School Board Regular Meeting

Carolyn PitchesGood evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight is Tuesday, sorry, excuse me, June 3rd of 2025, and this is a regular meeting of the City of Fairfax School Board. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Speaker 9I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Carolyn PitchesOkay, we have no changes to our agenda and there are no other announcements The first item on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda May I have a motion please madam

Sarah Kelseychair Miss Kelsey I move that the city of Fairfax school board adopt the agenda as written and distributed.

Carolyn PitchesWe have a second I

Sarah KelseySecond

Carolyn PitchesOkay, miss Kelsey move miss Bartle me seconded all those in favor signify by saying aye aye None opposed. The adoption of the agenda passes unanimously. Our next agenda item is the certificates to our 2024-2025 student representatives and SAT student representatives. If we could ask Ms. Sia Batra, I'm sorry, to come forward for her certificate. So I guess we're just going to come down around front and we'll take photos. Board superintendent.

Speaker 9Thank you. Thank you.

Amit HickmanI just want to take a moment to thank you, Sia, for your hard work this year, your dedication to the city, to the students, to all of our schools, for being able to come and each month provide a written report of all the different things that are happening. of what's happening in the schools from the students perspective from the principal's perspectives and from the staff we've appreciate your time doing that and we wish you all the best of luck next year now William and Mary is very lucky to have you come back and visit it and hope to get to see you as you continue on and grow in the future thank

Carolyn Pitchesyou miss Hickman okay next we'd like to invite Ms. Izzy, okay Izzy, Benavides, yes okay. And Mr. Tyler Rickman to come forward.

StudentThank you, thank you.

Speaker 9Thank you.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffThank you. What I wanted to do is I wanted to go ahead and say a few words about the two recipients that were just up here a minute ago. We cannot thank you enough. When I first got here, one of the things Chair Pitches had said was we really need more student voice, student representation on the superintendent's advisory committee. and in working with Kerry Dorsey we've tried to figure out what would be a good way to do that and boy did we do it with the two of you being a part of the superintendent's advisory committee the input that you provided us was really from a lens that we needed and a voice we needed all along in our process I I cannot thank you both for really educating me. The perspectives you granted and the awareness

and what was going on, what students felt, particularly at Fairfax High School, but really given the context from all the different aspects, whether they were students in different activities, whether it was athletics, it truly allowed us collectively, the board. I'll let those members speak to it. But it truly, truly was what we needed. And the gift that you gave us of your time of being a part of that committee, I will forever remember as one of the best attributes and aspects of making sure that I was listening to what was going on. And not only listening, but as I said in the last meeting that we had, applying. And I was even commenting, one of the comments that we received was about, the most recent one,

was about the students gaining entry into the high school through the screening process. And I found out that today, it actually is moving a little bit better. But that wouldn't happen if we didn't get the honest, from the ground feedback that both of you provided. And again, I can't thank you enough on behalf of Mr. Phillips and Kerry Dorsey and those We just can't thank you enough for being a part of that. Chairman Pitches, I don't want to speak for anybody else, but thank you so much for giving me a moment to say thank you, both of you.

Carolyn PitchesTyler and Izzy, on behalf of the City of Fairfax School Board, we just want to thank you for your time, your dedication, your service, and your perspective. Student voice is truly imperative for this school board. the work that goes on in schools and the for lack of better word just all of the components that we as a board consider you guys are first on our mind so your perspective is incredibly important to us and we know how busy you all are so I really want to thank you for your time because I know it could be doing at 7 o'clock on a what is it usually a Wednesday or Thursday night so thank you very much does any do any other board members

Jeff Platenbergstaffmadam chair I apologize oh I forgot to mention Michaela Greene who isn't here yes evening

Carolyn Pitchesyes and

Jeff PlatenbergstaffMichaela as well and I know just for anyone who may be listening or watching into later point she's doing a senior event tonight and we wish her all the best at the University of Maryland for her endeavors and thank you Carrie

Carolyn Pitcheswould anybody else like to say a few words okay thank you again we hope we'll see you again in the future and we well we'll see you probably on Thursday

Speaker 9oh my gosh that's right you guys still have another year well

Carolyn Pitchesthen we're definitely going to get to see you again okay so So next we are going to do the introduction of our new student representative and our alternate. So I'd like to welcome Abby Lucas and Kevin Murray, who's a very familiar face because you look a lot like your sister. So Kevin's going to be shadowing Abby this year. We hope to see both of you at our meetings. We look forward to meeting with you. is going to be your point of contact for the school year? Is that, okay, would you like to

Amit Hickmansay

Carolyn Pitchesany,

Amit Hickmana few words? So we had a chance to speak for a minute earlier, but we're really excited to have both of you. As you heard about our Student Advisory Committee reps, our Superintendent Advisory Committee reps, and also Sia, who's been our student rep this year, it's really invaluable to us to have the student connection to the work that we're doing. So we really appreciate We know that you're both very busy. You're both very involved in leadership at Fairfax High School and have connections throughout the community. So we look forward to seeing what you will bring to the next school year for us.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Next, we will move on to presentations to the school board and we have citizen participation. Ms. Sabrina DeWald has signed up to speak. Ms. DeWald, you have three minutes.

Sabrina DeWaldpublic commentHi. Good evening, board. DeWald and I live at 3705 Hill Street. I have spent time looking into the numbers behind the tuition cost per student for Fairfax City and the Fairfax County. Right now those tuition costs outnumber private school tuition, which is shocking considering public schools funded by taxpayers and the majority of real estate taxes. First I looked into is it a numbers game? Does private school have a smaller numbers? No. When you compare a private school, which is for example the Catholic diocese and the Archdiocese which span Virginia DC and Maryland they have larger number of students and they span K to 12 and then they have preschool but their tuition cost is two and a half times less per

student versus this public school tuition cost so it was not numbers then you drill down to what programs are they covering and what do they cover in private school the only difference is that whether or not you need an aid or if you are going to do dual enrollment, that is on you to pay separately in addition to tuition. That was the one difference that really separated the private school and the public school. And I just wanted to bring that to your attention because I've spent time looking into this, and I know that with the school bond coming up next year, there's going to be a higher tuition cost because you need to accommodate for the buildings. But I can't find why are we spending so much on the schools, and I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Thank you for your time.

Carolyn PitchesMs. DeWald. Okay. The next item for our presentations to the school board are the student representative report. Sia.

StudentHello, everyone. Congrats to everyone for making it to the final month of this school year and to our Fairfax High School Class of 2025 soon to be graduates. I am proud of everyone for making it through the testing season and addressing each struggle with a growth mindset. it. Over at Providence Elementary School, they have stayed true to their Friday spirit themes to bring some fun into the school week. Some of their most recent days included Career Day, Tourism Day, and Music Festival Day. Additionally, they hosted their end-of-year spring music concerts from band, choir, and orchestra. Finally, they had their last field day yesterday where teachers, parent volunteers, and students came together to build teamwork and athletic skills while having

a fun day outside. Daniel's Run also hosted their end-of-year concerts from all of their music disciplines in addition to a career fair day where students got more exposure to possible future paths. They also continued to run the community peers program in their preschool, which allows special education students to do integrated activities with typically developing peers to strengthen the sense of unity between all students. Finally, their library hosted an new reading material for the summer. KJMS continues to stay very busy as they hosted a CPR event for students during their PE class, held their music concerts, and conducted an NJHS ceremony to recognize 254 students for their volunteer work. They also had some big wins as the KJMS

Green Team won first place in the Caring for a Watershed contest and the KJMS Girls Track Team finished fourth in their meet at Woodson High School. Fairfax High School had many events to seniors, including Senior Signing Day, the senior class trip to New York, and prom. Additionally, they held their music department's spring concerts and wrapped up their production of Hadestown. They also celebrated 750 students who made it into the honor roll and 170 students for the National Honor Society. This month, they hosted 25 colleges, universities, and career programs and a petting zoo to de-stress after exams. Finally, business students created pop-up shops in the main hall over a two-day period for FHS market days.

Overall, it's been quite a busy month as everyone prepares to wrap up the school year. Before we end, don't forget to sign up for FCPS's many summer opportunities and hug your local 2025 graduate a little tighter before they move on to their next stage of life. Thank you.

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Sia. Our next presentation is on the RFP process, which will be presented by our city superintendent, and the director of city of Fairfax procurement services, Patty Innocente.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffThank you, Madam Chair and members of the school board. This evening, Ms. Innocente and I are going to be presenting the request for proposal overview for the elementary school's design. What I'd like to do is first of all introduce Ms. Innocente. and she's a certified procurement professional, a certified public procurement buyer, a certified public procurement officer, and she's earned the Distinguished Service Award from the Virginia Association of Governmental Procurement and the Wayne F. Anderson Distinguished Public Service Award from George Mason University at Schar Business School. If you know or have heard of Wayne F. Anderson, that award is a significant recognition. Wayne F. Anderson was a mentor of mine, the former city manager of the city of Alexandria,

and a beacon of public service, not only in this region, but specifically for Alexandria for a number of years. She is the city of Fairfax director of procurement services and had worked at Fairfax County managing all of their procurement functions for years. We are so very fortunate in the city to have someone of her talents, and she and her team have been helping us as we navigate through the procurement aspects of the request for proposal. So the purpose of the RFP, or the request for proposal, is to provide an overview of really tonight's purposes, to provide an overview of that process for the renovation design services. I want to outline the steps taken in advertisement and proposal review and to present the criteria

that we used for firm selection. One of the first things we'll talk about really is the project scope. Included in this request for proposal, the project scope was identified as part of the facility condition assessment. The facility condition assessment was what was undertaken by the City of Fairfax School Board to identify the need associated with our facilities. It evaluated the high school, the middle school, two elementary schools, and also Green Acres site and facility. As a result, the costs were rather significant associated with the needs for improvement on those, and what was done, the determination by the Board was to go ahead and reduce that in working with the city of Fairfax Finance folks and also Davenport the

consultant to make it a reasonable amount to go out before the voters and it actually was consistent with what had been done with prior bond referenda. So what happened was it was broken down into the two elementary schools and a high school roof replacement for renovation. So the project scope includes the project the renovation design services for both Providence and Daniel's with a goal to enhance the learning environments, address major infrastructure concerns, and modernization, all of which was identified, as I said, in the facility condition assessment that can be found on our website. We utilize surrounding jurisdictions RFP documents as reference documents. We utilize the City of Alexandria Public Schools, the City of Falls Church Public Schools,

the City of Manassas Public Schools, and Fairfax County Public Schools. We also had input from other professionals in the field of different aspects of different RFPs for school renovation process. And Ms. Innocenti is going to go ahead and talk about what is an RFP and the process associated with it.

Patti InnocentistaffSure. Thanks, Jeff, and thank you for inviting me here tonight. As Jeff mentioned, my role here in the city is to serve as the director for the Office of Procurement Services. What we do is purchase all the good services, construction, insurance, technology requirements for both Fairfax City as well as Fairfax City Public Schools. We're kind of joined at the hip administratively when it comes to procurement services. As Jeff mentioned, I work for Fairfax County for most of my career, about 25 years. years the same arrangement is in place there which seems a bit extraordinary when you think of two large very large enterprises that are still connected administratively for procurement excuse me so you know the intent of this slide

is to talk about what is an RFP it's a request for proposal we conduct the solicitation process it's a method of public procurement of solicitation that's provided for in the Virginia Public Procurement Act so when we spend public money it always has to be consistent and compliant with the state code we are required to get competition for anything over two hundred thousand we have small purchase procedures for anything below that number but once you get up to 200,000 we're going to be issuing a formal solicitation either an invitation for bid which is a quantitative analysis or an RFP which is qualitative so we always want to know what we're spending but the primary consideration are qualitative criteria so and in this case we issue the RFP for

the architectural and engineering services and once we get the proposals I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but one of the bullets on this slide is negotiated procurement. So once we get through the evaluation, then we engage in negotiations. We'll talk a little bit more about that. Am I on the next slide, Jeff? Okay. So process. So when Jeff's team approached our office about the requirement to engage an architectural to assist with the with the renovation of the two schools we work collaboratively to come up with a scope of work evaluation criteria and we always put together a what I call project plan so what you see on the slide are a couple of the milestones we've achieved so far we've issued the RFP we got 19 proposals

in which you know to your credit demonstrates a lot of interest in this project so we've gone through the first phase of the evaluation proposals came in April 3rd we have a multidisciplinary evaluation committee that's looking at the proposals and scoring them based on the criteria that are in the RFP we will continue through the evaluation we've done a shortlist I think there's more information that the committee wants to gather from the offers with the intent of awarding the contract sometime end of this month or beginning of next month

Jeff Platenbergstaffso as as in a sense they mentioned we've got 19 total responses received and the firm range from local national firms with really extensive experience in the environment and with KTEL 12 design. They've all demonstrated a high level of interest and really strong competition in terms of their proposals that were submitted. We've been very fortunate in that respect and I can tell you the feedback that from at least three of the firms was it was the best RFP. It made it very easy for them to understand and therefore got them very excited about doing work on behalf of the city of Fairfax. The evaluation team was mentioned by Ms. As an overarching member, Ms. Bartlemay is the school board representative that's a part

of this team. She's not on this slide, but she really represents as the board does everything we do. So identified what the staff members were that are actually on here that are a part of that committee that Ms. Innocente referenced earlier. The City of Fairfax Public Works individual is a gentleman by the name of Sonny Sarna. The FCPS facilities representative is David Bennett. the City of Fairfax Schools, me, the superintendent, and the procurement officer, Ron Hall, who is not here this evening, but from the City of Fairfax, and then, of course, Dan Phillips, the City of Fairfax Schools assistant superintendent. But as I said, it couldn't be done without the direction and the support of the school board, and Ms. Bartlemay has been an amazing member,

a part of that process as well. So we'll get into the review and the evaluation. So

Patti Innocentistafflet's just dig in a little bit about what happens once we get the proposals in. So first thing we always do is make sure that anyone participating in the evaluation and scoring of the proposals does not have a conflict of interest. That's really essential to anything we do with the expenditure of public funds and maintaining public trust in the process. We also ask the participants to sign a nondisclosure. Everything regarding the process is not subject to public inspection or public notice during the whole evaluation process, really up to the moment when we make an award decision. As I mentioned, the RFP included evaluation criteria, high-level criteria as required under the state code, And then the committee subdivided those criteria.

They're a bit more granular to help guide the evaluation process to make sure that we have consistent scoring from all of the evaluation committee members and a good understanding of what the outcomes are with the RFP process. We've had, I don't know how many meetings we have, two or three now? meetings of the evaluation committee again going through the scoring discussing what they see as our strengths and weaknesses in each of the proposals ultimately leading us to a short list of the offers that were most highly ranked by the committee we conducted one session of interviews a So, you know, what you see often are firms that are very good at putting together proposals, but it's not just about putting together a proposal.

We want to have a well-qualified team and a good rapport with that team. So it's very important that not only do we consider what's included in their proposals, but the information that's garnered from the interview session. So all of that is part of what informs the scoring by the evaluation committee, getting us to the moment when we shortlist. Now, I made several references to the selection criteria, and we have them here on the slide. You always want to work with somebody who's been in an environment similar to yours. So, for instance, you may get offerors who have a lot of experience in higher ed. That's wonderful, but it's more important to us to have an offeror who is familiar with K-12 projects.

Qualifications of the project team, not just the firm overall, but again, who's going to be working with you, the project manager and all the team members that are going to be supporting you over a multi-year relationship with the firm they need to demonstrate to us their understanding of what we're trying to accomplish so this is the goal that's criteria referencing project scope and goals we identify those criteria at a high level in the RFP we want to make sure they really have a good understanding of what we want to accomplish the quality of their previous work, so we're looking at references, client feedback, their approach to the project. So an RFP really is putting out a question to the contractor community and asking them

for solutions. If we knew all the answers, we wouldn't need an RFP. So we're really trying to draw upon the expertise and the talent from these firms. And because this is considered professional services under the code, architects and engineers, years, we don't look at price in that initial review. The qualifications and experience of the firm takes precedence over price. Now, that doesn't mean we're agnostic about price, but it is not a factor in the first phase of evaluation. So next step, we've talked about shortlisting. I think we've gotten to that point. We will continue going through, I believe another round of interviews was desired by the evaluation committee. We're going to do our reference checks.

And then once we identify the top-ranked firm, then we will negotiate not only fees, but any other attributes of the desired contract with them. We can get to an arrangement for the scope of work, the project team, the project schedule, We will go forward with a contract which will ultimately be approved by the Fairfax City Council after we brought that forward for a Recommendation here and any possible legal route review depending on whatever issues pop up during the negotiations Should we not be successful and the negotiations with that top ranked firm then we terminate formally and we would go to the second highest ranked firm. Doesn't happen often, but that's, again, the process and the structure that's written into the Virginia Public Procurement Act.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffOkay, so the next slide really is a summary of what you've heard. And it really talks about how when Ms. Innocente mentioned the finalizing and then the shortlisting of the firms, bringing them back for the interview process, and then the subsequent team deciding that they needed additional information while those interviews and reference checks were going on. All of that was spelled out in the request for a proposal. It was a clear document identified what the needs were identified by the city that was identified by the FCA. The FCA was included as a part of that documentation. The educational specifications that we utilize, which is Fairfax County Public Schools, educational specifications were included.

The supplemental programming specifications that the city provides, which is above and beyond what Fairfax County Public Schools provides, was included in the request for proposal. And any questions that were asked in the process prior to their submittals were provided answers and the questions that were asked to each of the submitting firms. said it was a very transparent parent and following the ethical procurement guidelines and that's why we're so grateful to have the partnership that we have with the procurement office at the City of Fairfax as you heard the process is going on about the selection and the qualifications and the value and the commitment has been made and and I can I can tell you even though it's

on the going procurement we were very fortunate to have some incredibly talented firms interested in working and having our vision come alive and the school board's vision on what needs to be not only for the near future but also for the extended future so I'm actually really excited about that aspect of it and with that we're open for any questions or discussions that you may have at this time

Carolyn Pitchesokay thank you Mrs. Innocenti and Mr. Plottenberg just to be clear the bond passed by 70 percent that is the highest passing of a school bond in both 1997 and then the second bond which was 2004 so it's clear that the public wanted to see through with this process and the renovations I also want to make it clear that the school renovations have nothing to do with tuition costs with schools. That is solely based on Fairfax County's operating costs and what percentage of FCPS's student population we represent. So we don't want to intermingle those. Ms. Bartlemy, do you have any, I know you've sort of been through the whole process all along, but do you have any questions?

Lauren BartelmeI guess my main question is what the situation to look like with the contract with the city budget not potentially being what we thought it was going to be with the passing of the bond, how that's going to affect the contract.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffWhat I can say is I know there's a meeting that's been set up by the chair requesting it of the city finance staff and the consultant Davenport to particularly address that specific question. I know there have been a number of members who have been concerned about this. As I don't direct those finances, my charge has been to get the work moving. There is, in one of the conversations that we've had, and perhaps Patty can address this a little bit more, as far as our process is concerned, we are going forward with the recommendation, the negotiation, the recommendation of the board's consideration, and then the City Council's consideration for the architectural firm. The funding that has been previously approved, the current $3 million that's been approved

for this endeavor, will get through a portion of what we call the schematic design piece. So it's a legitimate, it's a very good question. It's one the chair has been very concerned about because that gets us to point A of a A through Z process. process. The procurement code allows for, there's an appropriation clause, and I'll let you speak a little bit more to that, that states that the procurement is, in essence, the obligation of the city is while the funds are available and identified. So the theory being that the city council would have to consider how to continue the continuation of these funds, because it's certainly out of the hands of the school board, the superintendent, Senate and the staff.

Did you want to mention anything?

Patti InnocentistaffJust to maybe elaborate a little bit, we're going to award a multiyear contract, and it will be paced based on the funding appropriations that are made available for the project. So while it may not be as speedy as initially desired, the contract instrument will be there for all of the work that's anticipated.

Carolyn PitchesAnd

Speaker 9that's as long as the funding is available, which

Carolyn Pitchesdepends on tax rate primarily.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffYeah, it's my understanding the tax rate is what the driver is to pay for the debt service. So the authorization was for, if you will, people look at bond referendum and bonds as similar to you would a mortgage on your home or a second mortgage. but paying the interest and the principal on that debt is something that has to be considered as a part of raising the individual tax rate. And we spoke to that throughout our public engagement processes that are, again, on our website, about the impact of the bond and what it related to the average home in the city and so forth in our public meetings and also on the one that was recorded. And I think there's a link on the website to that one as well, yes.

Yeah,

Carolyn PitchesI believe we had four public meetings where a tax rate was clearly advertised for different scenarios. Okay, Ms. Kelsey.

Sarah KelseyNow my mind just went when you said my name. My question is, I just want a clarification question kind of right now. For the RFP, the contract to be awarded, will it be awarded after? Like you guys agree on it with them, but then it still has to come to approval from the board and the council before the contract is fully awarded? Or will you guys award it and basically, yeah.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffI'm

Sarah Kelseyjust checking because it says approval.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffAnd that's a good clarifying question because technically the staff will do the process of preparing, negotiating the interview with Ms. Bartleby as a part of that process. It will come to the school board for concurrence to go to the city council for award. We have been in partnership through this whole thing with the city council, not only the bond referendum, but this aspect of it. And then I'll let Ms. Innocente speak to procurement elements that require that. or really ensure the integrity and the transparency of the process by making sure we go through the city council.

Patti InnocentistaffIt's a kind of nuanced issue, but the way the city code is written, the city council makes the final approval before it's signed in my office. Inside baseball, I don't know if you're interested, but what we want to do is make sure it's done right. I always want to make sure any procurement that goes through my office is bulletproof. I don't want somebody to be able to protest on our failure to follow our own procedures. So that's tantamount to what we're doing.

Sarah KelseyMy other question, I remembered it now. Then the people that you're on the short list with, since the budget was approved after, they do know that this is, it may be a slower process than originally.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffThat process will be a part of the negotiation discussions.

Sarah KelseyOkay.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffWithout getting into more of the procurement.

Carolyn PitchesMs. Hickman.

Amit HickmanAll right. Apologies. I'm still kind of formulating my question here, as I think. So somewhat similar to Ms. Kelsey's question, understanding that cost and budget is not an initial consideration when looking at the proposals that come in, once it's down to the short list, conversation. Are we in a chicken and the egg situation of not being able to award a contract without knowing what that looks like financially? Or is that something that can be done without needing that finalization on what tax rates will look like and cost for the next couple years?

Patti InnocentistaffMulti-year contracts are always subject to appropriation, so this is not unusual in the least and we can scale and pace the work based on whatever appropriations are made each year okay

Carolyn Pitchesthank you necessary I

Kristina Ceceredo have a few questions of course as you know mr. Blackburn adding to miss the Sigmund's question there I guess my concern is that prolong prolonging of that process increased cost and impact on students as they're trying to in staff as they're trying to operate in a school under construction I'm I am concerned about that and I know we'll talk with council probably in September just kind of advocating for a more timely renovation I want to take a moment though and just clarify for the folks washing at home, this bidding process does not include the renovation for the high school roof. Just confirmation on that one, yeah. And when can we expect this similar process to occur for that part of the bond?

Jeff PlatenbergstaffFirst of all, you made some very good points. One of the things is the point you made about phased-occupied construction. It is one of the most challenging types of construction. and when you take a look at the reason why when we talked about firms that are qualified, firms that have experience with air quality monitoring, safety and security monitoring, phased occupied construction for schools is similar to phased occupied construction for hospitals. So the point you made, I wanted to stress that because that is very critical for people to understand. And then when you mentioned the potential for protracting and costs, And then you had another question you wanted to go ahead and make a point.

Kristina CecereYes, if you could, just to highlight, I don't think anybody would want to ever be in a hospital under a phased renovation. I don't

Lauren Bartelmeknow if I would,

Kristina Cecereto be honest. Though I know, I'm sure it's operable and clean. Anyway, but the, just want to make sure that we clarify for people listening and understanding this RFP is only for the elementary schools and not for the roof. And the roof is paused because we're trying to negotiate with

Jeff Platenbergstaffthings. Absolutely, Ms. Cessarine. Thank you for reminding me. So the roofing is a different, it's not an RFP process for the roofing. We've had conversations. They're previously approved engineering firms that help you develop specifications that are more technical in nature. The roof is a roof replacement. It is not a renovation. In other words, I clarify that that way so people who are watching will have an understanding. When we talk about elementary school renovation or any school or facility renovation, it's the entirety that we have had in these bond referems, the entirety of that facility to be renovated, including roofing upgrades on those elementary schools. At Fairfax High School, it is specifically roof replacement for the entire roof.

That high school is a large high school. It's larger than most of the average Fairfax High School. Yeah, it's the second

Carolyn Pitcheslargest roof in the city.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffWith 351,000 plus square feet of roof. So that's why, and when you have varying membranes or varying types of roof structures and their structural support and their connections, that's why it was imperative that we put it in the way we did because it is very challenging. a five-year, five summers and year-long continuous roofing replacement that's phased because of the complexities with doing work overhead while students are trying to learn underneath, not directly underneath them, but in a building in the area in close proximity. But we can do it, I believe, in four years. That's one of the things that we've taken a look at. But there's a procurement that they've shared with me, the procurement office already has,

that's state authorized or previously approved state vendors to help assist whoever may be working on the city of fairfax schools behalf

Carolyn Pitchesmr plattenberg we originally so this roof is long before we talked about renovating the elementary schools this roof has been a discussion point since 2017 um we included it in this bond to sort of just these are the needs of all the schools one fell swoop. That does not mean we could not do the roof if the school board opted to. You can make, this could be a CIP item, a very expensive CIP item, but it could be a CIP item if other things, are you looking for Mr. Martinez? He's not here yet.

Speaker 9He's not here yet.

Carolyn PitchesI'm just saying, because originally that's where we, like I said, about eight years ago had considered, and it may have even been at one time, a CIP item because of the leaking.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffYes, ma'am, thank you for pointing that out. And it was, and all of this gets down to the funding capacity. And it's a lot going on. I think it's the most important investment that we can make in our schools. The students that we've heard from this evening, that we honored this evening, benefit from it, and the community benefits from it because these are community facilities. But thank you, Ms. Pitches, your prayer.

Carolyn PitchesThank you. Does anybody have any thoughts? Yes,

Jeff PlatenbergstaffMs.

Kristina CecereCessary. I do have. I'm sorry. Just want to make sure. So you know I love a timeline. You know I love dates. I want to clarify, when we talked about this initial process back in January, we had hoped that we would have, maybe be able to do the award and then have those community outreach and begin that design process? I know it's quite a long process, usually two years, I believe, right?

Speaker 9Two to three.

Kristina CecereTwo to three. Is that still on track with this process as we go through? Would we see an award happening so that we can begin community outreach during that first phase at least?

Jeff PlatenbergstaffYes, it's still on. These two are still, the renovations are still on track. And the commitment that was made, I believe Ms. Heckman took the time to clarify and give me a deeper understanding in our work session, was to have community engagement begin after the beginning of next school year. And that has been the goal and the driver. Granted, Mr. Hull has done an outstanding job of making sure, because it is so significant, that we do it right, more so than speed through because of our objective. And he's done an excellent job with that. by the fact that the members of the committee, the fact that we've had a number of amazing firms, when you get to the top of the pyramid, it gets pretty tight at the top.

And because we have, in the shortlisted firms, some incredibly talented group of architects and engineering firms, it's taking us a little bit longer to tease out. And we've asked some questions that we've received and we're going to be evaluating. That's the next meeting that we have. as a graduation, but next week. And then we'll determine whether or not we need to have any more meetings or we'll be able to go ahead and begin the negotiation process. My anticipation was hoping to get that done before graduation so we'd be coming and have a conversation with you. But I support Mr. Hall and the committee's request for additional information. Even if the board makes the award after school begins next year,

be on track for the fall conversations with members of the community. So whether it would be, the intent is to do it in July, before July, because the July meeting is July 1, but because of the timeframe and everything, if that doesn't happen, if it happens at the start of next school year, it still would be on track to have the fall meetings with the community, which works out fine because August is pretty hectic with parents getting students back in school and so forth. of a time frame would be would be fine that's still a fall

Kristina Cecereyeah i don't want to speak for the full board and if my preference would be trying to get it within that first that initial touch point in the first quarter i think once when second quarter rolls in you kind of a lot of other things happen with families and engagement sometimes dips that around then um i have one last question and just just for my own clarity of understanding so the contract will need to get approval from both us and then shift it over to city council is that something that's seen also I know Jeff, you've had that experience. Sorry. I want to just make sure that people understand how that process is here versus what the county does.

Patti InnocentistaffThe relationship between the county school board and the school board is different. Although there is only one purchasing entity for both, functionally they operate separately. They're very, very large enterprises. So by means of a delegation, the Fairfax City School Board and their procurement office really operates independently, but there's still that link because both boards wanted to maintain that connection. I could tell you lots about the 1968 agreement between the two, but, I mean, in a nutshell, that's what it is. And

Jeff Platenbergstaffthe other thing is, if I might add, is that Fairfax County Public Schools has their own payroll. They have their own procurement in that regard. And that kind of helps people get their head around the distinction of the difference between the two.

Kristina CecereThank you. Thank you very much.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Next item on the agenda is a presentation on summer activities in our city schools. And Mr. Phillips is going to present.

Dan PhillipsstaffAll right. Thank you, Chair Pitches, and good evening, everyone. Tonight I'm gonna share a really brief update on the summer programs for students. I feel like I'm talking really loud. Ms. King, are you, yeah, if you can go to the next slide. Thank you so much.

Sarah KelseyI can click it, trick

Dan Phillipsstaffthat. Thanks, Barb. That's okay.

Speaker 9Thank you very much.

Dan PhillipsstaffSo as you know, earlier this summer, FCPS decided against, I'm sorry, earlier this spring, against offering a full summer school program at each school, which they've done since the COVID time. Title I schools like Providence will offer a three-week SOAR program this summer. It's designed as a skill building program in math and reading, and so really just to keep those skills up during the summer and make whatever advances they can during a short three-week window. There's also an explorers program at Title I schools. It's similar to SOAR, and it's to build skills multilingual learners, so students who've been in that ESOL process for some time. Providence will also offer a three-day jumpstart program for their kindergarteners this year,

rising kindergarteners, to introduce, just introduce their students to the building, let them meet some of the teachers, give them a chance to get acclimated to the school before the onslaught, before everybody else is in the building. And it'll also, they will also offer a range of welcome activities this summer for our newest Panthers, as you can see from the chart. the SOAR program is July 7th through the 25th. So three weeks, half day program. And Daniel's Run this year, Daniel's Run is not a Title I school as you know, so their students were not eligible for that SOAR summer program. However, thanks to the funding from the city board, they are able to offer a kindergarten jumpstart program,

similar to that at Providence. Daniel's Run has a system in place already for, they've done a program for a while come to the first few days of school and then they get class placements. Providence is gonna use that information to do that class placement. So it's similar, it's just we're not gonna, Daniel's Run's not gonna disrupt their usual process. They're just gonna use this time to introduce students to the program, to the school rather. It's a great opportunity for them to see the inside of the classroom, to sit with other kindergarteners, to just start those getting familiar with the program a couple of days before again, and the full group of students is in the building. And again, they're gonna offer some welcome events

for kindergartners, including play dates and their kindergarten kickoff. And then also, again this year, Daniel's Run has a tradition of doing a welcome walk. And it's a great fun tradition. Staff members go out to visit students at their home to introduce them, teachers mostly, but they go with the rest of the staff before the school year begins. And you can sort of see the Daniel's Run schedule on the screen now. Give me a second to look at that. All right. Katherine Johnson Middle School this summer is offering, or FCPS is offering a power-up algebra course for students in our region, and it's going to be held at Katherine Johnson this year, so there'll be students from other schools coming

to Katherine Johnson, and there's 25 slots available for the Katherine Johnson students. This program is designed to build math muscles over the summer hopes of helping students prepare for algebra in the year ahead. And again, Katherine Johnson has 25 slots as the host school, and the staff use data from the students to help them determine which students to invite for that program. And Katherine Johnson will also offer their popular RISE program again this summer, where students get a chance to be in the building, to be in Katherine Johnson. They tour the building, they meet new classmates. And again, remember at Katherine Johnson, students are coming from multiple elementary schools, so it's a chance to just get a little familiar.

That transition from elementary school to seventh grade is often challenging and worrisome for parents and for students, and they do just a fantastic job of helping the students get acclimated and getting to know the school before the first day. And then Fairfax, oh I'm sorry, in addition, and these next two programs kind of overlap, there's some elementary overlap and also with the high school. The Katherine Johnson students are eligible for programs offered to other middle schoolers the CTE Summer Academy, current sixth through 11th grade students, so rising seventh through rising 12th grade students, can choose four classes each week in the CTE program and they dive deeper into that career and technical education program areas. They develop skills

and get to explore careers if students sign up for that program. That one's not offered at Katherine Johnson, but it is available for our students at Katherine Johnson. And the Institute for the Arts. It's a summer enrichment program that offers hands-on classes in visual arts, music, theater, and dance, culminating in an exciting performance, a showcase performance. This program is also open to rising seventh and rising 12th graders, and it overlaps again with being available to Katherine Johnson students and Fairfax students. And then for Fairfax, Fairfax has an exciting summer ahead. It's always an exciting summer at Fairfax. This year Fairfax High School will host the summer credit recovery classes.

So previously students had to go to another school if they wanted to have those in-person classes. This year it's offered at Fairfax High School. The Credit Recovery Academy provides an in-person opportunity for students to recover one high school course credit. Students can't take a new class in that program. They can take one that they're repeating. And there are a host of core classes offered in this program, including English, Reading and Writing, WorkKeys Test Prep, ESOL, and then a full range of math, science, and social studies classes are offered during this time. Fairfax will also host exams for students who take online courses. So that credit recovery is in person, online courses. Students take the course online, but they

come into the building for exams, and those again this summer will be offered at Fairfax High School, which is very convenient, again, for our students. And also, again, this summer, a couple of other programs they're going to offer, they're going to host the really cool World Languages Camps sponsored by the school board. The Fairfax Latin and French teachers will lead two four-day language camps, July 24th through 27th, and then July 31st through August 3rd. They're offered at Fairfax High School, but they're for up to 200 students in grades five Again, this is a program sponsored by our school board. And then closer to the end of the summer, the Lions on the Rise program, another very similar to the program at Katherine Johnson.

The program is offered for rising ninth graders. Students get to visit Fairfax High School. It's a three-day event that goes from August 5th through the 7th from 9 to 12 each day. Upperclassmen, teachers, counselors, and administrators will lead tours. They'll help students connect with others, and they'll be on hand to answer questions rising lines prepare for a great school year ahead. And then finally, there are always a bunch of really cool sports camps and really other camps too. There's band camp and other activities, but you can see on the screen now some sports camps that are offered at Fairfax High School this summer. We encourage parents or families to use the link here, and you can also visit the school website

for more information. You can see a full range of programs there, starting kind of right away as soon as school ends through July. We, of course, for all these programs, we collectively thank all of the hardworking teachers, staff members, and administrators who put their time and effort into giving our students these great opportunities during our time away from the traditional school year. With that, I welcome any questions.

Carolyn PitchesOkay. Board members, Ms.

Lauren BartelmeBartlemy? I don't think I have any questions, but it sounds great. Thank you. Ms. Kelsey?

Sarah KelseyCan you come back?

Lauren BartelmeI forgot.

Sarah KelseyYeah. Ms. Hickman?

Dan PhillipsstaffI

Amit Hickmanjust want to thank you for working with Daniels Run to provide something for those students this summer.

Dan PhillipsstaffIt worked out great. And both the school board is sponsoring the kindergarten program at Daniels Run and Providence.

Amit HickmanThank

Kristina Cecereyou. Thanks.

Dan PhillipsstaffMs.

Carolyn PitchesSessori.

Kristina CecereThank you. Mr. Phillips, this is fantastic. I love the summer programming that we offer in our city schools. It's just phenomenal. The CTE Summer Academy, is that the same one that's offered typically through FCPS? It is. Just now at KJ?

Dan PhillipsstaffWell, no, the CTE program is not at Catherine Johnson, but it's open to Catherine Johnson students. Okay. So it's not located on site. The only thing they'll have on site at KJ is the power-up math, power-up algebra rather, and then the rise for the rising seventh grade. I

Kristina Cecerewas kind of hopeful because my children absolutely loved that a couple years ago, and it's over in Lake Braddock.

Dan PhillipsstaffIt's a really cool program. It's not too far away, but it's not as close as us.

Kristina CecereThe one thing I do want to ask, last year I do recall some conversations with other families in the area that some of their students who participated in band and sports had difficulty participating in Lions, the Lions on the Rise. And I was wondering if that's conversations that we can kind of like if, I figured Dr. A is phenomenal with hearing that and working. that sort of?

Dan PhillipsstaffI haven't heard anything, but I can check and see. And see if there's an option. You know, I know there are usually ways of figuring out if students could come in for a part of something, but I don't know for sure on this one, but I can find out.

Kristina CecereThank you, I appreciate that.

Dan PhillipsstaffAbsolutely.

Carolyn PitchesAnd just to clarify, the power of algebra is an invitation only.

Dan PhillipsstaffIt is invitation, and the staff looks at data from the students, and just, you know, the goal is to help everyone be ready for the algebra class when they take it. And so that's a little bit of a moving target. And I think, you know, it just, I mean, if the idea is to help the students be successful, they're gonna get the 25 students who are gonna benefit the most from that time.

Carolyn PitchesIt's a foundational program.

Dan PhillipsstaffIt is, yeah. Okay,

Carolyn PitchesMs. Kelsey.

Sarah KelseyOkay, that was my question. The power up algebra then, is it only seventh grader, like rising eighth graders, or is it also going to help those eighth graders going into freshman year that didn't take algebra this year?

Dan PhillipsstaffI think it's only rising eighth graders, but let me confirm.

Sarah KelseyIt's rising

Dan Phillipsstaffeighth. I think so. It's just rising. Okay. I'll check to be sure.

Carolyn PitchesThank you for all your work on

Speaker 9that.

Carolyn PitchesThank you,

Speaker 9Mr. Phillips.

Carolyn PitchesThank you. Okay. We do not have any public hearings tonight, so we can move on to our action items. The first action item is the approval of the minutes from our May 5th, 2025 meeting. may i have a motion please madam

Kristina Cecerechair

Carolyn Pitchesuh miss sessori i

Kristina Ceceremove that the city of fairfax school board approved the minutes of the may 5th 2025 school board regular meeting as printed and distributed may

Carolyn Pitcheshave a second

Kristina Ceceresecond

Carolyn Pitchesokay miss sessori moved uh miss hickman seconded the city of fairfax school board approved the minutes from our may 5th 2025 uh meeting as printed and distributed are there any modifications Any questions, comments, corrections? Okay, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. None are opposed. The motion passes unanimously. Okay, we'll move on to superintendent matters. Mr. Plattenberg.

Jeff PlatenbergstaffThank you, Madam Chair. Again, I just want to thank Cya Tyler and Michaela for really participating and being part of the superintendent's advisory team. We had our last meeting May 28th, which was a Wednesday evening. And as I mentioned, the feedback that we received even of that evening was something that we applied immediately the next day at Fairfax High School. So I can't express enough my appreciation for the student voice and student involvement. And in addition, we attended the, I attended the interjurisdictional committee meeting between Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax, as a number of members did. And I know you'll be speaking a little bit more to that. Mr. Martinez gave a presentation on the situations affecting and facing the City of Fairfax

financially now and really looking into the future and looking for the support and recognition that our partnership is founded on. Also, this week, at the beginning of this week, we attended the Fairfax High School Senior Awards on Monday, and that was really quite an amazing event and so uplifting. When you sit there and listen to the number of students doing such extraordinary things in so many different facets, It's, I was, I had the pleasure of presenting with Madam Chair, and it really is just something that, again, this time of year gets really exciting and infectious about all the anxiety and excitement for futures and transitions and even the summer programs that Mr. Phillips mentioned.

Today, the grad walk was something that was really, truly special. Seeing the students before they boarded the buses and then going to each of the schools and some of the videos I've seen, it just really just brings it home as to why we're here and what we do. And then, of course, we have graduation coming up this week, so I look forward to seeing all of you there. Hopefully, it'll be nice and cool while we're there. But, yeah, the temperature's been rising. But anyway, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Mr. Brottenberg. Ms. Bartlemy, we're going to move on. Sorry, we are going to move on to school board matters. Ms. Bartlemy.

Lauren BartelmeThank you. I also wanted to extend a thank you to our student participants, both on the board and on the superintendent advisory committee. You guys make a big difference, so thank you. I also wanted to congratulate all the nominees and winners from the Cappy Theater Awards that the board had the pleasure of presenting awards at last night. And congratulations to all the seniors on your graduation on Thursday. day. And then I also wanted to say that this week I had the pleasure of judging some end of year projects at Katherine Johnson in the English classes, and I was very impressed with the passion and the work that the middle school students are doing.

Sarah KelseyThank you, Ms. Barrowly. Ms. Kelsey. I'll say ditto to all that because I know you're going to hear about the CAFIs like five times. Also though, congratulations to the 2025 graduating class. I want to wish you best of luck and wherever life leads you. I also had the privilege to attend the AVID celebration at Katherine Johnson that I want to say was, it kind of opened my eyes to the program. I don't think I I fully understood it until I saw and listened to the students even. They had some seniors that have been participating in the AVID program since seventh grade, I think, they had started. And all the teachers were saying how quiet these girls were that spoke. And now they're getting up and speaking in front of this whole cafeteria of people that they do not know.

They felt very comfortable sharing about the program. And it was just, it was really eye-opening, I guess I should say. of nice to see how great this program is and how much it has helped these kids grow in more ways than just in the classroom. So I hope, you know, we can continue this program for a long, long time. And then I do want to say they did have the middle school track and field championship last Saturday. And I do want to shout out a congratulations to Olivia Gonzalez. She got overall third place in the 100 meter and in the long jump. And I will say I was volunteering and I don't know how she did that 100 meter because she actually was running a little behind and literally ran to the start line from like across the football field and got there and maybe had like a minute to prep herself and then still got third place.

And I don't know, I would have been out of breath probably falling over because she did look tired, but she did an awesome job on that. There were over 2,400 students that competed in this championship. Over 30 KJ students qualified, and a lot of them, when we were looking, a lot of them PR'd. So they did really awesome and challenged themselves. and so it looks like we have some great freshmen coming up and some great eighth graders to continue on this middle school tradition with the track and field.

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Ms. Kelsey. Ms. Hickman.

Amit HickmanYes, so I just also have been enjoying participating in all the end of your celebratory events from award ceremonies to concerts to judging school, I don't know if competitions is a railroad project. But I think, you know, obviously last night's Caffies was also really enjoyable. I think I just wanted to wish everybody, not only the class of 2025, but everyone who successfully completed their school year, congratulations. It's never an easy task to get through, especially these last couple weeks of May and June are not the easiest. And then everybody enjoys their summer and has a nice time and able to relax, want it and I wish everyone a happy Pride Month.

Carolyn PitchesThank you Ms. Hickman. Ms. Sassari.

Kristina CecereI'm going to repeat a lot what they just said there. I want to start by just recognizing Pride Month and celebrate the diversity of our school, our school community. Also very special shout out to the students and faculty who attended the Cappies last night. That was just a phenomenal event my first time there and just the energy in that room was amazing. Same thing as what Ms. Hickman just said just it's a phenomenal to be attending all of these end of year events and celebrations and seeing sort of the culmination of all your hard work and I just want to take one last moment and just really congratulate all of our students whether you've won an award or you're just happy to kind of get through that one class you challenge yourself on

I just want you to be proud of yourself. I mean, I think I can speak for all of us here and say we're just so proud of you for doing that. And thank you to our teachers and staff. I hope that this is our last board meeting before the graduation and summer starts. I hope that everyone gets some rest this summer so they can start fresh in August. And thank you.

Carolyn PitchesThank you, Ms. Sessori. So clearly there's nothing left for me to say. I will say that this board is very involved in our community and in our school community and we welcome anyone from our community to contact us through our email if you want to have a conversation whether it's about programming in our schools the RFP process the upcoming hopefully school renovations the tuition any of that we are happy to meet one-on-one with any community members would like to once again welcome Abby and Kevin and thank Sia and Michaela and Tyler and Izzy for all of your service and time this year. And I'm not going to go back through all of the other things, but I wish everybody a safe and healthy and happy and fun summer. Enjoy it because it

It will be August before we know it. Thank you. And I will adjourn this meeting at 742.