Montgomery school trailers fail another test

Frustration prevails as contractors are blamed.

By: Steve Rauscher
   MONTGOMERY — Sixteen trailers installed at Montgomery Middle School and Montgomery High School to accommodate growing enrollment while a larger high school is built will not be open today, as school district officials had planned, Superintendent Stuart Schnur said.
   "This is what happens when you have to deal with the lowest qualified bidder," he said.
   Eight trailers — two at the high school and six at the middle school — were supposed to be available for the first day of school last Thursday, but failed to pass a fire inspection after the software system routing alarm signals from the trailers to the fire department malfunctioned.
   Repairs over the weekend were not successful, Dr. Schnur said, and the trailers failed another fire inspection on Monday.
   "We’ve just been so frustrated," he said. "Every time we have an inspection, there’s something else wrong."
   Dr. Schnur said the real delay should be blamed on the contractors who went four weeks over schedule to complete the original installation of the trailers. He said they had made dozens of errors while installing the trailers, regularly drilling through existing electric and water lines.
   "It was as if we’d shown them where the lines were just so they could drill through them," he said.
   Because the district has been unable to determine the true nature of the problem within the fire system, Dr. Schnur couldn’t comment on when the trailers would finally be available to house 120 students who, for now, are having class in the library, cafeteria, auditorium and any other available space district officials have been able to find.
   "The kids are starting to get a little frustrated," he said. "We’re all a little frustrated."
   Though the delays are unexpected, Dr. Schnur said the district was not incurring any additional costs.