn't resolve some of the busing, I think, that some people were talking about, or the proximity to the road and whatnot. like is there anything we can kind of do to to highlight some of those concerns with a renovation cost which is cheaper yeah

Dustin Wrightstaffthank you miss necessary i think you're bringing up some really important points for the board to consider and then us as staff and our designers you are correct that we have some site-based challenges with Daniel's Run. The primary one being that if you know Daniel's Run, it's kind of built into the grade of, you know, it's built into the hill. And when you get down to the bottom of the hill on the backside of it, we enter into a floodplain area, which really limits where we can do construction. So there are some challenges within that. I would respond with one point and then I'm going to set up Ms. Merlot to potentially talk through and help understand where we are in the process and what's possible now

and what's possible moving forward. You know, I have a tremendous amount of confidence that even though within this existing footprint, the approach that we're taking with both of our design firms are going to lead to buildings that when they're fully complete, you know, it'll be a process to get there. It's going to be a phased occupied renovation, which means there's going to be a construction site going on in some spots and students in modular buildings in some spots and disruptions to traffic in other spots. That's just part of what happens on every phased occupied renovation everywhere. But when we get to the end of it, we're going to have a building that not only all of us in this room and all of us in the city are proud of,

of the building which is a great place for every single one of our students to learn and a great place for our staff members to work and a great place a great point of pride for our community I think that's all possible within the renovation especially within some of the budget parameters that we're looking at miss Merlot is going to help me talk about around you know where we are in the process of a concept conceptual design so what I'll bring to you next week and what will be shared at the community meetings are some of those And there's three distinct designs, and they all, I think, meet different potential goals, and they all have some different advantages and challenges. What I think is possible is that we are giving our firms the direction of, hey, we're looking for a three-story addition and some enhancements to these parts of the building.

We did not pick the exact shape and size of that addition. we did not pick the exact layout of the interior of the building so some things are possible to still tweak along the way and then if we really find something that is really you talked about buses or you talked about you know or potentially kiss and ride loops we can still work through that through the schematic design process to make some of those changes miss Merlot can you add on to that and and and you know help necessary with the really important question that she asked

Carolyn PitchesSo you don't have to answer twice. Could I just ‑‑ my question is very similar to Ms. Essary. I feel like you would end up maybe having to answer some of it twice. So my concern with the ‑‑ so my kids also went to Providence but I've spent a lot of time in Daniels over the last 16 years. And my ‑‑ I am okay with the recommendation move forward as is i am not as gung-ho moving forward daniel's run um as is uh i i've spoken with dr wright about this is there in the design phase is it possible to relocate the main entrance to the area where the hallway that's next to the current front office to the cafeteria which faces the faculty parking lot for that to become the bus loop area and the front of the building to widen the current front sort of loop area and have kiss and ride exit

out closer to the Sherwood Center to move it away from St. Leo's and to sort of give that ‑‑ every time I walk into Daniels Run it feels very claustrophobic. You have that column, you have the office right there. It's not quite as open and spacious as when you walk into Providence. So I don't know if that is a larger addition. So my point The point is could we have a different option for Daniels Run with a larger edition or more of different design and keep the Providence one as is but look to do something a little different with Daniels Run.

Molly MerloThank you for that. Thank you, Dr. Wright, for teeing this up. the answer to your questions we are on a very tight site that is acknowledged there's a floodplain changing the budgets not going to change that but there are a lot of things we can do we've been very mindful of the budget we were given and allow the square footage so trying to respect that and the designs that are being put forward. So if the budget adjusts, it does allow us more opportunity to maybe more significantly impact the area of that main addition, where that goes. That's a problem. We'll still have a traffic consultant that we're trying to get a study done before school gets out. That's something needed to get scheduled with Dr. Wright in the next couple weeks

to really look hard at what are the options there or the site within the space that's there. And if we open that up, then maybe we do have more options that may delay our schematic a little bit. There might be a little bit of change for timeline. I think we could work it out within the overall timeline of construction with exploring a little bit more options on the design side before we finalize that. But I think of the concepts it's really looking at the big picture of which way we want to go with the addition that's not necessarily exclusive of can we continue to refine this and change the design from this point on life. The concept is big picture schematic is really going to dig down more into which rooms or beside which rooms

to ensure that we have all of the systems in the buildings that are needed. if we need to reconfigure the front entry, maybe we say we like option three, but we still want to look at can we reconfigure the entrance and maybe look at flipping where that is and the bus loop and the car. That's something that could be continued to be explored during the schematic design, and it might adjust our timeline a little bit.

Carolyn PitchesYeah, that does. Thank you, Ms. Essary.

Kristina Cecereby voiceYeah, I have another question. so if we move toward um a new build is there any footnotes anything from like our bond legalese that we should be aware of that prevents us from doing that like the bond that we have from the public does it allow us to do to consider a new build or is it only restricted to renovations of the current buildings.

Dustin WrightstaffSo Ms. Dorsey is going to see if she can pull up the exact language that was in our, on the bond while we're talking. My, so here's my, you know, with the caveat of I'm doing this from memory. My recollection of the bond language on the election was for on to support school construction it was very broad and very general okay so in terms of that I think there's there is some latitude to look at that I will say that in the materials that were prepared throughout the summer of 2024 and that I believe are still available on our website right now there was it got a little more specific talking about elementary school renovations the So I'd have to get back to you in terms of what we're legally able to do and not able to do,

but I believe that there's enough latitude that we're within the – where we are very tight is the actual number of the bond, and I'm going to encourage us to make sure that there's plenty of room in our overall budget to just plan for unexpected things. But I believe we could have the ability to consider this option language that was on the referendum

Lauren Bartelmeokay so

Carolyn PitchesI have

Lauren Bartelmea

Carolyn Pitchesfew questions first of all the addition for Daniel's run is that taking up the blacktop space then that's on that end of the building or am I like it's a

Dustin Wrightstafflittle yeah that's a great question it gets a little bit smaller but there still is blacktop space over there and then some of that in one of the one of the concepts they look at recapturing some of that potential blacktop space which has a pretty specific use case right now in in one of the courtyards but that's just an option at this point so that that's definitely being considered as as we look at that

Carolyn Pitchesokay and that might leave we talked about maybe a different type of if it was possible to move the main entrance we could use part of that addition money on that other side to that would sort of push I'm I feel like I'm like trying to redesign a house I have no idea what I'm doing but if you pushed that out that would open up the entryway a little bit more and that or that area where the stairs are you wouldn't come right into the building and be right there.

Dustin WrightstaffAnd I would just, yeah, go ahead, Molly.

Molly MerloYeah. We're already looking at carrying out some of the structure there as you come in, really making more of a presence as you walk into the school with opening up to the library. I can't imagine the courtyard and the courtyard. We haven't gotten in detail in the conduct of going on some of the easier things that we talked about and making out I would say that is something that Dr. Wright has been working with upon and really emphasizing that entry point that we are more open and welcome into the school and then a dynamic space for the students as well as the community at this time. and i think because no matter which option you choose that's all going to be part of the schematic design and it will be

whether or not we do it okay for the main interior but it is certainly okay

Carolyn Pitchesokay and the gym will that be fully renovated as part of this

Molly Merloso the gym meets the size for the ed specs but we will be redoing the floor looking at the acoustics the finishes and all of that but the physical walls of the gym probably are not getting expanded as part of this

Carolyn Pitchesokay um also do we know what the capacity is at green acres just so we have that information in terms of student capacity like number program capacity

Dustin Wrightstaffvery limited if we were to utilize anything like that it would be a combination of modular spaces and using the building so you know be thinking about you know the stress and to be clear we've had zero conversation so if i have colleagues or partners around the city you know that we're just talking hypothetically right

Carolyn Pitchesyes hypothetically i was just curious yeah i didn't

Dustin Wrightstaffi i

Carolyn Pitcheshad thought that that building originally could house up to 400 or 450 students but I was not

Dustin WrightstaffI think that would be generous what we're looking at is utilizing the gym cafeteria spaces office space and then having a significant amount of modular spaces and possibly looking at some of those six to eight classroom modulars that that come with plumbing

Carolyn Pitchesokay and I am in favor of the CMR procurement just make sure for the delay we talk well you know I'm not gonna Christmas sorry go ahead and ask your question

Kristina Cecereby voicemy question actually follows up with what you're just having conversation about we often talk about green acres being an insufficient site for a school building anyway because of the, I mean, can it function today even for egress of bus flow, car flow, everything else as a school building? I mean, is that truly an operational site for a swing building?

Dustin WrightstaffIt would require significant modifications for it to be operational.

Kristina Cecereby voiceSo.

Dustin WrightstaffModifications. Oh, I'm sorry.

Kristina Cecereby voiceNo, I apologize for interrupting there. um but but basically it would require us putting money into that to make it work so that then it could be a swing space as we renovate

Dustin Wrightstaffthat is correct we'd have to put money into it for modulars in those spaces and then i would think that there would need to be ada modifications within the building especially in some of the bathroom spaces and then probably significant ada modifications in our parking lot or curb cuts and things like that. So there would be an investment in that building to have it be functional for the two to three years that it would be needed to use, hopefully closer to two years.

Kristina Cecereby voiceI think I'm going to end right now on a statement. In my personal opinion, I am not in favor of using green acres as a swimming space given that, I mean, just it needs a new roof in general one kids from an older building to a much older building is not I think an idea an ideal situation using Providence as a swing space I'm not in favor of swing spaces in general I think it's very disruptive for luckily we live in a smaller jurisdiction where it's not much of a burden but two years is a burden I think so I as much as I would like to see maybe Daniels run have new building maybe there's some opportunity to use the current site and rethink some of those things and make it flow better I'm not in favor of using swing spaces

at all so thank you

Molly Merlouh

Carolyn Pitchesdoes anybody have more questions yes miss kelsey

Sarah Kelseybrought up like 12 more in my head but the one that I was thinking of just as a reminder I know we're not talking about it but we are talking funds here because we do have to think of that with what we had in the bond and what we had said can you remind us how much the roof was estimated at for the high school because we do need to keep that in our head that we have there's

Carolyn Pitches41 was

Sarah Kelseyit okay and I missed it okay

Dustin Wrightstaffso we I believe there was an initial estimate done by our cost estimators that supported the bond work that had it

Amit Hickmanit did not change drastically but

Dustin Wrightstaffwe revised that estimate not you know so that's that's where the current estimate is as of February 2026 and we're hoping to start doing the bid process and that work later on this summer so I think wherever it ends up pretty close there there we do have some options as a board to consider with that project in general but for today's conversation I think the number on the screen is the appropriate one to consider

Sarah Kelseyokay I'm sorry but it's still going to rattle in my head just for clarification on what you just said about having to move some kids out for the phasing are you talking so if we would did the reno at Daniel's run some of those kids would have to be moved into modules at Daniel's run

Molly MerloNo, I'm talking about a game

Sarah Kelseyof land.

Molly MerloWe're going to have to have some monitors on site. We're going to have to look carefully at the phasing and how it works. If you have to separate the instruction activity from the students, there will be lots of parking and access throughout the instruction. We'll have to look at how to do that to accommodate the school function and keep those activities.

Sarah Kelseyclarify because we were talking green acres and then you said that and i'm like wait are we still on green acres or so i wanted to make sure that we were talking daniel's run as so we will still have to have modules for those kids and it may change change as the process goes on

Dustin Wrightstaffabsolutely and that that's the case for both projects they'll certainly be again that those during different phases there'll be different portions of the building that will need to use modulus throughout the school day

Sarah Kelseyjust wanted to make sure we're all on the same page and my brain

Carolyn Pitcheswas working right okay thank you

Lauren Bartelmeokay

Carolyn Pitchesum i will just end by saying that i i agree with your recommendation with the one exception that i'd like to put more money into daniel's run for a larger sort of either a larger addition or just to make sure that we're able to do a few and

Dustin Wrightstaffjust to clarify that with a focus on those entrance areas?

Carolyn PitchesYeah. And if there's anything we can do to look at the traffic, obviously the traffic study will tell us a lot.

Dustin WrightstaffAll right. Thank you.

Carolyn PitchesAll right. Thank you, Dr. Wright. Has everybody got all their questions answered? okay no dr wright you had said you would you know we need to make we need to make a decision as and how would you would you like that to be in are you giving us time or do you want it this evening

Dustin Wrightstafffor the direction on this conversation Yes. Well, I would, you know, I would defer to the board on what you need. We were hoping to be able to, if we're going to stay on the timeline next Monday, talk about which of the designs we want the firms to continue moving forward with the schematic design. So I think, you know, any additional potential time for deliberation will require us to keep looking at the timeline. But I would say the sooner the better but you have to be comfortable as a board with providing that direction

Lauren Bartelmemiss borrow me Do you have I just wanted to add because I think necessary Hickman and his pitches all said that they were in support of the Seammer and I also am so I don't know

Carolyn PitchesOkay, Miss Kelsey procurement. Do you have a preference? I was Seammer was where I was so we can all agree with the preference of the board in terms of the renovation miss barnall made are you leaning i i mean i i think i agree with

Lauren Bartelmestaying the course with providence and following dr wright's recommendations and i like the idea of exploring some options that daniel's run a little further

Carolyn Pitchesokay miss kelsey

Sarah Kelseyi i came in because i thought his email originally had said we were doing the vote on the 20th so i came in as just we're not going to be

Carolyn Pitchesi don't think

Sarah Kelseyit doesn't

Carolyn Pitchesrequire

Sarah Kelseya vote no but i thought we were like making that final decision on the 20th was what we originally had said and so that's why i came into this meeting with that and i kind of would like to look at the plans a little bit more okay before i say yes or no on anything

Carolyn Pitchesokay um dr wright

Dustin Wrightstaffthank you miss pitches uh so mrs kelsey the biggest thing that we're looking for clarity on is are we sticking with renovations of our two elementary schools so that if yeah that's what we're hoping to leave with this evening

Carolyn Pitchesyeah so renovation or new build is basically i'll come back to you ms hickman

Amit Hickmanum yeah my understanding was that so that's why i came in today with definitely wanting to continue with renovations with a further discussion when we meet next week about kind of what our different options are it sounds like we're giving you and also, sorry, you a directive, to relook at some of the options that we have available to see if there is some more flexibility with the understanding that it would cost more to do some movement in terms of whether it be the entrance to Daniel's run or just what that, either where the physical space is or how it looks or to open that and just to add a little bit more into that design.

Carolyn PitchesI'm so

Kristina Cecereby voicesorry. I think Hickman summed up all my thoughts there too quite well. I came into today considering a new build for Daniel's run given the options here and I think it sounds like Mosley can work with what we have and focus especially on that cost to doing a new build is much more expensive nowadays it's not Jenny Dean anymore so but that's I'm in favor of

Carolyn PitchesAnd Ms. Kelsey, you can just, why don't you touch base with Ms. Dr. Wright in the next day or two?

Sarah KelseyWell, I was going to say, if everybody but me has made the decision, then it doesn't really,

Speaker 4it's

Sarah Kelseymajority though. Well, it does. Your opinion does

Carolyn Pitchesmatter. My

Sarah Kelseyopinion is I don't want to feel like I'm just, we're, you hate that I'm going to say it, but I'm going to say it, that we're sticking a bandaid on some of this stuff and we're going fix it down the like sooner rather than later and we're just we're adding on to a few spots but I that's I that's why I came in with that thought in my head that I was gonna have time to look at some things more and see and so I that's just but if everybody else is of the opinion that it we just do reno then I've given this is where I'm at and I don't know that

Carolyn Pitchesjust take a couple days You know, I mean we're not gonna start tomorrow. So no, I

Sarah Kelseyknow but

Carolyn PitchesTime and look over it

Sarah Kelseychange all your opinions. That's why because they're already ready to argue. So okay

Carolyn PitchesYes, Miss Hickman

Amit HickmanI just want to put it out that I by no means see a renovation as a band-aid. I am not willing to approve a renovation as a band-aid My understanding is it would be a renovation. It would not be well ideally yes we would all want a new build the actual logistics of it the timing of it the cost of it seemed prohibitive but we would definitely be making sure that we are not just putting on a band-aid and I would it looks like you have something to say to that because that would not be something I would support

Carolyn Pitchesand could you maybe address I think to be clear I think a lot of our concerns with structural structurally as HVAC so we have a built in the 50s that was then renovated on and the HVAC has been problematic and we know commercial buildings typically are not you know the HVAC is an issue you're not it's not going to be temperate you know in every part of the building but are there some things that we will be able to do to you know correct some of those current issues that we have

Molly Merlois

Carolyn Pitchesit have push the button

Molly Merlookay oh I think I just wasn't pushing it hard enough before this yes I would very much agree it is not slapping a band-aid on the existing building we would be very disappointed if that was what you felt like after the renovation and is for this to be an award-winning, wonderful facility for students in Fairfax City, something that you're going to be proud of. That doesn't necessarily mean that it has to look completely different on the outside, but there are things that if that's a concern that we can look at doing. We will be replacing all of the windows and the doors. We're going to be looking at more energy efficient models. We're going to be redoing all of the systems. We're pretty much taking the bones of that building, which are good, and going to be reusing those things,

which is responsible for the environment to do, too. But then we're going to be infilling it then with new systems. We're going to be doing all new finishes, like Dr. Wright talked about. We're going to be looking for those areas that they can have special moments that are really emphasizing flexibility in education and choice for students and teachers and supporting the staff within that environment and all of the options will be increasing the circulation either between two floors or all three floors which is going to be a big difference we're going to look at making those courtyards more usable throughout the year absolutely we're looking at energy efficiency it's going to be a lead silver building we're looking at which systems are going

to serve you well both first cost and life cycle costs and are going to operate efficiently we're looking at bringing in energy through photovoltaics on the roof and potentially canopies in the parking lot bringing in new ev charging stations into the parking lot as well as looking at what can we possibly do both to increase parking to help ease circulation to bring queuing off of blenheim and make sure that we have enough area for the buses to service the school and separating the buses from the cars. So those are all things we are looking at. We're going to make sure that this is an exciting building for the staff and the students and the whole community somewhere that they want to come. And the rendering, you could see there's an outdoor amphitheater, something we know we're

constricted on meeting space within the building for the whole school, but maybe bringing something you have rock the block for the community in the city of fairfax maybe having rock the school area that can be used for outdoor gathering spaces throughout the year and be an asset to the community as well so we really want to maximize the use of the site and the building that's there in a responsible way that will get everyone excited yeah

Dustin Wrightstaffthank you miss merlot and miss leg is it fair to say that it's a similar approach for providence

Allison Leggyes very similar and i did also I also want to add that Molly and I have been working with Fairfax County Public Schools because we understand that they maintain these buildings. So we have met with them on the HVAC systems and we've, our team has presented multiple options for them and they've kind of selected a pathway that they want to go which is different than the system at Providence as well as Daniel's run. So it will not only be a completely brand new system, it will be something that Fairfax and they want to engage with so it's a system that they are comfortable with maintenance on it and so I think that's that's a real positive too and the other thing I wanted to note was the school division had a very very smart

foundation to start with the facilities condition assessment because that was basically the first check to see what are the attributes of these buildings and what can be fixed, right? Mechanical systems have usually a 20, maybe 30-year lifespan, so that's something that can absolutely be addressed. Like Molly mentioned, the structural systems, there are good bones, so those FCAs didn't encounter any foundation or settlement or major structural concerns, and where we've seen that would be a big instigator to move away from a renovation-type project new construction type projects so that the bones are good. That's a very responsible approach to these projects. And they will, once they're done,

they will be 21st century learning environments. So even though there are going to be some similarities that you may notice, when you walk through the school, they're gonna feel very different. And we hope there are things that you can say, those are new light fixtures, right? makes me feel, that makes me think a very different way. But we also hope that you walk through our schools and you don't know why you feel better, but that you just do. And so that is going to be our task as designers to just create these wonderful spaces that you are going to be proud of and we want to be proud of too.

Carolyn PitchesOK, and I do appreciate you speaking with FCPS about their, but I will say that we would also like since we are paying for the the renovations and these systems and We've had issues at Fairfax High School in the past where they were unable to fix it And we end up paying we ended up paying For that Ourselves we just would like to be included and I'm sure you you'll make sure right. Yeah, thank

Dustin Wrightstaffyou chair pitches Lake said so at the end of the day the City of Fairfax schools is selecting the HVAC system that'll be in both of our buildings but I think she did a really nice job of articulating how important it is to have some dialogue with the teams that will be maintaining our systems so I believe the approach that we're going to you utilize in both buildings is something that is going to address a lot of the historical concerns it's it's sustainable in its approach make sense economically, but I wish I would have been a principal in a school with these type of HVAC systems because it's going to bring a lot of advantages. So at the end of the day, it's our decision, just like all aspects of this are, but we

want to have that dialogue with our partners in Fairfax County from the maintenance perspective. And it's been a productive dialogue with that team.

Carolyn PitchesYes, and I appreciate that. I just want to make sure that we are all educated on what the system is and how is it different have since that primarily is the major complaint that we get so

Kristina Cecereby voicenecessary I just had a quick statement and you I want to thank mr. Kelsey for highlighting that because oftentimes people do think like a renovation is like when we do renovation our house it's just a small section of our house but I'm thankful that you've highlighted that the whole building will be renovated that every classroom every learning space every nook and cranny will be revised and and so you know having having been through as a professional through a school renovation I am excited to see what's especially Providence because that's my my home school but that's but what you are going to come up with with Daniel's run and whatnot so thank you

Carolyn Pitchesokay I'd like to thank both of you for coming and dr. Wright for the presentation I think we I can speak for the board we feel a little bit more educated than we have felt in terms of these projects so we really appreciate you spending some time with us this afternoon and

Dustin Wrightstaffthey since they did such a great job they're coming back next Monday as well to hang out with us again when we look at some of the specific plans so I think that's again a great example of the partnership that we have with both of these design firms and then as board members you'll know that you can really ask specific questions from the experts that are behind some of these designs. So looking forward to that next Monday.

Carolyn PitchesSo we'll see you on the

Kristina Cecereby voice20th.

Carolyn PitchesOkay, great. Thank you. And we do not have any public hearings this evening and we don't have any action items. So I will adjourn this meeting at 515. And for Dr. Wright.