School Board approves new special ed director, superintendent’s contract, more LFK funds

The Warren County School Board unanimously approved Shamika McDonald as the new director of special services for Warren County Public Schools (WCPS), as well as a new employment contract with WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger and more funds for the renovations at Leslie Fox Keyser (LFK) Elementary School.

The School Board on March 1 approved Shamika McDonald (above) as the new director of special services for the school division, effective July 1.

During its Wednesday, March 1, regular meeting, School Board Chair Kristen Pence, Vice Chair Ralph Rinaldi, and School Board members Antoinette Funk, Andrea Lo, and Melanie Salins were present for the votes and other board business.

McDonald officially starts her position on July 1 and has worked for WCPS since 2004. Most recently, she was the assistant principal and then principal at Leslie Fox Keyser (LFK) Elementary School. Also, a former WCPS special education teacher, McDonald, has been filling in as the interim director of special services since the retirement last year of former WCPS Director of Special Services Michael Hirsch.

McDonald on Wednesday thanked the School Board for the opportunity to serve WCPS students and families in her new capacity.

“It has always been my passion to ensure that students with disabilities receive a quality education,” McDonald said. “I’m excited to bring new and innovative opportunities to our special learners.”
A 1999 graduate from WCPS, McDonald said it’s an honor to now serve the same school system from which she graduated, in the same community where she still lives.

“I’m proud to be part of this school system in which my son, nieces, and nephew attend,” she added. “And I’m thankful that I’ve sat in my last interview because this is my dream job.”
The School Board, during its Nov. 15, 2022 meeting, accepted Hirsch’s resignation, which became effective on November 28, 2022.

Contacted earlier today, Hirsch told the Royal Examiner that after serving the students and families of Warren County for well over two decades, he wanted to spend more time with his family.
“I have many fond memories, and WCPS will always have a special place in my heart,” he said.

The School Board also approved a new contract for Superintendent Ballenger (pictured above). His current contract of July 1, 2020, remains in effect through June 30. The board approved the new “mutually agreed upon employment contract” with Ballenger that will be effective on July 1.

“The current contract was due to end on June 30, 2024,” Ballenger told the Royal Examiner in an email today. “The board entered into a new contract starting July 1, 2023, that runs through June 30, 2027.”

More LFK actions

The School Board also separately approved three funding items that were combined into one item for presentation by WCPS Assistant Superintendent of Administration George “Buck” Smith because they all related to the renovations at LFK Elementary School: a renovations design fee related to the cafeteria, a change order for temporary electrical services, and special inspections.
Specifically, the board approved increasing the contract amount with Grimm & Parker by $21,843 to provide the design for the LFK kitchen renovations. This will bring the total contract value to $951,101.80, which is being funded through a federal grant.

Smith explained that the increase was needed because the executed contract with Grimm & Parker in the amount of $929,258.80 included the design development of the renovations for the entire school, and at the time the contract was executed, WCPS staff did not have a defined scope as to the extent of the renovations needed for the kitchen.

The costs were quoted in Grimm & Parker’s fee proposal as an allowance with a not-to-exceed cost of $37,455 and were not included in the contract. The cost was for the design if all the kitchen equipment was to be replaced, said Smith.

“After meeting with the Nutrition provider, Sodexo, the scope was defined and the actual design costs for the kitchen renovations was $21,843,” said Smith (pictured above). “This extra $21,843 has to be approved because currently we can only reimburse as much as $929,258, and that really was held out until we could establish what the design would be.”

Regarding the LFK temporary change order, Smith explained to the board that it was needed for temporary electrical service at LFK and will cost $25,725, funded through the school’s renovations contingency funds.

The design for renovations at LFK Elementary school includes the complete electrical system and components, as well as the replacement of the main electrical switchgear — what Smith described as an electrical power box.

Smith said that immediately upon award of the construction contract with Lantz Construction of Winchester, Va., WCPS staff was notified of a supply chain issue regarding the lead time to receive the new switchgear. The construction schedule called for the new switchgear to be delivered during the first phase of construction, but Smith said that due to lead time issues, it won’t be delivered until late this summer.

The temporary electrical service includes the addition of two temporary breakers to utilize in the existing switchgear that will ensure continuous power to the portion of the building that isn’t under renovations, he said, adding that the new switchboard is tentatively to be installed during next year’s 2024 winter break when power can be shut down to the entire building.

“We have to put breakers into the building to run power during construction,” said Smith, who added that funding will have to come from the LFK contingency fund “because it’s not one of those things that we thought we would have to deal with in that limited amount of time.”

The School Board had expected to pay for temporary electrical service out of the contingency fund because supply chain issues have been ongoing for the last few years.

The third board-approved item regarded special inspections for the LFK renovations that will cost $24,007 in contingency funds, which will be paid in a contract awarded to ECS Mid-Atlantic LLC to perform the special inspections.

Smith explained that the plans and specifications as developed by Grimm & Parker for the LFK renovations call for the owner — which is WCPS — to be responsible for the coordination and cost for the special inspections required for the construction.

“This is standard practice in the industry and provides the opportunity to ensure the general contractor is using appropriate construction materials and methods as part of the renovations,” he said.

However, Smith said the special inspections were not included in the original budget he presented to the School Board.

“The question has come up, well whose responsibility is this? I did some research to find out when and where we were told or not told” about needing to have these special inspections done for this work, said Smith, who added that he reached out to Grimm & Parker, which confirmed that it had on three separate occasions explained that WCPS, the owner, needs to have them completed.

This is Smith’s first project in his current position. Smith acknowledged that he did not recall seeing such information about the special inspections, but said, “I cannot deny the fact that they were presented.” He took the blame for the oversight and said he’s instituted a plan of correction for himself that includes looking more deeply into what’s being presented to WCPS by potential contractors.

“One thing is just making sure I’m taking tremendous notes,” he said, adding that he’s also assigned himself a mentor who is familiar with multiple, different types of projects within the school division.

Prior to the School Board’s vote to approve the $24,007 contract award to ECS Mid-Atlantic to perform the special inspections, board members Rinaldi and Salins commented on Smith’s mistake.

While she said she respected Smith for saying he “overlooked something,” Salins said that as the School Board and WCPS are “all learning how to do this,” she thinks one of the processes that should be addressed is the Warren County permitting process.

“I discovered in trying to track this back where this could have been caught sooner… in other counties they require that you have your special inspections company secured and have them actually sign off on paperwork in order to ever pull your building permit,” said Salins. “So, there is not even a chance of having this as a surprise later.

“Maybe we could just, going forward, revise and look at how we handle some of these things so that it’s not a surprise, because I found out that our special inspections paperwork was just left blank,” she said. “It wasn’t signed. It wasn’t dated. It was never submitted at all. Clearly, we didn’t know that it was supposed to get done and they issued the building permit and the job was started anyway.”

Rinaldi thanked Smith for his research and his “acknowledgement of some things.” Rinaldi also said that he holds Smith “in the highest regard.”

“And if there’s something that we can do to get Grimm & Parker up here at our construction meetings, that would be great too,” he said. “I’m sure they have a project manager for us and that would be good to get him up here.”

The School Board voted 4-0 to approve the special inspections contract award, with Salins abstaining from the vote “on the grounds I have a family member employed by one of the bidding firms,” she said.

Other actions

Among several other items up for action, the School Board also unanimously approved the following:

• A contract with HELP, LLC in the amount of $82,228 for grounds maintenance services and authorized the superintendent to execute the contract.
• Changes for the 2023-2024 WCPS Program of Studies presented by WCPS Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Heather Bragg, who provided a general overview of the changes for the coming school year.
• Accepting with gratitude several new scholarships: Mac and Mary McComas $1,500 Memorial Scholarship; the Julie Darr Scammahorn Memorial Scholarship of $7,500; the Edward Jones Scholarship of $500 to each school; and the Lord Fairfax EMS Council $1,000 scholarship.
• Allowing the WCPS Technology Department to purchase PC’s, laptops, and damage coverage for Chromebooks from CDWG in the amount of $284,148. The budget source will be the Virginia Public School Authority Technology Grant.

Superintendent info

Superintendent Ballenger also gave out attendance awards for the month of February and provided a preliminary presentation on the upcoming fiscal year 2024 budget.

Skyline High School received the Most Improved Attendance Award, and Principal Danelle Sperling (pictured above at podium) brought in several student-athletes from the high school’s wrestling and indoor track teams to acknowledge their sports and academic accomplishments and to accept the award.

A.S. Rhodes Elementary School became a four-time attendance award winner, and Skyline Middle School, which had a 91.75 percent attendance rate in February, received the secondary attendance award.

To watch the School Board’s March 1 meeting in its entirety, go to: https://wcps.new.swagit.com/videos/209329.