As School Year Approaches, Capital Projects Schedule Slips and Slides

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

District releases Capital Projects Update

The District has published an update to its Capital Projects report first published in May 2008 which reveals that very few of the projects scheduled to be completed before school starts in September have been completed and most project completion dates have been pushed back including one project at a South End school that has slipped more than six months since being announced just three months ago.

The District is pleased to report that projects completed last May are still complete. Boilers were STILL replaced at Ward, Columbus and Webster are also still complete. The McKenna Field project was completed in the spring and is still complete. Of course, these are all projects that were listed as complete in the May 2008 report

Actual NEW completions of work since May are limited to just these projects: new playgrounds at Davis and Jefferson and Work on drainage sites and tiling of 12 rooms at Ward. Other than that, no capital projects have been completed.

It remains possible that the District can kick it into gear and get some of these projects done before the students return after Labor Day. Still on or close to schedule is a new playground at Trinity school (8/28), work at Barnard on café ventilation & floor, lights, pave rear parking, refurbish auditorium (9/1) and “emergency” projects at the high school for a new North Tower roof, masonry repairs on the entire façade (10/15/2008) and the Auditorium Ceiling – acoustically engineered (8/31), Ward lobby curtain walls, 5 exterior doors (9/15). The Davis projects to refurbish audit, seats, lights, carpet, curtains, sound system, acoustic panels, replace exterior doors are still on schedule (9/15). Perhaps the most important project from a safety standpoint – Jefferson’s project to replace the entire roof and masonry pointing is still on schedule (8/29/)

In some cases, the District is already conceding they will not meet deadline. The Albert Leonard project for their PA system, clocks, auditorium lighting scheduled to be completed by October 15 has now been pushed back to December 15. Two projects at Isaac Young have been pushed back. Originally scheduled to be completed by August 15 the HVAC system, refurbish auditorium & gym is now moved to 9/1/2008 and 2 boilers have been moved to 9/15/2008. Projects at NRHS have also slipped from mid-August to September: Dehumidify, painting, tile, doors, benches, decking, lights, clocks, PA system (9/1) and HVAC (9/1).

The windows project for Jefferson has slid all the way from 11/15/2008 to an indefinite sounding “Summer 2009”.

Capital Projects Update (August 2008)
Projects Calendar (May 2008)