A San Carlos school construction project already mired in struggles and budget overruns suffered another delay, according to officials who blame a modular classroom builder for the most recent setback.
As a result, Robert Porter, chief operating officer for the San Carlos Elementary School District, said the completion date for the Tierra Linda Middle, Charter Learning Center and Mariposa school rebuild must be pushed out until next year.
The holdup marks the latest in a series which began earlier this year, when officials started receiving notifications that state permits for the reconstruction would not be issued as planned.
“It’s been a difficult and arduous process and we need to see it to completion,” said Porter.
Porter said the most recent sticking point was generated by GrowthPoint Structures, the modular classroom construction company hired to develop student workspaces for the new Charter Learning Center campus.
The builder last month only delivered half of the initial order it promised — nine of 18 buildings — dealing officials a blow which they do not believe they will recover from to meet their Presidents Day construction deadline. The builder is expected to ultimately deliver 72 classroom segments still needing to be stitched together by a construction team, which Porter said added to the expected completion timeline.
The delay sets off a domino effect of building holds, as officials must wait even longer to begin work on the Mariposa school construction which is slated to come after the Charter Learning Center is complete.
The Mariposa school is slated to have fourth- and fifth-graders, who will eventually proceed into the middle school at the same site, while the Charter Learning Center will continue to operate as an independent entity educating kindergartners through eighth-graders on the shared campus.
The construction started to establish Mariposa school, but under the most recent development, the school is not expected to be ready by the beginning of the next school year.
“With this news, it just doesn’t make sense that we can hit the dates we were originally planning,” said Porter.
Looking ahead, school board President Nicole Bergeron said she believes officials and community members should focus on improving communication, under an effort to chart a collaborative path forward.
“I’m committed to hearing all the input from the community,” said Bergeron, who suggested establishing a centralized hub for sharing latest information about the project is in order, to assure all concerned parties are on the same page.
She said more agenda items will be added to upcoming school board meetings offering ample time for officials and community members to discuss the issue.
“I want to make sure that everyone who wants to weigh in has that opportunity,” she said.
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The modular classrooms initiated the building problems, as the state school construction authority held up permitting the project plans. District officials purchased two-story structures from the builder, which GrowthPoint had no experience manufacturing.
Porter downplayed the unique design as cause of the delays, and instead suggested the issues were generated by the company’s growth and development.
“They haven’t been able to adequately handle the volume they had originally thought they could,” he said.
He said school officials wrote clauses into the contract with the company preparing for such delays and they are now working with attorneys for advice on ways to recoup the damage.
When the timeline was pushed back last month, officials said they expected the budget overruns to float to about $5 million over the original expected cost. Porter said that figure has not been reassessed yet, and officials are now singularly focused on completing the project.
“We have to assess the delivery of the modular and the impact of this and what we expect to extract from GrowthPoint in the process,” he said, while noting the construction company has been forthcoming regarding its responsibility for the delay.
He has said previously available state grant funding, developer fees and interest from the Measure H facilities bond passed in 2012 could finance the construction. The initial budget for the entire project is $24.8 million, said Porter.
The cost overruns have also generated concerns among officials regarding the district’s ability to complete the rest of the projects identified in its construction master plan.
Porter said he recognizes the frustration shared by members of the San Carlos community, as well as parents, students and teachers roiled by the construction problems.
He also acknowledged the ongoing problems make it hard for anyone to share much optimism about the project being completed soon.
“It’s really difficult for anyone to feel positive in this process,” he said. “But this is the hand that has been dealt us and we have to work it through.”
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