HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/7/2022 - Special December 7, 2022 893
Roanoke County Administration Center
5204 Bernard Drive
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day for the
purpose of a joint work session with the Roanoke County School Board Audio
recordings of this meeting will be held on file for a minimum of five (5) years in the office
of the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Mahoney and Chairman Linden called their respective boards to
order at 9:34 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Paul M. Mahoney; Supervisors Martha B. Hooker,
Phil C. North, P. Jason Peters and David F. Radford
STAFF PRESENT: Richard L. Caywood, County Administrator, Rebecca
Owens, Deputy County Administrator; Peter S. Lubeck,
County Attorney, Doug Blount, Assistant County
Administrator; Madeline Sefcik, Assistant to the County
Administrator and Deborah C. Jacks, Deputy Clerk to the
Board
SCHOOL BOARD
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman David M. Linden, Supervisors Tim Greenway,
Mike Wray, Brent Hudson and Cheryl Facciani
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
STAFF PRESENT: Dr. Ken Nicely, Superintendent; Susan Peterson, Director of
Finance; Angela Roberson, Clerk to the School Board
IN RE: DISCUSSION OF FINANCING OPTIONS FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS
Chairman Mahoney started the meeting off with a PowerPoint
presentation, a copy of which is on file in the office of the Clerk to the Board of
Supervisors. Ms. Owens reviewed the numbers.
Chairman Mahoney commented the Board is unable to do the two other
schools (Cundiff and Glen Cove), but has suggestions. The Board is suggesting for the
school board to consider, Board of Supervisors would transfer over, an amount, $2
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million from our fiscal year 2022 year-end surplus so that the school board could
consider making some improvements to Glen Cove and Cundiff on a temporary basis to
try to address some of the problems with the open classroom conditions. We would
also, again, assuming the schools are going to be able to apply for grants, and we have
some information on the grant application process and where we may fall in all of that.
He then provided a letter in response to the November 10, 2022 letter, copy of the draft
memorandum of understanding, which tries to lay out a lot of the information and a copy
of the PowerPoint presentation. The memorandum of understanding tries to lay out a
lot of the information that we've provided today. It talks about some of the various
funding requirements for the capital projects, how the county will provide the two million
from year end for the temporarily addressing some of the issues at Glen Cove and
Cundiff, talks about the school board applying for the grants. We also suggest, based
on the citizens recommendation, let's get an independent energy consultant to see if
there's some possibilities or opportunities there. Finally, we'd also like to look at a
demographic study. We all are worried about the erosion of average daily membership
and where we once were and where we are today. He thinks we all realize the impacts
that has on my back of the envelope calculations, my recollection is based upon the
current funding formula. What do you guys get about $5,000 per student from the
State? We've lost about a thousand kids over the last decade, a thousand times 5,000
is real money and that hurts. As Ms. Owens has pointed out, if we want to go to 20, 20,
20 and if we want to do an $80 million issue. What that means in terms of both of our
budgets, it will adversely affect a lot of other things we want to do. How do we pay
teachers? How do we pay staff? How do you buy gas for school buses? What we were
looking at is we would hope you would be amenable to is the Board of Supervisors will
formally vote on the MOU on December 13, 2022. We're excited to go forward. He
thinks we have a plan to at least address career and technical education. We have a
plan to temporarily address some of the issues in Cundiff and Glen Clove, but also
thinks we have to seriously look at what those long-term implications are and is that
something all of us can live with.
Supervisor North commented he tries to stay plugged into Richmond;
wants to help the schools as we all do. Several weeks, I think it was last week, and
thank you Dr. Nicely for going over there. The committee met December 1st in
Richmond to do two things. One was to adopt the application process for these grants in
one pot of money, called the School Construction and Modernization Fund, which has
$450 million. They laid out how you can go about applying for the grants in January,
which he was hoping it would be middle of December, but they're going to open it up for
eight weeks and probably sometime around March 15, it will be over for submissions for
the first physical year of this program. Then sometime in April, they're going to render
what their results are. Now, I think everyone has a copy of this in front of them, and one
of the criteria was you need to score 65 out of a hundred points. Now, I see the total on
here is 49, he was more hopeful that it was 59. But the point is this, there are two
criteria. that are weighted on this. The composite index and this locality stress
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designation. On both of those, we scored seven each. This program may be a little
restrictive, in my opinion, on the scoring. In other words, the Board of Education will
probably revisit this next year because they even admitted on the phone call that I
listened into along with Chairman Linden, that they would see what the scope of the
applications were next year. There are 130 school districts in the Commonwealth of
Virginia. So, how many school districts are as far along on the CTE or any school as we
are? So, and how many school districts, if they get the award, are going to be able to
obligate the funds within six months of July 1st next year? He does not have the answer
to those questions, but thinks we're far enough along in this process that with some
political support locally and in Richmond, we have something that maybe nobody else
has. That's a CTE school, which supports the governor's initiative on workforce
development, which he's going to come out with in so far as restructuring on the
December 15th when he presents his budget. The other good thing he and Dr. Nicely
heard about is there are three buckets of money. You folks tapped one bucket for $4.3
million thereabouts for the site. The second bucket that we just talked about has $450
million, which is a construction and modernization grant fund. The third bucket is the
literary fund, which they've raised to $400 million. Now, in the course of the
conversation, they also said, "We want to increase the funding." And one member said,
"Well, there's $25 million of needs, and, of course, like everything else, you chip away at
it." And so, they recommended that you increase the funding to from $1.2 billion, in all
three pots, to $2.5 billion, which is about $1.3 billion more. Now, this has to go to the
subcommittee and then the General Assembly Senate and House. So, watch and see
what happens in the governor's budget, December 15th, to see if those numbers that
are recommended of $500 million thereabouts in each pot and whether they show up
there or not. And we're going to be watching that pot of money for many reasons, not to
mention the 181 project that was talking about yesterday in Richmond. So, we need to
all dial in on this and take some time to look on December 15th and what they present.
With that said, I believe that we stand a good chance to, if not get the funds in the
school construction modernization to Ms. Owens point to apply for literary funds
because there is going to be more money available for these type of grants, funds,
whatever you want to call it, in the future. Because once you turn to speak at all and
start funding these, like they had never been done before, they're not going to go away
anytime soon, trust me. Because education and transportation are important and the
Commonwealth. So, we're going to find out about a lot of things in the near future. But I
want to leave you with this. The two indices that are the most important are the
composite index and the stress level. When we're talking to our general assembly
delegates, whether they represent us or not, and I might remind you, Delegate Rasoul,
is now on the appropriation committee, which is a huge appointment for this area. We
point these things out that we scored in the 70 percentile of those two indices. We also
point out this, that this is a workforce development grant project and that we emphasize
that because the Governor is high on that topic in the Commonwealth of Virginia. My
point is this, don't let this 65 minimum score that we score somewhere between 49 and
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59 stop us, let's keep a foot on the gas, let's apply for it, and then let's go behind the
scenes in Richmond and next year, and work it as best we can because the squeaky
wheel gets the grease. He believes confidently that we're going to be ahead of the
game by coming out of the gate with this large project that emphasizes workforce
development. So, I'm optimistic, and if we can't get it in this one pot of money, we're
going after the literary fund. Lastly, the Commonwealth of Virginia Commerce, Secretary
Slater, was here recently.in Roanoke and spoke on workforce development in setting
the table for what the governor's going to talk about. When we talk about grants, where
do you go? I don't know. There's no roadmap for grants. They're all over the place.
There're grants in labor, there's grants in commerce, there's grants in transportation,
there's grants in education. All of these are in silos. And so, the recommendation's
going to be to put all the staff and their responsibilities for grants under one umbrella
and that's going to be under the Department of Commerce and Labor. And, actually, it's
going to be a new agency that will do nothing but focus on grants. After he spoke, he
advised, "A good grant writer will get money. There are buckets of money all over the
place, especially for workforce. A so-so grant writer won't get a dime. You have great
staff. We are willing to help you, Mr. Blount and his grant writing skills. We want to
emphasize in those grant writings, workforce development." So, it catches the eye and
differentiates us from the other school systems. The Allegheny Regional Commission
would also help us .with their grant writing skills because that's how they live and
breathe. So, we have a host of people that are going to be available to make this effort
work as a team. So, let's all have a positive spirit and make this happen, and let's
change what needs to be changed if it needs to be changed with regards to this scoring
application on that one pot of money.
Supervisor Radford stated about the two years ago he was really hopeful
that we could build and finance three facilities, but as we went through all the research,
we did all the numbers; it's not going to be able to happen. He just wants the school
board to know, we've been working behind the scenes trying to figure out a way to do a
lease option so we can build all three. So, what you see in front of you is also what we
came up with to get the CTE up and going. It's an outlier with your current CIP
schedule. We realize that, understand that, we've known that for a long time. Another
thing that has struck us or me, myself, right when we got through with the State of the
County, he had individuals come up to me and ask, "Okay, you're going to allocate all
these funds for all these schools down the road. How do we know we're going to have
the enrollment to handle all that? Or are we building schools with the footprint too big?"
He has mentioned to Ms. Facciani and some of you over the past couple of months,
about K-8 facilities in terms of if we've got lower demographics down the road, then
that's something that maybe we ought to look at. That's one option. But he feels like the
demographics will help us with the citizens that we're looking at that school age
demographics for the future, whether we do it every two years or three years. I think it's
going to be a paramount that we look at that as a county as a whole.
December 7, 2022 897
Supervisor Hooker stated she would like to echo what has already been
said, and especially Mr. Radford's comments regarding what a project this has been
and how we've really carefully studied all the options in front of us. Mr. Chairman, if
you'd go back to the screen that shows our debt going forward and just park there for a
few minutes. I mean, this is definitely a change, and it's something that came with a lot
of heartburn, trying to figure out what is best. We're obligating future citizens to this, and
we wanted to make sure that we were being responsible. We wanted to make sure that
we were meeting the needs, and there are a lot of needs. There's a lot of needs on both
sides, on the school side and on the County side. We're very committed to seeing an
increase in pay, especially for our law enforcement. It's a big obligation also for us in our
budget. There's been a lot of time spent on this Board with trying to come to a
consensus and we haven't agreed on every issue, but we've worked through it. It is a
great group that gives and takes, and we are trying to do what we perceive is best for
the schools and best for our citizens going forward. Never before in our history have we
had that much debt accumulated. So, there's definitely some concerns there if we have
a turn in the economy and what does that mean if we start losing real estate value and
how that could impact our revenues. So, we're being very cautious, but we're working to
make it happen. She just wants the schools to understand that there is really good faith.
There's been travels on this Board to go and seek other input and to see what all our
options are. We've talked to other people about funding options. There's been a heavy
contingency going to Richmond. She is proud of what this Board is doing going forward,
and please know that it's not without a lot of consternation and concern, but from the
beginning, we have said, we all believe in this CTE program going forward.
Supervisor Peters stated he thinks everyone knows his commitment to
CTE, whether it was Chairman last year, committing to the Citizens Committee and
continue to push this through. He came today with a lot of concerns with the MOU. I do
want to make one clarification. According to the US inflation calculator, $10 million in
2005 would only be $15,259,000 in 2022. So, the school board probably most recently
can understand where he is coming from. He knows the sheriffs office was going to
apply for grants for the SROs, but found out they were not eligible for it because the
school board had already allocated the money for that, which pretty much kicked you
out. Well, he has been in fire and rescue for 30 years, He has sat on a financial
committee to review grants for purchasing new fire and rescue vehicles. The concern
that he has with what's been prepared today is that we are allocating $97 million. The
project cost is $93 million. How will we fair, if we go asking for a grant for a project that's
already been fully funded? At this meeting, this MOU will be public and anyone doing
any research on their end. So, his first concern is that my counter to what has been
proposed is even if we split it and put $40 million in 2024 and $40 million in 2025 being
$80 million towards the project, and then that would give us room to apply for grants
showing the need. At the end of the day, he thinks the Board is committed to filling the
gap. But I think that I'm looking at, if we're truly trying to go after the State grants, the
EDA grants, etc. he thinks that what's in the MOU not worked to our benefit. I have a lot
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of concern and I've shared with the board, 250 was really my max. He has been on this
Board long enough that he has, and hears it from constituents all the time. I can
guarantee you we're going to hear from them again on January the 3rd. As soon as the
real estate assessments go out, we're going to hear from them again. Back in the day,
Al Bedrosian won his election and his only talking point was we're almost $200 million in
debt and that resonates with our citizens. The fact that we're now, with a lot of
heartburn, taken it to $277 million, he does not think it's going to set well with our
constituents. He really felt like the purpose of today was to solidify our plan for CTE. We
asked 10 people to do their job. They did it. They brought back their recommendations.
He thinks that we have a great plan. He is thrilled that we have secured the land. But he
has concerns about what's in this document, on page four. And I will apologize. I think
the MOU should have been provided before today so that you'd have time to review
this. But under our Article IV, Section D, it talks about the solar energy. Again,
everybody knows him, he is pretty transparent. I'm all for the solar energy, but thinks
that what has been presented thus far through our financial folks, it just doesn't work.
So, again, we can talk about taxpayer funded, but, I mean, government funded, but its
taxpayer funded that we're looking to have another energy consultant, which he fears
will probably be a couple hundred thousand dollars. Then the item underneath that; item
E, we're going to do a demographic trend to see where our ADM is going. I'm not
opposed to that, but then I'm going to look at the school board and say when those
numbers come back, are you going to close the school? Are you going to do that? Are
you today moving children around to equalize the population in our current schools? I
don't know the answer to that. When we get the hard numbers in front of us through this
demographic study, then we're going to be looking to you for the answer. He would
hope that our citizens are looking to you because they're funding all of this. There was
another comment in here he believes it was on page three. It says that, the Board of
Supervisors will continue providing funds to the school board in a physically responsible
manner. The school board must prioritize.the timing of its capital projects and going
forward will not ask the Board of Supervisors to deviate from the responsible financial
practices to address capital needs. He honestly can't agree with that. We need to know
what the capital projects are and when he is looking at the two elementary schools. Let
me back up and let's pretend for a moment that we get $13 million in grant funding and
you get the $80 million in 2025, you've paid for the new CTE. So, you have the $17
leftover from 2024, and then you get$20 million in 2027. So, you now going to have $37
million plus, whatever cash you've put together, and you can go build one elementary
school. Which one are you going to build? That is my other concern with this, he thinks
that we've kind of stepped over our focus of the day of CTE and many of us have
agreed that we probably should do two elementary schools at one time, because if
funding comes for one and not the other, it's going to pit the Vinton district against the
Catawba district and he has no desire to get into that dog fight. So as this MOU is
written today, he will not be supporting it next Tuesday. I think I have a lot of concerns
with it, however, he will leave my statement here that he is fully, fully behind the CTE
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center and have been from the beginning. He thinks we need it for our workforce, He
thinks we need it for the economic development of our county. I just don't like what's
been presented to us today.
School Board Chairman David Linden stated he will begin with some
comments and then he is confident my fellow board members will have some comments
as well. When I think back to the deal that was brokered back in 2004, and I know Drew
Barreneau and Joe McNamara had great intentions when they put that together, Mike
Wray was on the Board of Supervisors at the time. It worked, it worked well. I mean, it
made sure that we laid out a plan, that we had a plan for what we felt was important to
us and what we were going to do. But it certainly did not take into account the cost of
• inflation and inflation this year may be at 7%, but when you look at the building cost
inflation this year, it's what was maybe $10 million back in 2004 would be as $20 million
today, building costs have quadrupled instead of doubled in that timeframe. So I think
Mr. Radford could speak to the building costs back in 2004 as to what they are today,
they have not kept up with that. The projects that we have and are important to us right
now are not remodel projects, they're rebuild projects. Burton in a flood zone-, very
outdated. He appreciates the comments and your commitment to a new CTE center
because it is obvious. It's obvious that all five of you are committed to a new CTE
center. It's very important to us, but the two elementary schools are equally as important
to us and when we changed that, we changed our capital improvement plan earlier this
year, it wasn't because we felt they were less important. It was for hopes of grant
funding and getting this CTE center, which is going to be a workforce development
project off the ground. So I think we're 17 to 18 years behind the curve on what we've
been able to spend on our schools because there was not that inflation factor. And we
went from 2004 until 20... What was it? 28, 2019 when we went to 17, 17, 17. So we're
well behind that curve and it's hard to make up for those lost years of what we weren't
able to do when that wasn't factored in. We talked about innovation in our comments
today and the future here in Roanoke County with our students, if we don't make these
innovative changes, we're going to lose citizens. We're not going to have people coming
to Roanoke County schools and our ADM is going to decrease if we're not innovative
and we can't get these done. I've heard Mr. North tell me numerous times when he
moved to Roanoke, they picked Bonsack Elementary School because it was new,
because it was first class, because there was some excitement around that. We need
that in the Glen Cove district and we need that right now over at Cundiff as well. So, he
does appreciate all this information. Obviously, we're going to have to spend some time
looking through it, it would've been nice to maybe have a little heads up on that, but
we've got some time yet. So, appreciate the response to the letter.
School Board member Cheryl Facciani stated thank you all for your hard
work today and for continuing to support the CTE. I think all of us are very disappointed
that we scored 49 points, it's disheartening, because you think we're going to get this
grant money and we've heard that we're that low on the scale. She does not know ab
out the other areas, which Supervisor North stated we probably won't know until all the
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applications are in, in the middle of March and then it's public information to report out.
There are other levers going on behind the scenes that he did not speak to earlier.
Chairman Linden and I, as soon as we get the call from Delegate Austin's legislative
assistant, we're going to jump in the car, leave whatever we're doing, and we're heading
up to his office to take a copy of the CTE plans. Terry Austin is one of the most powerful
representatives in the General Assembly, chairman of the transportation committee and
a vice chairman on the appropriations and the house and delegates. He got $6 million
for a history museum in Fincastle. We are going up there not to just hand him the plans
and say, how you doing? Look them over and let us know if you have any questions.
We're going up there to advocate because we're going to play the side that if this don't
work, we need something and we're going to try to get a commitment from him. CTE is
a regional economic impact. It's just not for Roanoke County, and we're going to try to
get a line item in the budget next year that can be amended. It can be amended in
committee meetings to put this CTE school on there. If we're not successful this year,
we're going to keep our foot on the gas the next year because the whole general
assembly will change next November. Fifty percent (50%) will be up for reelection or
actually 50% have been redistricted in. the Senate and in the House. So, you have to
stay on these thing, sometimes it takes a while, it takes sometimes two years, but you
got to start somewhere and having that conversation is going to occur when we go to
see Terry Austin and I've been promised we're going to be able to get an appointment.
Ms. Facciani commented she appreciated Mr. North's optimism. She like
to think that she is an optimistic person. She does want to keep our foot on the pedal,
but her concern is, as we do with the Sheriff's Office, we went for those grants, we shot
ourselves in the foot; we allocated those funds, right? And I understand Mr. Peters
comments, and thinks he brings up a great point. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot
moving forward? If we're saying we have these funds, I just don't know. I don't know the
answer to that, and if we rank 20 in size in Virginia in terms of our school districts, not in
strength, but there are other communities that don't even have the beginnings of a CTE.
So, what if the funding, the grants, look to those communities first because they need it
more than we do. I don't know, I don't know the answer, but these are concerns.
School Board member Mike Wray added he listened to Mr. Peters and
he's right on the money when we're looking at fiscal year 2024, 17 80 at 25 and 20 at
2027 would be 117, which would leave 37 for schools. So, there you get into the choice,
which are you going to choose or what are you going to do at this point? You dilute it
with trying to do some type of renovation, which is a band aid? Or are you going to
really go in and do what's right and finish it? He appreciates the work that has been put
in to at least present us something to look at and be able to digest these numbers and
where we are. We know that in a debt service, we have to look to you for the funding.
We have a good relationship, which not all Boards and School Boards have. We have a
common goal, which is certainly CTE, which we certainly know the implications of
making sure that we get that and all, but we also have the obligation to get the other two
schools going as well. So, it was a lot of good information presented. He thinks that we
December 7, 2022 901
"stumped our toe" on SRO's, and then the money's back to you now, which we want to
make sure that the police, if you're having trouble getting police and we'd understand all
that but we certainly are going to continue. He has said at every meeting he has been
int, it's too late after it happens. So, we want to make sure that we continue to work to
get those SRO's in our schools. But I appreciate all the efforts of Mr. North, that you go
down to Richmond and looking at innovative ways for the funding. We know that if we
fall short here, we fall short 20%. Supervisor North added there's also a 10% pot too.
So, if they don't get many applications and they got that pot of money and they want
demonstrate to the government in Virginia and the governor that they're using it wisely,
there are always exceptions to the rules. That is why you advocate for attention,
especially on CTE that compliments the workforce efforts. To our local legislators,
they're all going to be up for reelection next year and we need bipartisan support, but
we also need folks on the school Board to be involved in that lobbying effort as well.
Mr. Wray continued that he thinks Supervisor North is right, good grant
writers can get money and we certainly want to continue to go forward on all the money
we can actually get. We are a fortunate County; we are very fortunate.
Chairman Linden, commented we need to be seen here in Roanoke
County as the innovators and the leaders in workforce development and this CTE
center, the sooner we can get that done, the better off we're going to be.
School Board member Brent Hudson stated by thanking everybody for all
the work you've done, he knows this didn't happen overnight and there's a lot of
resources and time put into this. He echoed what Chairman Linden stated that it
would've been nice to have gotten this in a little bit.more timely fashion to where we
could have looked it over and talked about it and maybe been a little more constructive
in our conversation today instead of being kind of put on us at the last minute, but I'm
sure we'll have time to get together ourselves to go through that. This has been a year
since he was elected to this position, and it's always in my mindset that it's not my job to
tell you how to pay for it, it's my job to tell you what we need, and that's where I'm at
today. We need two elementary schools, we need a CTE center. I'm glad that we're
trying to figure out constructive ways of getting that done, so he is not going to stand
here and tell you what's acceptable or not and debt limits and things like that. That's not
my responsibility and he doesn't have to answer for that to the constituents like you do.
As far as the SRO's, that does strike a nerve with him that we're even discussing that in
this fashion. Every day that we twiddle our thumbs and figure out whose responsibility it
is or who's going to pay for it is another day that my children and every other child in
elementary school goes without an SRO. Being a former SRO, he knows the
importance of it, he. knows the threats that are out there. He has been in law
enforcement for 22 years and we can read any study that we want. Nothing stops a bad
guy but a good guy. And that's what it takes, and this is a low price to pay to protect our
children. Again, it's not my job to tell you how you're going to pay for it or if you're going
to pay for it, because it's my understanding at this point that you're not. But as far as
that goes, we'll figure something out on our end, but he does not feel bad about the
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decision that we made and putting those six in the schools. If you feel differently, go out
and speak to the principals, go out and speak to members of the community because I
get inundated with emails of thank-you's for these guys being in the schools.
School Board member Tim Greenway stated there is a lot to be thankful
for today, he will still bring my positivity in a different direction, but we're finally at a point
we can start the conversation about funding. As some others have stated, wish we'd
have done this a lot sooner, we could have done this a long time ago. A lot of work went
into it and he appreciates all of that. The MOU, how do you give us an MOU that we're
going to discuss at this meeting? I wish our Boards would get just a little more in sync,
at least all Board members to get some of this information in a timely fashion so that we
can actually have substantive conversation. Are we going to get together:in a couple
weeks or a month to discuss the MOU or how's that going to work going forward? We
could be a lot more transparent and that's disappointing, but I appreciate the fact... Did
we do an MOU in 2004? Did we do that? I don't know. Just asking the question. Mr.
Wray responded that we did. So, we have to read it. He has heard this in politics
somewhere else, let's read it and then we can pass it or discuss it or something of that
effect. He wants to start right here with saying how proud I am of Mr. Peters, Mr. Linden
and Mr. Hudson. Mr. Peters for bringing up the obvious on the financing, the MOU and
some of that and the two schools. That's appreciated, it really is. And Chairman Linden,
he appreciates the comments you've made just a few moments ago because I think if
we'd applied that pressure earlier, I think we'd be in a little different spot right now. But
we're getting there. Mr. Hudson with the SRO's, you are so spot on, you'll say it so
much better than I will. We talk about this thousand students we've lost over the last
decade or more. What does the school Board do to bring those thousand students into
the classrooms? We have no authority. That's all economic development, all economic
revenue generated. So, if you put the kids in there, we're going to educate them, right?
The other question he had was are they asking us to close schools? And then it was
answered. He thinks you are, you're asking us to make those decisions to close schools
because we've lost a thousand students over the last decade. So, looking at my school
Board, you know how difficult it was. We just had this on realigning some students a few
weeks ago, right? And you remember how we really didn't make any decisions other
than we're going to press forward in the Vinton district. They're asking you to close
schools, and I think that's becoming a reality of where this discussion is going and so
you need to realize that's a possibility. He thinks that these schools and communities
also have a huge economic development piece and are a part of the fabric of Roanoke
County and our communities. So not a huge fan of that discussion, but that's where he
thinks you're leading us, is to have those discussions. As far as hoping, we've been
hoping for a year about these grants and the $20 million that we were going to add to
this project, through these delegates and politicians and the states coming to our
rescue. I'm tired of hope. We've been doing this for a year. He thinks we still stay after
it, but is not waiting on the State to save Roanoke County. We have to be the
responsible party. We have to goget that economic revenue, economic development to
December 7, 2022 903
put those thousand students back in the schools if that's what we're looking for, and
also to raise the revenue structure that goes along with the debt service so that we have
the revenue available. Through the real estate, our values increased mightily the last
couple years. What are we doing with that money? We can have these discussions, I
like how we are told how we should proceed, but we have to realize there's a separation
of duties here. We're elected, you're elected, and we need to just make sure that we
don't cross those lines. CTE is a gift to Roanoke County, in my mind. It's a gift to the
Board of Supervisors to give to the Roanoke County because it's workforce
development. We say it's a school that we handle and we contribute as one of our 27
schools, but it's a gift to Roanoke County workforce development, to the citizens of this
County, to bring jobs, to keep people. We want people to move here. We want them to
come back here after they go to college or take jobs. We want them to start coming
back here, not just retiring here. It's not CTE or the schools, it's CTE and the schools. It
shouldn't be CTE, okay, and Cundiff or Cove. It should be CTE and Cundiff and Cove.
He knows it's easy for me to say this, but again, our responsibility is not funding, as
we've been told several times, it's looking after the schools and being good stewards of
, the schools. We have two open concept elementary schools with open concept classes,
111 are the kids in Cundiff or the kids in Cove any less important than the kids in the other
14 elementary schools? Should we educate them the same? Should I look at them and
say, look, you're doing okay. Somebody said the scores are okay. Since you're there,
you just do okay. That'll be fine. He represents Vinton. That's not the way he is going to
operate. He is going to look after Vinton and that school needs to be fixed and it needs
to be fixed now. Supervisor Mahoney stated it didn't seem to bother the school board
when you did it for Penn Forest. Mr. Greenway stated he did not represent Penn
Forest or the school board. He represents the Vinton district today. He is fighting for
Vinton and Roanoke County overall, but has a school that's open concept. If you want
to fix Penn Forest with us, happy to have that conversation. I absolutely, look, you
represent Cave Spring, fight for it. All I'm saying is that open concept. We should
represent all children, but he has a school in his district that's open concept. He went
through that school. He lived through that school, been there since the beginning. It just
tells you he is old, but the point is, it needs to be fixed and it needs to be fixed now. He
is only one vote on this board. $2 million's not going to fix that school. $37, we can split
it up and do something. We can have that conversation, let it go with that. But we can't
be CTE and then eight or 10 years start getting back to renovations on the other
elementary and middle schools. Heaven forbid, Hidden Valley and Northside Middle,
they need attention yesterday. This is kind of off the subject of what we're here for
today, but the SROs, I'll say it this way, he does not give a rip if we get grants, he does
not give a rip if one of our State delegates flies in and gives us a donation. He does not
care who it is, but when he sits across the table from a parent and has to say, "We did
the right thing." Whether you pay for it or not. You've got a $10 or $12 million surplus,
and we're asking for what? A couple hundred thousand dollars, and you can't say, "Let's
put two years back because that's pretty important to protect the safety of our children."
904 December 7, 2022
To me, that's irresponsible. We'll continue to pay for it out of education funds if that's
what you decide, but it's important. Thank you.
Next, Dr. Nicely reviewed the competitive grants with both Boards.
Supervisor Radford asked to respond to Mr. Greenway, stating in the
research that he found out over the last two years, there is a national trend going on
where the families are smaller, the families are not having as many as kids. His family,
had four, I had three sisters. We know that the family sizes are decreasing. In my
research, he found out that a school district in North Carolina had four schools they
need to replace. They couldn't afford it. They consolidated four schools, you can call
them closed. They took those four schools and created a new K through 12 school that
has today's innovation technology built into it. They separate the three schools
physically. So, he wants to make sure that you're looking at demographics in a positive
manner and not ignoring it because our taxpayers are already asking us about that. So,
if you want to call it closing schools, he calls it consolidating. That is where he has seen
nationwide from my research is a lot of them are considering K through 8 because it
does save money and you get technology, you get innovation, you get up-to-date
facilities. So, it's not trying to harm a district. We're trying to be innovative and
competitive in the economic development with new schools, whether it's one
elementary, one middle, or a combination. It's just an option out there.
Supervisor North added he talked to former police officer, retired in
Chesterfield County, who's now on their Board of Supervisors. We talked about the
point of consolidation of schools in one part of the county, they have 77 schools in
Chesterfield. That was mentioned. It was also mentioned, he had a nice conversation
with them, that he shared with County Administrator Caywood as to how they do their
coverage of SROs. He stated they.have 400 sworn police officers, 300 sheriffs and 400
fire and rescue people. They did something different that he has suggested that with our
new police chief coming on board. We have a conversation to see what his thoughts
are, but also to introduce him to this message that I'm going to pass on. They have
shared folks covering elementary schools like we do. So, it's good to know that other
schools in Virginia are doing that with the elementary schools, they also have an officer
in every middle and high school. The way they do it is they put the full-time officers out
there and they take the part-time, retired officers, 25 hours a week with benefits, and
they put them in back office administration jobs. That frees up the full sworn officers to
be out front as SROs, if you will.
Mr. Greenway asked if we have hired anybody yet.
Supervisor Mahoney stated no matter where the money is from, the
people aren't there. The people aren't there to hire regardless. Fairfax County has 200
police officer openings. They're doing a $15,000 bonus. Lynchburg increased theirs by
10 grand. We are all competing for the same limited number of people. So, for most of
our citizens, regardless of where the money is from, they don't care whether it's from
school board or Board of Supervisors. The people aren't there.
December 7, 2022 905
Mr. Greenway responded Sheriffs Office 8, police Department 0. Let me
also say, you're right, they don't care where the money comes from, but I guarantee you
they would prefer it not to come out of the education funds.
Supervisor Mahoney he is not going to go there. The point we here for is
CTE.
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Mahoney adjourned the meeting at 11:11 a.m.
S mi ted by: Approved by:
borah C. Ja Martha B. Hooker
Deputy Clerk to he Board Chairman
906 December 7, 2022
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