001We ready with our uh calling this meeting to order at 4:00 pm a little after. Um hello everyone. So tonight uh right now we're doing a study session on our facilities master plan which has been in the making for quite a long time and we're very excited. U this will be a summary of what it 800 pages >> 817 but no one's counting. Um I also just want to point out just a a little bit of technical stuff. Um the actual ma uh facilities master plan will not be voted on until December 9th's meeting. And so that way we have lots of time to uh get input uh have our own input, ask questions, things like that. Uh we're also going to have um uh the uh calendar which is the um landscape architecture firm
002and um they're going to be um I think they're possibly part of this presentation too. Right there you are. I knew I knew one of you. And um and then we you will be then they will present to we will be voting on that as an action item tonight. That one and then we have um the other plan the the bond implementation plan that will be um also presented tonight as a discussion item. So, just for us to be aware of and to be asking questions and things, but we will not be voting on that until December 9th either. So, two things for December 9th, bond implementation, facilities master plan, and then tonight is the landscape architect, which we uh architecture plan or assessment that we will be voting on. Does that make sense to
003everybody? Okay. Because it really confused me. All right. Matt and Maddie, can I can I can I just I just want to add >> just as a kind of frame to to this study session. So, study session, right, is a time when we discuss items. We usually we try to get input from people. It's a little less formal than a regular board meeting and it also just offers an opportunity for for general public and for contract people to come in and kind of speak up. So, we do have some time for comments from the public. We we purposefully put the study session first and then left some time at the end to have comments from the public so that people have some information before we instead of doing comments first when before we give the
004information we actually have have it right after the information. I also want to just add here and I'm probably gonna say this um at least once or twice more tonight, but um we are in we are in a situation right now as a as a school district where we're in a budget crisis. We have a measure I fund measure I uh proposition that did not pass and we're still sort of licking our wounds from that and knowing that we're going to have to make some really dramatic reductions um to staffing and um we're going through a budget advisory process right now. So all of that is happening right now. And at the same time, we're talking about buildings and landscape and all and money where where I can imagine if I were a a member
005of the public here or I lived in pedalum and I didn't know know a lot of what was going on. I'd say what in the world are they doing at the school district like they're talking about making all these dramatic reductions to their staffing and yet they're talking about buildings and landscaping and you know spending all this money. And so I just think it it behooves us to just to talk about it openly the fact that our general fund and our LCAP our funding LCFF funding is over here for staff for program etc etc and the community about a year ago passed a bond and that's money that's over here. We cannot use bond funds to to uh pay for teachers or additional staff or mental health supports. They're very very it's very very restricted
006and separate funding. And so I just it's a it's a hard concept to to understand and I think it's important for us to just open I wanted to open with that because I I I can already hear people saying wait a second you just said that we're we don't have a lot of money and you're yet you're talking about all these different things. Two very separate funding sources. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. That's really important. Thank you. And Amanda you can do the introduction. >> Yes. All right, begin. >> Thank you um board and thank you everybody from the team and the community for being here this evening. So this first part of the study session we will be talking about our facilities master plan. I do want to point out that our master plan
007in draft form is nearly $800 million. So sometimes we talk about all these amazing facilities that could happen, need to happen. And um later on this evening we will be discussing our bond implementation. Our measures Z and AA passed roughly $229 million. So as we go through this robust plan, this is the future planning of the district as a whole. The facilities master plan will um be a guiding changing document that will live with the district for over 10 years. Generally bond implementation is 5 to seven years. So we are going to get a lot of information of all of these things that we need and would like to happen with our district facilities. And then later at hours from now um during discussion item you will see a very itemized list of projects that
008we anticipate moving forward with the this bond measure. That doesn't mean that other these projects won't happen. We do have other sources of funding that is related restrictly to facilities. We receive school impact fees um people known also known as developer fees. We have deferred maintenance. We have as part of our general fund routine restricted maintenance where we have to spend 3% of our budget each year on routine maintenance needs. So just because it won't be discussed later on in bond implementation doesn't mean that it will not be happening um through other sources of funding and just because it's on this beautiful plan it doesn't mean that it necessarily will happen in the next 10 years too. So that's something that um why sometimes it looks like things are competing um they really are competing
009for the same dollars and we will continue to set district priorities. So um one of the ways we're doing this is we have assembled an amazing team um of a lot of individuals who have spent the last um have recently joined the district team or the last 18 months um on this project. So, I'm going to go ahead and start with um introductions with everyone. >> And Amanda, just just before we do introductions, can we just a quick technicality? Can we do can we adopt and approve the agenda and then we'll move forward. >> I move to adopt and approve the agenda. I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> I sorry, ignore that. >> So picky. Um alrighty. So, um, we do have, um, company in the room tonight. So, I should have started
010with introducing myself in case we've not had the honor of having a conversation. My name is Amanda Bonvert. I'm the chief business official for the district. And in this role, I do oversee facilities. And then I will start with Lisa and we'll go down the row. There we go. >> Project this way. >> Yeah. >> Climate. I'm on the Northern California team for climate tech. >> Hi there. My name is Amber Fr. I'm the regional manager for climate. I've been there for 13 years and I oversee all of public sector energy modernization work that happens for our business. My name is Bernardet Carter. I'm also with Climate Techch. I've been here for 5 years. I'm a senior business developer and I have to say I am also a McDow Elementary School one-year student in Paluma.
011I'm Dave Rubin. I'm a principal at Calendarer Associates Landscape Architecture. uh been with the firm 21 years. Um and we do lots of work with school districts uh such as yourselves. >> Hi everyone. Good to see you again. My name is Ted Catlin. I'm a senior project manager with Dryline Touris Architecture or DTA. >> Hello everyone. I am Kelly Jurgensson, executive vice president of Vanpel Construction Services and we support the district um with the program in construction management for the new bond measures. Good evening trustees and community members. My name is Ray Green. I'm with Van Pel Construction Services. Um and I am a Paloma High School graduate and all of my children are Paloma City Schools graduates. We did not know that until after they were selected. That was just a fun fact. All
012right. Oh, we Okay. Um so um the order that we are going to go in tonight um we have a lot of information to get through quickly. I do want to point out as Maddie um President Cloud said earlier sorry um that this is coming for a first look and most of these plans will be coming back to the next board meeting. So this is just to start gathering information. So, we are going to start with our facilities master plan. We will then move into the assessment from climate and finish with what I'm going to guess is everybody's favorite, the landscape master plan. So, I'm going to pass this over to Ted. >> Thanks, Amanda. So, like I said, um I'm with DTA. Uh we've been working with the district for a number of years
013now. um starting back in uh I believe 2023 when we started helping with the um pre-bond um plan um helping identify kind of a preliminary look at what types of projects could um could uh be accomplished with a bond measure. Um now after the uh successful bond measures passed then uh we were engaged to do the facilities master plan looking at like Amanda said earlier a really long time frame a 10 to 15 year roadmap of all the different kind of recommendations and also possibilities that could be accomplished with um uh our facilities here in uh in Paluma. So um that's that's the timeline timeline of a uh facilities master plan. Um, as uh Vanpel will tell you guys later, the bond is on a different timeline. You know, 5 to seven years is a
014lot more accurate. And so that's where, like Amanda was saying, you'll see that number discrepancy between the resources identified uh in the facilities master plan versus those that are currently available. But we'll talk more about that later. Um, so overview, uh, what I'd like to go over in the brief time that we have, um, and I want to be conscious of the time. So there might be some slides that I go over rather quickly, um, but they're there so that we can come back to them if there are any questions or or wanting to dig into more detail. But overview, I want to bring everyone up to speed on on where we're at with the facilities master plan. Um, give an overview of the process, where we've been, where we are, what comes next. um
015describe the actions that were taken to prepare what is and I'll I'll bring it out here just it's it's a little bit dramatic but you know I I'll bring it out just to really showcase there. Um but yeah, all of the steps that went into and the thought and consideration that went into preparing a plan such as this. Um we're going to review then um the evaluation framework. um basically the uh guides that we've set up to help you as as a board and as a community um start to look at the projects identified and figure out are these ones that we want to accomplish right now. Are there ones that we can accomplish right now? Um you know not prioritizing because the bond the facilities master plan doesn't prioritize projects but it helps set
016up um evaluative kind of categories by which you could start to prioritize. Um and then just also a reminder that again we're not asking for any kind of um selection of projects or anything like that with the facilities master plan that comes later with the uh bond implementation plan. Now that resources have been identified what projects should we start to select from the facilities master plan to uh achieve. So let's dive in. Um so uh you know with the process I want to go over just kind of overall timeline. It started um and I apologize, fall of 24, not um 2023. Fall of 24 is when um you selected a an architect to help prepare the facilities master plan. Um that was coming off the pre-bond plan um that we had done earlier that year.
017Um we went through and did a whole bunch of uh community engagement um doing facilities assessments and I'll I'll I'll dig more into all of those in a little bit. Um but that continued over winter of 24 into uh you know spring of 2025 where we began compiling all the different data that was gathered into a set of logical projects. Once we had those um we met actually with you back in u March um to review the types of projects that were starting to emerge and talk about that evaluative framework. How do we start to assess what those types of projects are and whether we need to or want to accomplish them. Um once we had that uh that list of projects, then the next step was preparing uh preliminary budgets. Basically figuring out, okay,
018if we have a project that we want to accomplish, how much would it cost? What would be the resources necessary to accomplish that project? And so with all of that, that's where we end up with a holistic idea of okay, for all of the projects identified in the facilities master plan, what would the total number of resources needed be? Um so that led us to finalize the facilities master plan. A lot of formatting um putting this together um over the summer and uh that brings us to today. Now alongside that um and uh Dave and and Amber and team we'll we'll talk about this later, but um the landscape master plan was ongoing um last spring I believe was the rough time of when that was being uh worked on and finishing over the summer.
019And then the energy master plan that climate is working on began that process late spring, early summer and is ongoing. Um so that's kind of the other two uh things you can see here on the timeline. Um and then separately we have the bond timeline because again we have to separate between the facilities master plan and the bond. So um the bond was passed back in November um of 24. Then um last spring roughly and these are rough timelines because it's just to help give an idea but that's when u the district went out for program managers and uh was able to uh select uh Vanpelt um and that's where the implementation plan has begun. Um and that's it's a long process. They'll be they'll be sure to tell you that. Um and then uh
020in the future will be the bond program um or building program for all of the various improvements that happen um as part of these bond measures that we've got. So that's the rough timeline. Let's dig into a little bit of what went into it. Um so I mentioned those facilities assessments. That was um us, you know, our architectural team going into every room in every building uh across the entire school district. It was working with our teams of um you know, and and and that's where if you look at the master plan, you'll see all of these sheets of uh of of rooms and rooms and rooms. Now, there might be a room here or there that we weren't able to get into because, okay, at the time that we were doing that assessment, it
021was occupied or, you know, some other thing like that. And so, we said, okay, we're not going to go into that room. So, when I say every single room, there might be a couple here or there that aren't in there. But, you know, caveats aside, um, every room assessed. Um, then like I said, we also had our engineers. Um, so we had teams of engineers, you know, civil engineers going around looking at grading, drainage, paving, accessibility. um all sorts of stuff like that. Um we had landscape architects, calendar associates, um going through and doing assessments just from a the broader facility standpoint of okay, what are the conditions of the play fields of play structures of outdoor areas of of of landscape areas as well. Um we also had mechanical engineers going through looking primarily
022at HVAC equipment figuring out the ages of different equipment. you know, what is the expected lifespan of those of those HVAC units that are conditioning the spaces? Um, looking at the the the quality and just conditions of those. Um, looking at whether they're powered by gas or electricity, um, as that's a, you know, a key part of, uh, the assessment. And then our electrical engineers as well going through looking at lighting, lighting controls, security intrusion uh alarm systems, you know, existing photovoltaic uh arrays and um you know, everything in between. So with all of that, we got a very technical um idea of what the current conditions of the facilities were. Um and we start to form our ideas of what improvements should happen. When we see a mechanical unit that's 30 years old, okay,
023that probably should get replaced. If we see some pavement that's that's starting to separate and crack that's causing trip hazard, you know, issues, okay, that should be replaced. But there's still the other aspect of what does the community want and need out of out of our facilities for the school district. Um, so that led us to um do a series of workshops with with, you know, principles, site staff, with district administration, and with the community. Um, so we went through and did uh interviews with all of the principles at all the different sites, walking each of their school sites to to go through and uh identify what the the current pain points and also parts that were working well uh were from their perspective. Um, we interviewed uh department heads of various um you know
024district um uh departments. So food services, transportation, ed services, um special services, we looked at the pedaluma adult school as well. Um and then also interviewed some of the district's key consultants while not district staff but looking at um you know the security assessments that were done uh I believe two years ago and then looking at the energy uh systems as a whole. Um so that was a really key part to uh flesh out what were the departmental goals for facilities. Um and then also having community workshops. So in addition to what was done during the pre-bond plan where there were community workshops at every single school site, we had another round for the facilities master plan. So um another series of of workshops at each site and that included a workshop at Valley Vista
025after the merger had been um decided and made public. So we had a lot of community members from uh Live Oak as well um at the time. Um and so we also had a digital survey that went out um to gather responses from people who weren't able to attend in-person meetings. Um so we were able to parse through all of those as well. And so with the technical, the community input as well as the kind of district departmental goals as well as site goals, we start to assemble a list of projects. Um, this is a long list here. I'm not going to go through all of it. Um, I've shared it before with uh with the board. Um, we'll be able to go back to it if questions emerge, but it's it's a long series
026of projects. We generally have some that apply to every single school. There are some that apply just to elementary schools, uh, like some specific MUR improvements or new TK classrooms, things like that. And then there's some that apply specifically at the high school and junior high school level. Um, you know, gym and locker room improvements or um, you know, new student unions, things like that. Um, and then there's some specific district-wide projects that would benefit benefit um, both elementary and secondary. Um, so improvements that might be needed here at the district office or at the transportation yard. Um and then um also identifying separately the the open space that we have uh adjacent to Kasa Grande High School, which is a kind of district-wide resource and and looking at projects that could be accomplished there.
027Um so with those projects, we started to assemble uh a series of site maps to help identify where and and what these projects look like. Part of this is to, you know, create some nice visual graphics. Uh some of it is also to help with um future teams of of architects and engineers that come in to design these projects because these aren't designed, they're they're they're plans for projects. Um but knowing which classrooms we're talking about when we say a classroom modernization or which what's the rough area of the admin at uh you know the admin area at at a given school site um so that they can start to just put together um ideas of what the scope is. So that's the purpose of these um maps. Um, and so there's one for each
028site. Um, just like all the other assessments. Um, and the other part of the logical project outline, this component too, where we start to assemble all of the things identified in the facilities needs assessment into projects is starting to think about, okay, how do all of those disparate needs come together into a form of uh uh of logical projects. We could start putting together all sorts of different scope items, you know, oh, the roof is leaking, this HVAC unit is failing, um, the play structure is in disrepair, but not all of those necessarily go well together when it comes to the planning of of how construction happens at a school site or what type of contractor is actually needed for those different types of uh, improvements that are needed. Um there's also funding sources to
029think about um whether uh possible state grants or other um other uh resources could be levied to accomplish a certain type of project but not another type of project. Um so all of that kind of comes together and helps inform the creation of this list of projects where a classroom modernization includes carpeting and painting and maybe some HVAC replacement, but it doesn't include a play structure rehabilitation or something like that. you can start to see and understand why different scope is identified with other scope to create a project. Um then we go into creating budgets like I mentioned before. Um that's a big bulk of of the plan is a lot of sheets of of budgets um and resource allocation kind of spreadsheets. Um it's looking at rough order of magnitude of what our understanding
030of the scope is at this current time for that project. um it assumes some amount of escalation, but it's hard to know because a project could happen next year from this facility's master plan or it could happen 15 years from now. Um there's not a specific timeline necessarily to to all the projects in here. So, it's hard to come up with a perfectly accurate number. Um but it assumes some amount of escalation kind of average across all of the projects. Um there's also contingencies in there because like I mentioned, the projects aren't designed yet. We know roughly scope that should be included. Um but there are things that will come up um once a team of architects and engineers actually starts to design the individual projects. And that's where those contingencies come in. Same thing
031for construction contingencies. As Vanpel will tell you, there's always something that comes up during construction. Usually it's the architect's fault, right? But but there's always something. >> So there's always something that comes up and so we need to account for some amount of that in the budget so that we're not um you know biting off more than we can chew. Um, and so that results in a whole series of spreadsheets like this. Um, there's summaries by site and by even just the whole whole district, right? Um, and then each project that's been identified has its own, um, suite of, uh, of of sheets to help come up with this. When you're looking at this, a helpful reminder, uh, for those who aren't as familiar with construction budgeting, there's direct construction costs, which are kind of
032the labor and materials that the contractors will need to build the project. And then there's indirect costs which are those expensive architects and engineers. Um as well as you know agency fees, testing and inspections and other contingencies that might um and soft costs you know furniture procurement that that isn't necessarily part of the general contractor's work. And so those two combined, the direct and the indirect come out with um what the total resources required to accomplish a project would be. Um but again this is from a specific snapshot in time and even as the implementation plan comes along the scope will get more defined and budgets might get increased or decreased according to what more information uh arises as Amanda mentioned this is kind of a it should be a living document and it shouldn't
033be a a a hard set in stone thing for the next 15 years it's it's meant to be revisited and and rediscovered along the way. Um, so with all those budgets, with all the projects, with all the needs identified, we're looking at uh a total of around $744 million of projects um in the facilities master plan. Now, again, I just have to reiterate that is looking at a 10 to 15 year timeline. And again, it doesn't start to look at what the specific priorities of of this board or future boards and the community as well are going to be. Um, so it's not saying that the district is going to fall apart if all $744 million of projects are not accomplished. This is just outlining, you know, kind of the whole menu of options um
034uh available. And as um as resources become available, whether it's through bonds, through grants, through other um through other opportunities, um projects can start to be prioritized and that $744 million starts getting chipped away at bit by bit. Um so when it comes to looking at this and this will feed in a bit more with Vanpel um talking to you later about uh the prioritization and the implementation the categories that we've got in here are in a couple ways set up in a couple ways there set up by project type. So, there's projects that tackle infrastructure, kind of the unforeseen, excuse me, not the unforeseen, the unseen parts of our of our of our campuses. You know, um utility pipelines that are running underneath a campus. No one's seeing that. Um you know, some some
035paving repairs that most people aren't going to see. Um there's modernizations, which are basically taking existing buildings and breathing new life into them, um through uh improvements, um repaired finishes, all sorts of stuff like that. And then there's new construction which is kind of the most basic there. It's a new building where there wasn't a building before. Um we also break it out by project level. This is a little bit different than the project type. Um and this is trying to help give just another framework by which you can look at the projects and assess them. Um we have these set up and this will be a hopefully a reminder from what we discussed last March but in three levels uh preserve, improve and create. a project that is a preserve uh level is something
036that preserves an existing piece of facilities uh at one of the schools or throughout the district. It's this is a project that is needed to preserve something that we already have um to keep it functioning um where if there was no project it would cease to function or function in a different way. Um, an improved project would be, okay, how do we take an existing facility and make it even better? Allow it to do what it currently is doing, but in a better way, right? And then a create would be creating a new opportunity for, you know, the district to achieve its educational mission. Um, it's a little bit different than the infrastructure and modernization and new construction simply because you could imagine, you know, an improved project could be a new VAPA classroom. um
037that might be new construction um but it's improving a current uh program or or offering of the district because right now it's being taught but just in substandard facilities. It's not reaching its full potential. Um similarly a create project you might think oh create new construction but a create project could be modernizing uh a building um to convert maybe an unused classroom into a different type of multi-use room or or breakout space. So, it's a modernization project, but it's creating new um new possibilities for the district. Um, and then I've I've kind of already talked a little bit about this, but there's different funding possibilities as well that can help inform your your future prioritization. Um, whether it's coming from bond, whether it's coming from other grants, whether they be federal, state, or local. And
038then also other district resources like Amanda was mentioning earlier, whether that's developer fees, um, whether that's deferred maintenance or other dedicated funds. Um and so whatever district funds and whatever grant funds um and then whatever bond funds that all comes together in the available resources that you'll have um at a given time. Um but again you know in 10 years and 15 years maybe a different bond program comes along and you'll have more resources available and you'll go through another round of implementation looking at perhaps some of the same projects that are in this facility's master plan. Um and so, uh the last thing, you know, and and this is just probably stepping onto Van Peltz territory, but you know, looking as well, um at what specific priorities you as a board and you as
039a as a community, we as a community have for um for our facilities that that's going to change over time. Um there might be emerging needs that come up. You know, we all know about the TK um equation that was brought in uh at the state level with a new grade level um that that had facilities impacts. So, who knows what the the next emerging need might be, whether it's class size reduction or a new grade level. Um, but that's something that could come up. Um, there could be past bond program goals that weren't accomplished with previous bonds that really, even though, um, some people might think that it's not as big a priority, no, we do want to prioritize it because it was something that we said we wanted to accomplish before and it's
040come up, excuse me, come up again. Um and then there also might be uh various city or county or community partnerships that that might elevate a certain project up in your um in your thinking. Um you know one for example um I know that certain projects within the facilities master plan specifically address and uh look to uh collaborate with the uh the uh the kind of uh environmental plan um uh that the uh that the city has. And so, um, looking for ways, okay, maybe that's a partnership that might elevate a certain type of project, uh, forward in in how you prioritize things. So, what comes next? Climate. No. Um, but, uh, I think I've I probably talked enough there. Uh, apologies, I went a little over on my allocated time. Um, Amanda, are we
041doing kind of all of us first and then questions? >> Lucky for you, I forgot to start the timer. So I know you actually have three minutes um but you don't. Would you guys like to do questions in between each discussion or should we go on through? >> I think probably at the end just in case a question we have is already going to be answered. >> Exactly. >> Perfect. All right. Climate. >> Okay. Oh, sorry. >> Oh yeah. Well, good evening, board president Cloud, members of the board, Superintendent Harris, members of staff, the Pedaluma community. We are so excited to be here tonight to share the culmination of our efforts over the last six months. And I just want to first and foremost commend the district on the thoughtful approach that you guys are
042are taking for putting together this bond implementation program. It's one of the best um approaches I've seen so far and really excited to be a part of it actually. So, first and foremost, the program objectives for an energy modernization program are just to improve the learning and comfort of the environment that staff and students are involved in. Also, increase efficiency and resiliency and promote environmental stewardship. And something that um Superintendent Harris tal touched on earlier is to really hedge against what the utilities are doing to you because PG& continuously raises their rates over and over every single year. They've gone up 70% in the last 5 years which Burn is going to talk about. So want to just hit that. I know it's not on the page but wanted to make sure that we talked
043about that a little bit about the process today. I know Todd Ted talked about it a little bit earlier, but more in depth on the energy modernization program. The district passed a climate um resolution in June 2025, which really, you know, spearheaded them wanting to go after and put out a RFQP for energy modernization and s sustainability, you know, just efforts in general. And that took place in June. there was, you know, a handful of computable companies that responded to the RFP and we were fortunate enough to to win that. So, thank you staff and board. Um, the first step in our process is to look at all look and analyze all of your utility. So, anything that draws down on your energy, your gas, your water, um anything that is connected to that, just
044really look at it um and analyze it against different school districts that are in this area and see where there are different areas for improvement. The next we sat down with Van Pal's team and the school district's team to just get talk through all the needs and wants um throughout the district before setting foot out on site. And once we um got through that, it was about a four hour meeting. So, thank you for everyone's time. Um we sent out our engineering team for about two weeks to analyze all of the current equipment that's out there. Your HVAC, your lighting, your building automation controls. Those are the brains of essentially your classrooms and your admin facilities and your current solar PV program which is is is running really well actually. Um so we are we
045are excited to see that for the district. Um the next step in the process where we're currently at is the feasibility assessment. Um we are here to show share that with you tonight and that shares high level of what the different scope measures can be and what the different funding um capabilities that we could go after. >> Be the clicker. U the district, as Amber mentioned, has done a really good job um putting solar in place. It's it's offset your cost by about 45%. Which is a testimony to the decisions that the district made in the past. However, no one could have ever known that the utility rate escalations just in the last 5 years would go up 70%. And there's still another 55% of energy costs that could potentially be mitigated um by implementing
046some some measures to reduce that um that impact on the district's operating funds. I should mention that this uh utility analysis before you begins in 2024, which is our our baseline year for the school district. Nearly $1.5 million in energy costs, you know, paid to PG&E. What we would typically do and firms in our space do is look ahead. What is that impact? If the district were to remain the same and not do the work to reduce that demand, what could happen to the district's operating budget related to utility expenses? So, just looking ahead to 2030, the top line is uh is about a 10% increase per year. Uh that'd be nearly $2.4 million if everything remained the same or in the absence of a project. And then a more conservative number of 5% would
047be $1.9 million in utility costs just as soon as 2030. So obviously it's really good that the district is taking a look at this type of uh modernization that touches energy to help uh impact those those operational costs and also update infrastructure. So during an energy master plan, when we put put those together, we look at all different types of scope measures, energy conservation measures we call them. Um that includes interior and exterior lighting modernization, sports field lighting, HVAC modernizations, building automation systems, solar for new and retrocommissioning of your current solar program, building envelope, which is essentially doors, windows, roofing, things of that nature. Um EV charging and power resiliency. I know that is um a pretty prominent topic for you guys and wanted to talk a little bit more about that. But just as
048a recap for interior and exterior lighting, there's a um a bill AB2 2208 is no long is a is essentially a bill that allows or does not allow people to purchase non-LEDD lighting anymore in the state of California. So by having any lighting that is not LED currently um it makes the cost drastically higher to even obtain or even impossible to obtain any lighting that goes out. So upgrading your to LED is you know a very high priority for the district. You have about 14,000 lights that are nonLEDD to this to this point. Yeah. Yeah. did. It took us two weeks to do it, but we did it. >> This one has 12. >> Yeah. Um the sports field lighting, there's two sites that that um need some sports field lighting up modernization and upgrades.
049HVAC modernization, there's about 390 units that are past useful life. So, that's that's quite a bit. Um as far as HVAC goes, that's for anything that's 15 years and older, and that's that's standard. um building automation system. You guys have made a really great investment um in a system and you're moving towards that. About 75% of the system is already on a a really good Wi-Fi system. So, we'll standardize moving forward on on that same system. And then solar, as we mentioned earlier, your solar systems that you currently have is running really well. Um but there are places for adding additional solar as well as some retro commissioning. So, as we move forward in the process of the uh detailed assessment, we'll be able to really nail down those finer details. And then building envelope,
050you have some windows and roofing that needs to be upgraded. And then power resiliency, I know we talked about earlier is a little bit of a hot topic on do adding battery storage for critical backup at a couple of sites. So, we're in the process of really assessing that because batteries are very expensive and there's been a, as you've probably seen in the news, there's been a lot of, you know, talk around them being, you know, very not safe essentially. Um, so I want to make sure that we're incorporating, you know, technology that's safe for, you know, students and staff to be be around, you know. So, we are in the process of assessing that now. Does anyone have any questions on the sculpt measures or anything that I've talked about already? Okay, got it.
051So, DTA had some beautiful pictures on top of the roof. Um, these are some maybe uh maybe a little bit further past their useful life and board members and and city or excuse me, district leadership typically aren't on the roof. So, we wanted to show you some of maybe the more aged infrastructure. Uh this is McDow, my alma mater. Uh Kennallworth. I'm going to play that for a while. Uh and Pedaluma High School on this one. Next one, Amber. And then this is uh Kasa Grande High School primarily on this slide. Uh obviously the high schools have the most need uh of what we've seen in our assessment so far. As I talked about earlier, there's an opportunity to add solar at a few sites. Um so we'll be as we move further into this
052process we'll be able to evaluate that further but there is opportunities um throughout the district to add additional solar. The funding plano approach is essentially it going down this path um under this type of procurement method. It allows for budget certainty because when we bring you a price um it's a not to in not to exceed guaranteed maximum price. So what we put into the contract doesn't include it does not have any change orders. It is guaranteed maximum price unless you ask for a scope you know amendment uh of adding scope or deducting scope. So essentially you get budget certainty without you know any price escalations. We cap the budget and you get everything done at today's construction prices. We're currently seeing construction prices go up at least 10% every single year since co. Um,
053so that kind of caps this and allows allows you to have budget certainty on these type of measures. Also, leveraging grant grant and and savings grant funding. There's quite a few grant funds that come and go, especially through the utilities, but one major one I want to talk about is the inflation reduction act funding. And that's a federal tax incentive that public sector agencies are allowed to take advantage of. Um, and that is actually going away very soon as you yeah, you probably all know. Um, so you're in a very good position to access those funds. The deadline is going to be July 4th of 26 to have projects under construction of of at least 5%. So, you're in a you're in a really good position right now to take advantage of those dollars. So,
054that will just help alleviate um and free up bond funds and um general fund dollars. And then guaranteed results, like I said, getting getting work done at today's construction prices, you know, and and actually seeing the savings and validating those savings. We talk a lot about the kind of work that's going to be done such as HVAC, building automation, potentially additional solar, etc. But one of the great parts of these programs, especially in districts that have recently passed bonds, is demonstrating to the community the work that the the good work that the district has done and also bring the students along in that story. And there's a lot of pictures. These are some districts that we worked with in the past. I'll just mention the bottom one here. Um that's Bay View Elementary School in
055Santa Cruz, uh part of Santa Cruz City Schools. We're on our fifth phase of work with them. They had about 70 students come out for a flip the switch event where uh they were celebrating a net zero energy site. Really cool kind of day and really also educating the students. You can see all the ways we inform, involve and inspire the community and really try to help them help conserve and make a difference in their communities as well. So we do that through press releases, ribbon cutings, um you know we could do an education session in a multi-purpose room really whatever the district likes. Uh even supporting with websites and micro sites. We also provide STEM curriculum. So especially for solar we can bring in you know many solar systems for different programs. Um so
056you kind of make what you want of it and a lot of teachers really get into it. So it's really it's really cool to see actually the next steps. Um here we are tonight at the board information or study session. Um we are in the midst of finalizing the preliminary scope of work and funding plan which we'll be sharing with staff very soon. And then once that is you know blessed by staff and the board, we will do our due diligence of a of a detailed assessment. So, we'll get our engineering team back out on site to really dot the eyes and cross the tees to make sure that, you know, we're bulletproof in a contract. We're able to offer you a guaranteed maximum price. Um, and then you'll have to go um like a
057legal and due diligence process, I'm assuming, with your, you know, board and staff. And then we will come back and ask you for consideration of the agreement and implementation. And then uh construction should take you know about 12 to 18 months on this type of size of a program. Any questions for me? >> So if we have 5% of construction started and done by July 4th, we're eligible for that um reduction money. >> Yes. and we'll help the district along the entire process to make sure that you're able to, you know, access the be able to access those funds. We can't actually help you do the filing because we're we're not a CPA, but we will get you in touch with the right people to do it and provide all the information to them. So,
058we successfully filed and received reimbursement for our two battery backup projects. and working with a CPA firm during that we found out that the electric buses and vans that we had purchased also qualified. So we received re uh reimbur Yes. And they did. >> So yeah, so we've gone through the process once um and feel comfortable doing that now. It's very exciting to actually see something develop something at the federal level be so functional, you know, and and people actually and people are actually getting taxed, which is very encouraging. So, we're excited about it >> for this short period of time. >> Yeah. >> Um, so just real quick, I'm sorry. I know we were going to do questions later, but I was just so, uh, 5% of all of this, right? be doing the
059whole thing over a period of 18 months. >> Yeah. So the whole program will be you know installed over a 12 to 18 month period but the only part portion of the project that has to be 5% under construction is the solar and EV charging. >> Thank you. >> And battery storage as well. >> And for the 5% is that actual breakground construction or is that okay? We We're still getting it in writ formally in writing whether it's you know soft cost sunk which is design and engineering but we are we're seeing that it'll be hard construction cost or construction. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> How are you all doing? Need to shake out your arms and it's a lot of information. So, um, again, Dave Rubin, I'm with Calendar Associates. Um, in addition to
060helping Ted and his team with the facilities master plan and and evaluating some of the landscape landscape scope, um, separately, um, we're also helping Amanda and the district in preparing a uh, district-wide landscape master plan and assessment. Um, and we kicked this off back in May. And uh really the goals of the project were to help the district identify and really provide a a blueprint, if you will, for district standardization of irrigation systems as well as plant pallets, planting schemes that can be applied when bond projects come up. Uh the the other thing I will say about this is that I I think this this particular report can also be used in conjunction uh with the recently adopted uh climate resilience plan. I think the two really go hand inand um in in one when
061when projects are going out and individualized. So a little bit about what did we do going forward. Um, so we, as I mentioned, we we met with Amanda, kicked the project off in May, and um, we met with Doug Meford and his team, the maintenance group, and we visited all 13 sites. And at each of these sites, uh, we had a checklist. And so we are looking at everything from the irrigation meter, backflow preventers, remote control valves, looking at all of the detail of systems at each of the sites as well as uh an evaluation of the existing planting areas. Um and I'll talk a little bit more about that later. Uh so once we were able to do that, we put together an existing conditions submitt which we then submitted to the district and
062and maintenance staff for their review um just to see that we were on the right track. And with their input then we proceeded uh to put together a draft landscape assessment. Um, and that's where we really dove more into talking about uh uh standardizing irrigation equipment as well as putting together plant pallets uh planting applications by site where they would occur on campus uh ultimately finalizing that so that we can present to you this evening. Um so I'm not going to walk through all 13 sites um just in the interest of time. Um, but I did want to uh basically use M uh Grant Elementary as as an example just to show you how our process played out and and what the ultimate um outcome of of our analysis was. So, we've got this site
063plan. It's colorcoded and and what we wanted to do was capture what the existing conditions are at each of these campuses. And so we've identified where you've got turf used for ornamental purposes, for recreational purposes. Um we've also identified your naturalized areas. That's what we've identified in pink. You've got a lot of acreage in your district that is really kind of unmaintained. It's at the periphery of the site. It's it's actually like thinking of Pedaluma Junior High for example. There's a lot of native oaks and in these slope transition areas. And so that's really what that's intended to to identify. Um, and then we also took a look at your shrub and planting areas and and essentially gave them a a scoring system and used color coding for that as well. Uh, using green for
064good condition areas, uh, yellow for kind of fair condition, and orange for for more of your poor condition areas. Uh in addition, um I mentioned we we looked at irrigation in in quite a bit of detail. Um and so we were able to put these plans together based on a combination of asbuilts that the district has as well as just walking the sites and walking with maintenance staff and being able to talk with them. Um you know, so we're able to locate meter locations and backflow and mainline routing and and controllers and how many and where they are. Um, this is something that currently I don't believe the district has. Um, and so when when we asked the question, they said, "Well, let me go to the back of my office. I have a roll
065of drawings here and I have a roll of drawings here." So really, this becomes a starting point for future projects and and for your maintenance staff to to pick up a set of plans and say, "Okay, yeah, this is how this site is laid out." Um, so that definitely has some long-term benefit for the for the district. Um the other thing we did was we put together an existing um irrigation systems matrix and we did it by site. So those all of the school sites are the columns and then all the rows down the side. So that's like your irrigation controllers, your remote control valves. And basically through this process it was pretty clear that you've got a little bit of everything at all of these campuses. And so really you would benefit from standardizing
066and and so that's where we ultimately went and we worked with your maintenance staff to to to hone that in. Okay. So now talking about again looking at Grant Elementary um recommended landscape improvements to be made at these campuses. So again using color coding um but in this instance we're we're using the colors to identify different applications. So for example the red area that you see near Grant Avenue at the entrance that is corresponds directly to an application or plant pallets that you'll see later on which I'll show you um about what would be appropriate to do. you know, this is an area where you probably want to have some showiness and highlight that entrance and really it gives kind of a visual cue for visitors that this is the entrance to the school. Similarly,
067uh the light blue that you see uh around the parking lot that would be a planting pallet that would be suitable for a parking lot and so on. Um and so we've done that at all of the campuses. Um and then the other thing we've done at each camp is we have sight specific I think recommendations that where we would say these would be priorities that you might want to look at for when bond projects do come about or if there is a an upcoming landscape project. And so it would be things like at Grant in particular, you've got these synthetic turf little strips that are around the running track and those are kind of in poor condition at this point. that would be something that we recommend you you get after at some point
068in the not too distant future. Okay. So with that information, we proceeded to produce um plant pallets for each of those applications that I talked about. So for example, what you see on screen right now represents a plant pallet suitable for entrance and access areas. Um, so we as part of it, we looked at using natives where we could, not admittedly they're not all natives, but they're all drought tolerant, uh, climate adapted, low water use, easy to maintain. That's and that's why we wanted to run the the plant pilot by our by district staff and make sure they were comfortable with it. Um, but we've identified the sizes. We don't want to put plants that are the wrong size in the wrong space, you know, so have that reference. Um, as well as their water
069use. Everything that we've identified is anywhere from very low to low with a couple of mediums, but we are trying to be sensitive to water use. Um and so the the other thing I will say is that um we've identified multiple planting combinations. So like you see we've got planting combination A, B, and C. That's just so that it doesn't become static and boring, you know. So, this gives a future designer the opportunity to take a look at this document and say, "Okay, I've got an entrance and accent area. Here are a couple of different things I could do." Just gives some options. And so, this continues on. So, we also have uh pallets for the building foundation planting. Um, and that covers trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, ground covers. Um, so same same kind of
070thought process, but just suitable for the application that it's being used for. um small planting areas. So these would be like you know where pathways intersect you get these creation of these little small planting areas. You know what do you do in those kinds of spaces uh parking areas as I mentioned uh sloped and naturalized areas. I I think there's some opportunity here to uh potentially increase the amount of planting and certainly remove things that are like a wildfire hazard. I I we did see a little bit of that. Um, so I think this would be something that would show a lot more resilience just kind of districtwide in in looking at these spaces because as as I mentioned, there's a lot of area that that really falls into this category uh across the district.
071Um, and then storm water treatment. So, anytime you're creating or replacing an impervious surface, um, we are getting into storm water treatment. And so you now have a pallet that you can pull from um when those projects arise on a a bond project or in any other district um renovation project. Um and then lastly um so this is a much more simplified vetted irrigation equipment legend from what I showed you earlier. So instead of six different controller types, you've got one. Instead of five different remote control valve types, you've got one. And so we reviewed this with Doug and his team and and these are products that they're familiar with, ones that they want to work with. Um, so this is something that a f again a future designer could pick up and and run
072with and they can put a set of plans together and it will be standardized across the district. And so that is all I had. So, um, real quick, if that's okay, um, Dave brought up a good point that we really haven't gotten into yet, and we'll discuss later on this evening as part of the bond implementation is anytime that there is a project done within the a new project, there's always a piece of landscaping um, that will happen with that due to California standards and beautifification. And um after construction there's also dirt. So previously what we've done districtwide without this plan is um sometimes we would hire a landscape company at the end. Sometime the the district team would come in and do some planting um at the end of the project. So, one of
073the great things is this will give us a standard pallet and a plan moving forward that we can build into the construction project from the beginning and there won't be this, oh, what are we going to do about this dirt at the end? Um, the other piece, the irrigation standards, I think is huge for our district. We've been lucky enough to have a great partnership with relief and um their willingness to plant trees. And one of the things that we have come up over the last couple years is um we've had to do a lot of hand watering over a few years while they're established. Um we didn't have we currently do not have district district standards or protocols for irrigation. This will help that that it will also establish on if we have a
074donation for trees and um maybe there's not a specific area. We have had a local organization reach out that would like to um donate trees at Mary Collins. This gives us a plan to say like this is the perfect place um you want to donate a maple. I don't know if that's on the list or not but actually so without looking you know this is where it will thrive not only survive because um when you look at our reports over the years it feels like um over the last couple years and it's ongoing is there's often contracts with arborists because we are having to take trees out over the years that either um maybe that isn't where they should have been planted originally or we didn't have the irrigation set up to help them. So,
075um I just wanted to point that piece out. Yes. >> Do you guys need a break or are you okay? >> I'm sorry. I didn't have my I'm sorry I didn't have my thing on. Um I don't No. No break. Thank you. >> Not at the moment. I need to really >> Yeah. Look at >> Well, remember that the So, the landscape plan will be voted on tonight, >> right? >> Okay. >> And I have no problem, >> but it'll come up too. So, you can always ask questions. >> Yeah. >> I don't have a question. I just want to complain about Pen and the CPU. Um, yeah, there was a bill a couple years ago that would have made it possible for places like schools and health centers and apartment buildings to not have
076to sell the solar they got to the grid and then buy it back for hire. And unfortunately, the CPU and the legislature were not able to get an exemption for schools. So right now without battery backup, we sell solar to PG& for cents on the dollar and then have to buy it back for the full dollar. Um, which is disgusting. So hopefully battery stuff can get better soon and not all be freaking Tesla. But in the meantime, um, I'm really pissed at the CPU and if anyone wants to try and get appointed to that, it would be great. We're in the process of vetting um a a handful of new batteries. So we we we're coming very close like as you know we're a boson company. So we um take these things very seriously in
077vetting technologies and making sure that they're safe for you know not only you but us as well if we're working in the facility. So I I I think we're coming to a conclusion very soon and I think the technology has come, you know, very far and I think we'll we'll we're getting there. So I I think by the time we're ready to put a ball on this program, we'll we'll be right there. So uh number one, apologies for being late. Um my meeting prior meeting uh went very very long. Um my question uh for the climatic team, you mentioned battery safety. Um I don't think there is a big issue. There was the Moss Point fire, but are there any additional issues with batteries on, you know, campuses or large buildings? Not not to date,
078but since there was that fire, they're not, you know, LA County won't even approve battery storage systems in the county for any public sector um facilities. So, to date, so we take the most, you know, we're we're very conservative. We don't want to put any any technology in that in a year we have to rip out um that you've paid for. So we want to make sure that we're installing long-term solutions and that the technology is ahead of the curve. So essentially we we we're doing the due diligence on behalf of the district. There was an early assembly bill that would have outlawed outlawed is the wrong word to use. um banned banned I apologize um the batteries on like school and government sites but that did not pass as part of uh the current
079year legislation. >> Okay. Um so we have a lot of economic uncertainty right now. Uh the Supreme Court is taking up the tariff uh issue. So uh this is a broad kind of like as we're planning and prioritizing you know which I would say like um resources sectors that are like most impacted by tariffs like so for example the tariffs one way tomorrow solar drops by half or what is so what should we be on the lookout for if the tariff the current tariff regime disappears um and then if it doesn't disappear what are like the additional like pressure points um Canadian wood like what are the things that are like uh really increasing the costs that we have to be watchful for as we are prioritizing projects and maybe the next administration will would
080drop you know the tariffs those are the things that I'm also quite curious because you know it is adding um 30 40% to some specific construction projects um and so just want to be on the material side for us to digest what is your lay lay on how the tariff regime is impacting costs. >> Yeah. So, steel. Uh, no. Um, you know, ultimately I I I took the microphone. I'm going to give maybe a a somewhat disappointing or lacking answer. It's a little difficult to project um and make decisions based on tariffs, current ones or future ones uh or or ones that might go away. Um bottom line, um tariffs and and the cost of materials are one piece of the broader puzzle. As you know, in you know, in Sonoma County, labor is a
081really big aspect of of any project as well. um uh perhaps even to a greater degree, fluctu fluctuations in labor rates can have even bigger impacts on on the the budgets and cost of projects ultimately. Um and I don't want to step over on onto Van Pelt's toes here. Um at a certain point, um the the making implementation decisions based on projections on tariffs, I I don't know if that's necessarily the right direction for for the district to go. Um there are other um prioritization elements that might be um more pivotal. Now with every bond program, you're going to have contingencies. Those are going to be individual project contingencies, but there's also going to be entire bondwide contingencies to help address some of these unknowns that that honestly if anyone comes up here and tells
082you that they have the exact way to make prioritization decisions based on tariffs, whether current or future, I I be very skeptical of them. Um, the best way to do that is to hold sometimes what might seem like conservative contingencies, but hold those outside of individual projects to help cover some of those things. Um, maybe I can turn it over to you guys to speak to that more. >> Um, I'll echo a little bit of what Ted said and then add on to that. So, we were recently at um the Coalition for Adequate School Housing fall conference and what this was one of the topics that they actually discussed and to echo a little bit of what Ted Ted said, they said that that they are seeing a lot of fluctuation in the market with
083goods and how the tariffs are impacting and because we don't know things get put out and pulled back and put out and pulled back, they can't really judge it. But they said to keep your eye more closely on the labor market. And that was from the folks on the panel because they said the labor market is going to take a nose dive. Um, and that's something that they're watching is is do we have enough workers? Are they in the right trades and all of that? So that's something that they are looking at very closely. It's not that we're not looking at tariffs. We obviously are. Um, but it's a really important thing to also look at that labor market and make sure that we have enough workers to do all the things that we want
084to do. So that's going to be another really important component moving forward. And also the last thing I'll add on to that is um what we do when it comes time to plan and design a project. When we set a budget, we design to the budget. We don't budget to the design. So if we are looking at a current market condition where we're going, wow, we're really seeing a lot of impacts on materials. Then at that time we're going to think about what the scope of the project is, work with our partners and determine how we design and build that within the budget and to serve the programmatic needs of the site. So um little bit of both, a little bit of strategy, a little bit of forecasting, and then a little bit of just
085belt and suspenders with your budgets. Yeah, >> just to echo what Kelly said is we are designing our program and budgeting our program based on today's market rate. So as soon as this program is procured and board approved, we go and procure all the equipment essentially. So we're getting it at that at that price. So essentially you won't for the energy modernization program you won't have to worry about that because we are procuring um materials immediately. Thank you. That was great. >> Jessica, do you have anything? Did you have any questions? >> Okay, this seems insignificant to like everything else we're talking about, but um for the plan, is it also adding trees? Like I saw like a lot of plants, flowers. Um, and if if there are trees, um, are they going to be
086like placed in like already big? Because a few years ago at Kasa Grande, we had these huge redwoods, but I don't think they were safe, so they took them down, but those actually provided so much shade. So, they replaced them with trees that were barely 5t tall. So, obviously, those did not give shade. So, in consideration of this, maybe um part of the budget, I know it's more expensive to get bigger trees immediately. Uh, but for just students and their comfort comfort in the summer, especially. Yeah. No, it's a great question. Um, bigger trees do cost a lot more and and it's it's kind of exponential. You know, a 15gallon tree is is maybe $250 installed and if you were to get a 72in box tree, it might be$10,000. So, you you pay a lot.
087Um, but I I could see potentially recommending that like if you've got a really signature location, maybe it's like a focal point behind a stage or an amphitheater or something like that and looking for opportunities like that. But I think to implement that as a standard would be cost prohibitive. Um and you know the other thing I'll say is there there it could be structure shade. You know maybe we're looking at doing um like a shade trellis or or something like that and and just see because shade is important. I know it's also in the climate resilience. >> Yeah that's what I was going to point out. It is in our resolution which is >> basically what is driving all of this. So >> I think it was 30% >> the trees and having natural
088environments not just shade structures that can be taken away by wind or whatever. Um, you know, I think uh that's why we have this bond, you know, and why we have prior prioritization, why we have the resolution is to really use that resolution, especially I from most sites. You're not alone. We've heard about, you know, we didn't have a hot summer this time. We will next year probably. And last year, we heard a lot about how difficult it was in classrooms everywhere without that shade. and you can't just cover it. So, my recommendation is to look into shade trees. >> Yeah. And we do have that in in our various pallets just depending on the application. >> Yeah. >> We don't need shade trees everywhere, but where students are, we do. So, >> okay, we
089have one more question. Um yes, for the review of the facilities sites and um looking at um the notes and the I know you interviewed with with staff and and and faculty and the administrators. Um I I'm curious if it captured all of like the leaky roofs or um again what I didn't see was there is a common flood problem in like I believe the basement of Penrove. um as it's like really built into a underground stream. Um so uh I didn't see that was that was mentioned. So was the were the facilities like reviewed during any kind of like rainy season or did you do you feel comfortable understanding all of the let's say water related issues at the sites? >> Yeah, thank you. It's a great question. Um, luckily, uh, we did go
090out and walk a lot of the sites, uh, during the rain in November of, uh, 2024. Um, I will say I personally did come down with a cold Thanksgiving last year. So, uh, um, no, but to to to answer more seriously, um, when, um, our civil engineer is going around, he was looking at the the the storm water um, you know, how it how the site responded to, uh, a rain uh, event. Um we had uh roofing reports as well um that were part of the uh appendix of the um the master plan simply because they had been done um a couple years prior to um the specific time that we were doing it and it was by a different firm and so we were we were utilizing their uh their assessments as part of
091what informed where roofs needed to be replaced. Um so that was looked at as well. And then the Penrove basement um just to get in the weeds there um that one was uh identified. I don't know if the the scope of of specific um talking about specific flood mitigation efforts was was specifically identified, but modernizing that lower level there was actually a project as as part of the the facilities master plan. Um but it's a good note that we probably should have called out more specifically that that specific scope item. Um so, you know, as we're not acting on on the the master plan tonight and as it is a living document, um that might be something that I can uh sneak in a a revision there. So, thank you. Well, thank you very much.
092It was just a great presentation. Um, as I said, uh, we're going to have some public comment now. I know we have a lot of, um, parents here that want to or community members who would like to speak. Um, well, we're supposed to be adjourned in three minutes, so that's not going to happen. Um, so let's go. Let's extend it until 5:30. I'm sorry if you want to stick around um for the meeting at 6. We can you can also do the um uh we have public comment on non-aggendaized items and so you can always come back and do it. I'm sorry it's a lot of information. So if you want to you know decide who wants to come up, we can't have everybody. Um, if you want, we can just have it two or
093three minutes per person. Would that work? >> Well, no. I would It would be a maximum of three, but >> Oh, that's fine. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um, hi everyone. It's so nice to see you again. I'm Jocelyn Martin and my husband and I live in Paluma with our three kids. And like many families, we care deeply about the bond plan. So, thank you for giving us this space to be heard. Um, the issue that our McNair Elementary community is urgently asking you to address is campus security. McNair is the only elementary school in PCS that remains a completely open campus with no controlled access at any point. This is an equity issue that leaves our children and staff in a disadvantage in comparison to every other elementary school in PCS. We
094are simply asking for McNair to be brought up to the same baseline level of safety and equity that all of the other elementaryaries already have. The bond campaign language highlighted safety as a priority and we are simply asking that this first round of funding honors that. We understand that not every school can receive new retrofitting and state-of-the-art gate systems like we all had originally had hoped for. But with the resources available, I 100% believe that we can make McNair what it need give McNair what it needs most, which is the secure perimeter with basic gates and fencing that closes the campus and protects our kids. We know gates cannot solve everything. There is no perfect system to protect our children from the unthinkable, but gates and fences are crucial layers of security. They keep our
095students safely contained on campus, strengthen lockdowns, and create a clear barrier for anyone that does not belong on campus. And that last point is not hypothetical. We started school in August and since then, multiple strangers have walked onto campus. We had an unhoused woman walk onto campus on the first day of school and a few weeks ago a man went running through campus followed by a woman walking her dog. None of these people meant any harm. But none of them should have had access to our kids. Our extraordinary staff handles moments like these with expediency. But they cannot constantly police an unfenced campus as they have really critical jobs that require their full attention. A closed campus also helps children feel protected. We teach them, "If you're scared, go find a grown-up." But on an
096open campus with so many access points, even that very simple message becomes incredibly complicated. Clear boundaries tell children, "You're safe. This is your message to learn and play." But right now, McNair cannot fully send that message when even our bathrooms are out in the open. I serve on McNeer site council and I have learned how rigorously our staff trains for emergencies. A secure perimeter will only strengthen those efforts. And after personally visiting every PCS elementary campus, I can say that McNair is uniquely vulnerable as it acts as a pedestrian thoroughfare from Sunny Slope to G Street and there is just simply no reason to leave our children this exposed. We respectfully and are urgently asking that securing McNair be top priority in this first round of bond funding. The most welcoming campus is the ones
097where students, staff, and families feel safe every day. And right now, despite the love of our amazing McNair community, we do not have that. We're not asking for more than any other sites, no matter what they have. We're only asking for the exact same standard of safety, equity, and peace of mind that all children deserve. Please stand with our families and help make McNair a campus where every parent can drop off their child with confidence that they are as safe as they possibly can be. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Very good. Uh, now we have Scott Fishman. Hello. So yeah, I'm Scott Fishman. I'm also a McNair parent and I'm here to sort of echo some of the same comments that Jocelyn just made and I'm pretty sure that in 2004 at Pedalum High
098School I was class clown daughter. >> I think that's just mentioned it. >> I'm a product of Pedalum schools as well. And you know, yeah, I I do think basically that there should be um like a district priority for some more fencing around McNair school. I think it really is kind of uniquely and remarkably open. Um, and you know, it's open on two sides. So, there's two roads where you can access it. And it's it's not just that it's open two, it's, you know, there's a street and then there's classrooms right there. Like literally, you know, four or five classrooms right there accessible from the street. And I I do think that presents a safety concern for people coming on campus. And I'm not really the type of person to be, you know, distrusting of
099the community or people at large. I'm really not. Uh but in the times that we live in, you do have to think about it. And I think it really is very open. And then the other thing that I think about, and perhaps this is what I think about more, is, you know, I've got a TK student and a second grader, and there are really little kids on that campus who, you know, could theoretically wander off and like find themselves not on campus. And I think that's like a concern during school, but it's also a concern at events that are held at the school as well, where, you know, I I just think a little four-year-old could accidentally sort of find themselves not on campus all of a sudden. So anyway, I I do think it
100should be a priority. I think I you know I trust Joselyn on going around to all the schools and figuring out you know that we are probably sort of >> yeah I you know I totally trust her that we are under fenced I know that's not really a word but I think we are and I do think um you know there's liability that could come with that kind of thing also that's something you know the board should think about and um ultimately yeah I I think it should be a district priority I I think there are probably some common sense solution solutions that aren't that complicated, but I'm no expert. I know you guys are and it was really nice to hear everybody tonight and thank you for all the work that you guys do.
101>> Thank you. Thank you guys for all coming. Is there anybody else who would like to speak? Okay, we have Deb Fox from our climate action manager. Is that right? From the city of Paluma. >> Hi you all. Uh thank you for the opportunity just to uh give it was great to see this. I didn't get a chance to read it in detail yet. Um but there were a couple things that I did want to highlight as we're all experiencing the similar um funding challenges that are coming forth. We have a lot of community partners that can help in particular on the landscape elements of this. Um we have a for the city we're working on working group that has a uh what we call a carbon garden that is so hard to explain what
102a carbon garden is. So, we're trying to rename it, but a working group that is uh bringing together all of the community partners in town that do landscape related education and uh obviously uh service learning pieces come into play for this as we plant and teach kids why to plant biodiversity uh related plants, climate adaptive plants. It was great to see that on there. Uh, and so there's some creative ways to involve kids because this is truly environmental education at its finest when kids can go out and get their hands in the dirt. Um, so, uh, that's one item I just wanted to make sure to highlight and that's something that we can help with because you guys are our second largest land owner in the city and next to the city. Um the uh
103second one I just want to note there were no bike racks uh noted in the facilities master plan and that is an important element for kids to be able to have the opportunity to uh be able to lock their bikes as um to school that we have some bike racks but there's not enough you see on a particular bike to work or excuse me bike to school day there is not enough bike racks and we are as the climate uh gets worse we're going to be needing to shift our most important element is 67% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from how we get around. We want our kids to be walking and biking to school. They show up ready to learn more. All the research shows that. And so we need them to have
104a place to be able to lock their bikes. We need more bike racks. We have more parents riding their bikes. Last night at city council, it was packed house talking about and in particular McNair and uh Valley Vista schools showed up to talk about the need uh to have safer streets, which is what we're working on. Uh, and then what we want you all to be able to do is have a place for them to park their bikes because what young kids riding on the back of ebikes eventually become bike riders themselves. Sometimes on ebikes, but also sometimes on the old school uh manual version. Anyways, so just a couple of things to note. And then the other thing is is that we do work with the county uh that can help with the electrification
105pieces which we've already done one thing on, but in this meeting I sent a note to the energy and sustainability team financing. So anyways, uh just here to help. I want to help make this uh plan uh possible. And again, just environmental education opportunities are key. Thank you. >> Thank you, Deb. Great comments, great presentation. Uh last call. I think we have about two minutes. Okay. I think that we will uh thank you again everybody. Um we will adjourn uh to >> just just real quick. >> Yes. Did I have something else? >> No, I just I just want to thank everybody for coming tonight. It was very informative presentation and given it it's a study session. I just want to um the facilities master plan right is all the projects that we're looking at
106potentially doing. The bond implementation project is coming. So particularly the the uh families who spoke I just want to either it's going to be a long meeting tonight our regular our our regular board meeting but towards the end in discussion is going to be the first discussion about our bond implementation like what we would actually do with the bond funds and so you're w I want to welcome you to stay it's going to be a long meeting you can also watch it and there's we're not actually voting on it tonight it's just going to be for a first first discussion so if people want it may be informative as to the the comments that were made tonight. >> And if you have comments, if you watch it or if you're here and you have comments
107about the implementation, please uh email me uh Matthew Harris and uh Amanda Bonafford um and anybody else up here. Um uh but please do with with any kind of questions. Certainly this will be noted because you you came and um for public comment but also just you know see if if it could be addressed in there somewhere too. Okay. Anything else that comes up? All right. I am adjourning this to close session. Thank you again. It was really really >> Well, I think I think Maddie I think we need to end this meeting and we need to open up the next meeting. >> Yeah. Oh, we do. >> And then go to close session. So I'm ending I'm adjourning this session >> and