HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - August 16 2023 School Capital Needs Workgroup Agenda with minutes ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO BOARD OF EDUCATION
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Capital Needs Work Group
August 16, 2023
Meeting— 8:30-10am
The Capital Needs Work Group is conducting a Virtual Meeting on August 16, 2023. Members
of the Group will participate in the meeting remotely.
Attending: Bonnie Hauser, Steve Arndt, Travis Myren, Gary Donaldson, Perdita Holtz, Dwayne
Foster, Rob Olsen, Catherine Mau, Jean Hamilton, Cy Stober, Rani Dasi, Jim Merrill, Patrick
Florence, Al Ciarochi, Alan Dorman, Andre Stewart, Jessica Goodell, Jonathan Scott
1. Welcome—Commissioner Jean Hamilton, Chair of Work Group
2. Review draft materials related to repealing the SAPFO MOUs and adopting
a new MOU for"School Collaborative Planning". See attached materials.
• Perdita: Gave presentation
• Rani Dasi: Who comes to the committee meetings?
• Answer: staff, developers can come
• Catherine Mau: As a school staff member I attend the meetings and
track what the development projects are. Right now they've been
pretty small so it hasn't been something I've needed to report back
to the board or administration. I attend to listen and to be aware.
• Rani: who attends from CHCCS?
• Cy: it's very unlikely that an Orange County jurisdictional project
would have an impact on the municipal school district, so we don't
have a contact who attends from CHCCS
• Perdita: CAPS program school staff are sent projects to fill out
CAPS information for, and development advisory committee work
would be in lieu of the CAPS program if this was rescinded.
Someone from the school district would need to be assigned to
attend those development review committee meetings or at least
receive the agendas to know what is going to be discussed
• Al: Our director of student enrollment would continue to be the
liaison with the Planning Department. At the same time it's a
collaborative approach, when needed Jonathon and myself would
participate.
• Bonnie: I like the shift from approving every development to this
annual check in to how we're doing and how our capacity looks.
Traditionally we've had a problem with SAPFO underestimating
capacity. This new MOU indicates that capacity changes will be
built in to the models, is that correct?
• Perdita: yes, school capacity comes from the school districts and it
will continue to do so. The Woolpert study will help school districts
to better define capacity numbers. The pre-k and special education
issue has been an issue of SAPFO
• Jean: I think this process needs to be slowed. As elected officials it
will take some time to look at this and I would want a work session
to look at what SAPFO was designed to do,what were the problems
that came to it, and see if this MOU addresses the issues that we
want to. Because of the complexity,taking the time to do it is going
to be key. As a former school board member during a time with a
lot of development, this could happen again. I don't want to end up
where we were before, where we don't have an MOU that isn't
proactive to development and planning. Part of that for me is
understanding the standards. The benefit of SAPFO was that we saw
what the capacity was. Understanding of capacity with SAPFO and
Woolpert should be established before we look at a new approach.
• What are the standards that'll be used in the MOU? I don't see that
in the MOU at this point, so I would not be in support of it.
• The old system was very cumbersome for staff and not used, so we
need to have changes. But giving something over to a consultant,
what is the model the consultants use, are they going to be
adequately capturing the student numbers, etc. Those answers for
me and deep understanding need to come first before changing the
MOU.
• Rani: I agree. I know that the school boards will want to be brought
along. These are the questions they'll want to understand as well.
• Cy: We have two paths ahead of us administratively: we have a
trigger on Nov 15th to begin the annual reporting. There's been
acknowledgement that the report is inadequate to describe capacity
needs. But we can proceed with the report. The other option is to
present the resolution of intent to the BOCC to acknowledge this
process and the proposal of an alternative process to forgo the annual
report, and instead receive report from ORED and results from this
body. We need clarity by October on what to prepare.
• Jean: At this point I don't know. BOCC chair needs to look at
scheduling with county staff. Maybe there's another way of not
having to write the report,but we need to be cautious in the way this
is being rolled out.
• Bonnie:We're in the middle of the redistricting process,just starting
that. Monday we'll get a report from ORED on capacity and how
we want to change things in our schools. So the question is what
modeling is being used. Are we a pilot for the new process? We
can't wait, we're moving.
• Catherine: At the board meeting on the 2 1" ORED will be
presenting the land use study that they've conducted for OCS and
this includes info on land use for CHCCS. It's not the completed
report for them, he's just looking at employers in the area and
potential new jobs added. He's looking at development barriers and
incentives in the area. He'll present a wide overview of that. He'll
then discuss his models for providing a 10 year forecast for us with
this development. I'm assuming the model for projecting would be
very similar and this is something you could address with him on
Monday.
• Bonnie: The other issue is that SAPFO has been mis-estimating our
school capacity
• Catherine: I believe this is part of what the Woolpert group is
presenting to us, so that was not a task assigned to ORED
• Rani: The data will be available for OCS and their reassignment
consideration. I am concerned about speed of this process without
clarity on what changes are and I want to be sure this is sustainable.
We want to be sure we create something that's the most flexible and
sustainable. It sounds like information is available, and the process
change is separate.
• Cy: I propose that staff get together and provide you all with a
simple digest of the two options: business as usual or a resolution to
redefine the report.I can put together an outline for you all to review,
and with SAPFOTECs approval,if that would be helpful. But we do
need to make a decision at a staff level by October.
• Jean: I think this has to go to the leadership of the BOCC.
Commissioners all need to know and feel comfortable, as well as the
public.
• Bonnie: What's important to me is that the Woolpert study and
redistricting isn't bound by old standards. So perhaps we could treat
these as a pilot of the new models. So we'd need to relax the
ordinance, build pilot
• Jean: You can do redistricting irrespective of SAPFO. The
information you learn from that will be helpful in this process
• Bonnie: I am interested in ensuring that we have a more accurate
idea of school capacity
• Jean: We can go ahead with the new information without SAPFO
• Bonnie: What about Woolpert and assumptions they're making?
• Jean: You can use those for your school district
• Rani: Is there anything that stops you from using Woolpert data
because of SAPFO? I don't think so. From a combined district
county process we need alignment on how this capacity info process
is going to work
• Bonnie: We'll see a SAPFO report that indicates a different level of
capacity than what is true. I don't want to use SAPFO anymore
because it mis-informs
• Rani: You can use ORED projections, you aren't locked in to
SAPFO.
• Bonnie: That's student enrollment, not the capacity part. SAPFO is
misinforming conversation on capacity. ORED will give us student
generation numbers.
• Jean: That's something to pursue with your staff about how
redistricting will go, and it could be separate from SAPFO.
• Bonnie: What assumptions will Woolpert use in their results?
• Perdita: To address Bonnie's statements. Building capacity comes
from the school districts. ORED says they get building capacity
from the school districts.It's based on DPI standards.The difference
for SAPFO is that numbers can't account for space that pre-k takes
up. That's likely where most of the discrepancy is.
• Perdita: If Woolpert study had a lot of new numbers that subtract
out pre-k, we could have new numbers for SAPFO, but that would
need to be approved by BOCC.
3. Woolpert Inc. Update
• David and Jessica: Woolpert did acquire cooperative strategies last
month. It won't change anything for this process. Rob Olsen is a
new face who is joining today.
• Jessica gives PowerPoint presentation:
• We will begin prioritizing needs: that's an analysis you'll see as we
move forward
• Your areas to remedy are in the space types themselves: the
specialized space types themselves. You will have lots of this data
to digest shortly.
• Jean: Redistricting. Do you have that information?
• Answer: Yes,that is a mechanical change that could impact the heat
map
• Jean: If we all agree we'll have a meeting in September?Agreed.
• Bonnie: When you meet with the school boards in September,what
will be the nature of that conversation? Any early findings that say
some schools need to be replaced or you need a new school in a new
location? Also, will we be having conversations about different
program types?
• Answer from Woolpert: Those updates are scheduled for middle of
September. We'll be able to tell you what exists, but no decisions
yet. We'll have our data analysis done that'll say the condition of
schools and information on space types and adequacy. In this next
phase we're developing options. What are the desired outcomes and
viable path to achieve those outcomes. We want to look at portfolio
of schools that makes the most sense. The programs can be portable
in this discussion of options. We want to set the frame of buildings
for your plan first.
4. Status of summer capital projects completed by the school districts
• Andre: CHCCS. We've had a great summer in getting work
completed. We're finalizing the third of 3 planned playgrounds we
had from last year. Finishing playground at Ephesus elementary. A
lot of mechanical repairs, cooling replacements, and fire alarm
replacements, we have started security vestibules at 5 locations as
well as safety hardware updates. We worked on drainage issues at 3
locations. LED lighting upgrades working on that across the district
are in process. 2 boiler upgrades, asphalt projects, roofing design.
IT district wide refresh. Blind replacements, landscaping, gutter
cleaning and intercom replacement.
• Jean: Great to hear especially about addressing those drainage issues
• Dwayne: Orange County Schools: we had a water bottle filler
replacement project. Lighting projects, Efland Cheeks renovations
include installing modular classrooms, generator installation on
King Street is in process, 2 EV charging stations/
5. Discussion and Group Next Steps
• Plan to meet in September and hear from Woolpert. That will be a
large part or the only item on the agenda next month.
6. Next Meeting is September 20, 2023
Adjourn
Capital Needs Work Group virtual meetings are open to the public to attend remotely. Should
any member of the public wish to view this meeting, please click the following link to register:
Capital Needs Workgroup Registration Link
After registering, you will receive a follow-up email which will allow you to access and view the
meeting. If you have any comments or questions, would like to submit any written comments to
the group, or would like an emailed copy of the entire agenda package for this meeting, please
email Kelly Guadalupe at kguadalupegoran eg countync.gov before 3:00 pm on August 15, 2023