Project remains behind schedule despite efforts to speed work.
By: Paul Sisolak
MONTGOMERY Construction of the township’s new high school, though progressing, still remains behind schedule, according to Montgomery Board of Education Business Administrator and Construction Coordinator Jim Strimple.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Mr. Strimple said the projected completion date for the school is still Nov. 4, 2004. Unless that date can be moved up, the board faces the difficult question of how to house an estimated 5,000 high school students for the two months after the 2004-2005 school year begins.
Thomas Carney Builders, the construction contractor for the project, has shown a "lack of commitment to complete things in a timely and efficient manner" and is primarily responsible for the delay, Mr. Strimple said.
"Their track record has not been great, and that’s what concerns us," he said.
The masonry crew, which is pouring concrete slabs for the building’s walls, has been smaller than expected and does not work on weekends to expedite construction, Mr. Strimple noted.
Both Mr. Strimple and Superintendent of Schools Stuart Schnur were due to meet with the contractor this week to try to push up the pace of construction. In June, the board hired a construction consultant to devise a recovery schedule for the construction program. School officials Tuesday did not mention the company’s efforts so far.
Dr. Schnur said there are few alternatives to temporarily house students between the opening of school in September 2004 and the completion of the high school.
"What can we survive with?" he asked Tuesday. "Can we survive? God forbid we open that school in December (2004)."
He said trailers on the new high school site could be a possible substitute for classrooms until the building is finished.
Dr. Schnur also noted that student enrollment has far exceeded the district’s expectations for the 2003-2004 school year.
Last year, he said, there were 332 first-graders. Enrollment projections predicted 365 in the first grade this year. As of Tuesday, Dr. Schnur said, 381 children have been registered for first grade. That represents a nearly 15-percent increase.
Likewise, 386 children have enrolled for third grade, surpassing the predicted amount of 360. Last year, 356 students filled the grade level.
"We’re beginning to grow faster than we projected," said Dr. Schnur. "It’s getting tighter than we expected, quicker than we expected."
Dr. Schnur said Village Elementary School still looks to be particularly crowded this year, despite a switchover of grade levels with Orchard Hill Elementary School designed to alleviate some space constraints.
Starting this year, the Village School will become a third- and fourth-grade school. Last year it housed kindergarten through second-grade classes. Those grades are moving to Orchard Hill in the switchover.
Dr. Schnur said the growth includes students from far-flung parts of the nation and world. Next week, he said, some students from California are expected to register. He also said a family from the United Kingdom moved to the township specifically for its school system.
"They said, ‘We were told, in central New Jersey, Montgomery is the place to be,’" said Dr. Schnur.
The board has also been planning the widening of the intersection of Route 601 and Route 602 to provide a new traffic light when the school is built. The proposed signal, which will be used primarily for school buses, was approved by the Somerset County Freeholders two months ago.