Princeton High School work is slow off the mark.
By: Jeff Milgram
Michael Mostoller, the chairman of the Princeton Regional Board of Education’s Facilities Committee, is hopeful that a report the panel will receive today will show that the pace of construction is picking up at all six district schools, but especially at Princeton High.
"I’m hoping for a positive report on Friday," Mr. Mostoller said.
And so does Superintendent Claire Sheff Kohn.
"I’ve observed more activity," Dr. Kohn said. "But we expect, not just hope, that the pace has picked up."
Mr. Mostoller said construction at PHS is two months behind schedule and only about 4 percent of the work had been completed before a sit-down was held with the contractor, Ernest Bock & Sons of Philadelphia. New construction is supposed to be completed in January 2005.
"I think that’s going to stretch to spring," Mr. Mostoller said. He said renovations should be completed on schedule in September 2005.
The report will be given to the Facilities Committee by Epic Management, the district’s construction management firm that is riding herd over the $81.3 million project to renovate and expand the district’s six school buildings.
The report comes in the wake of a meeting several weeks ago between district officials and Bock over the slow pace of construction.
"We had a meeting with Bock and there’s been a big change," Mr. Mostoller said.
The meeting was held to find solutions, not to assign blame, Mr. Mostoller said. "We didn’t want the contractor to think that we didn’t care," he said.
Problems became apparent in March. "They were just slow off the starting block," Mr. Mostoller said.
Bock complained about delays in receiving a building permit from Princeton Borough, the wet winter and spring and the gas leak at the beginning of April, Mr. Mostoller said.
"We’re concerned because the high school definitely slipped behind schedule," school board President Anne Burns said. "We had a really good conversation."
PHS is not the only school with construction problems, Mr. Mostoller and Ms. Burns said. While construction is going well at the John Witherspoon Middle School, and Community Park and Johnson Park elementary schools, there are problems at Littlebrook and Riverside schools, Ms. Burns said.
"We’ll have a better idea on Friday," she said. "I think everybody’s worried about Riverside and Littlebrook and the high school."
The contracts for Littlebrook and Riverside were awarded to Imperial Construction and several subcontractors.
"Their people are just slow," Mr. Mostoller said. "They’re very disorganized."
The company has since changed the management team at the sites, Mr. Mostoller said.
Everyone agrees that great progress is being made at the middle school. "JW is really in pretty good shape," Mr. Mostoller said.
Work on the academic wing is going according to schedule, according to the construction manager’s report. The wing is scheduled to be painted this month and Ms. Burns believes it will be ready this fall.
"The middle school seems to be moving along nicely," Ms. Burns said.
Cement has been poured for the pool and lockers have been installed in the gym, John Witherspoon Principal William Johnson said.
"Stuff is coming along," he said.
Demolition work has been going on at PHS. Large sections of existing structures, most notably Stair G and the "linking bridge," were demolished, according to the construction manager’s report, resulting in rerouting of student traffic patterns and closing of access routes.
A large part of demolition scheduled for this phase was completed in April, with the 1979 gym stair towers, and a few minor egress changes in the locker room area, to take place this month.
Work is beginning on the foundation, starting with the new boiler room area, and working toward the new gym section.
At Community Park, workers continued the roof work on the new addition and painted the interior wall in the renovation area behind the kitchen and music room addition.
This month, much of the work that has been continuing will be completed. Structural steel work for the cafeteria will be started and completed this month, according to the construction manager’s report.
At Johnson Park, the weather hampered the progress of roofing at the addition and existing school, the construction manager’s report said. Interior work has continued. The remaining site work sidewalks and retaining walls should be completed this month. The remaining renovation work in the existing building will be started when the addition is completed.
Crews at Littlebrook continued exterior brick work and interior block work at the gym addition.
This month, they will start installing exterior metal panels.
At Riverside, workers will continue all interior finishes, install exterior doors in all the additions and create swing space by finishing one of the additions.