The last phase of construction at WW-P schools approved by referendum in January, 2006, is for the most part on schedule, and school officials are predicting that all the renovations and additions will be completed by the end of this September, almost a year earlier than the original projected date of September, 2009.##M:[more]##
With the first two phases already complete, work on the third phase — which includes the work at High School South — is currently underway, and officials aren’t anticipating any slowdowns.
The first phase of construction, which included rehabilitation to the modular units at J.V.B. Wicoff and Maurice Hawk elementary schools, was completed in September, 2006, and phase two, which included a six-classroom addition at Dutch Neck Elementary, was completed in October, 2007, said Thomas Smith, the assistant superintendent for pupil services and planning. Work on the track and football field at High School South, which was a second question on the referendum ballot, was completed in time for school this year. The first phase was completed on time and under budget, and the second phase and the fields both came in on time and on budget, Smith said.
Now, the renovations to High School South — the major focus of the referendum — are moving along, scheduled for completion in September, 2008. “That was really the result of a couple of things,” Smith explains. During the bidding for the High School South projects, the economy started to shift. Previous bids for the other phases were able to come in under budget, but “South is when construction really started to turn,” Smith said. The price of “steel increased, oil increased dramatically, and all construction-related things started to increase dramatically,” He says. “What we tried to do is capitalize, to compress the work schedule and get as much work done as possible,” before the prices began to elevate any higher, he explained. “What happened, though, is that project bids came in higher than anticipated, so we had to make some modifications.”
Those modifications, he says, were nothing that would impact the students, but rather, a rearranging and compression of the work that needed to get done. Some of the construction work at South, which was originally slated to begin in March, 2008, actually began in October, 2007, and because of that, things are moving a lot more quickly, Smith says.
The renovations to South include placing partitions in the open space classroom areas, adding a new performing arts center/auditorium and a new gymnasium and auxiliary gym. The current gym will be turned into four new classrooms.
The third phase of the project also included minor changes to High School North — where one room was changed into a science room — and renovations to South’s music and art rooms.
Currently, the six foot high partitions used to close in the space for the teachers in the open space classrooms were completed in November, 2007, and the science room at North is also completed, Smith said.
“We’re in the process right now of making the old auxiliary gym into four more closed classrooms,” Smith said. “The four classrooms are underway, and the performing arts center is underway.”
The most current report from the contractor working on the construction project shows that the performing arts center addition is 10 days behind schedule, and the gym space is 35 days behind schedule.
But, this is good news when it comes for construction, says Smith. “The feeling is that it’s not going to be a big deal when the weather gets nicer,” says Smith. “The renovations are right on schedule.” And so far, the project is coming in on budget, he added.
The performing arts center, the classrooms, and renovation area are slated for August 28 completion, and both the gym space and arts room renovation area are slated for September 30 completion.
While renovation of the art and music rooms required temporary relocation of the classrooms, Smith credits South Principal Charles Rudnick with working around it to allow the contractor to have those rooms early to ensure those rooms would be back in use next fall.
“The good things is we are out of the ground, which means there is not too much left that can slow us down,” says Smith. “The gym is closed in, the auditorium is close in, so it’s not even really weather-dependent. It’s just a matter of putting in all the finishing touches. We don’t foresee any issues that will hold us up. It should be a good run unless we have monsoons.”
The one part of the referendum project that may not be completed by September is the replacement of the bubble over South’s swimming pool. Smith says that the air-supported structure — which is similar to a giant tarp that supported by air, so that hot air is blown into it — needs to be replaced. The current bubble is the third the district has had, and most bubbles have a lifespan of only 10 years. Each summer, the tarp is removed, and from October to May every year, it is back up. “This one needs to be replaced. Right now, we’re working with the state Department of Community Affairs.”
Smith says that the issue lies with the state’s interpretations of a temporary structure, which the school district believes it is, simply because it is taken down for months during the warmer weather, and whether it should be considered a new structure, or a rehabilitation of a current one. The state, in its feedback to the district, calls for sprinkler lines inside the bubble. “It’s an air-supported structure that can’t support a sprinkler line,” Smith says. “Sprinkler lines are heavy, and it would pull it down.”
“If not September, it obviously has to be done before swimming season,” Smith says, so that no one would be adversely affected, he said. He did say there are different types of enclosures and options school officials are looking into.
While the district is looking forward to the project’s anticipated completion a year ahead of schedule, school officials aren’t resting until it’s done, Smith says. “Right now there is a big push to get things ready for the summer, so that the contractors and architect and school officials can be ready to just focus on this all summer and come in on time,” he says.
