Progress Slow at Dare Elementary; Portable Classrooms Arrive

By Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The components of an eight-room classroom unit arrived at Dare Elementary on Friday.

Construction delays and hurricane damage have forced students and teachers out of the school’s regular classrooms for the semester. At Monday’s school board meeting, Associate Director for Capital Plans & Projects Mark Tschirhart said some progress has been made toward sealing the building from the elements — “some satisfactory, some not satisfactory.”

The board and administration have grown increasingly frustrated when speaking publicly about the contractor, American Veteran Construction, Inc. They say the contractor failed not only to meet the deadline to complete renovation projects by the start of school, but then failed to seal the building in preparation for Hurricane Irene. As a result, the school suffered water damage that officials fear will lead to mold.

On Sept. 13, the school division received a mold remediation plan from Marine Chemist Service, Inc. and asked the contractor to provide a timeline of when the remediation would begin. In response, the contractor hired its own consultant, Froehling & Robertson, and obtained a second mold evaluation report on Oct. 3. That report did not include all of the rooms included in the Marine Chemist Service plan, and made different recommendations for remediation. Tschirhart said Monday that no steps have been made to begin the process.

Superintendent Eric Williams told the board and audience the division is exploring several options to get the work completed. He said the division has filed insurance claims and may file performance bond claims, which guarantee insurance of completion at no additional cost. The division has also notified American Veteran Construction that it plans to exercise options available in the contract, including bringing in supplemental contractors to complete the work.

In response, Board Chair Mark Medford said, “We know the superintendent and his staff are working very hard on this, but this board … we’re over it. It needs to be done. We’re gonna get there, but we’re tired of playing around.”

At its Oct. 10 meeting, the board approved a plan to place an eight-classroom portable unit on Dare’s campus. The units arrived Friday and will have to be assembled together and have utilities connected before they can be used.

Once they’re ready, six classes will be moved from the gym and two classes will be moved from an existing two-classroom portable unit. The kindergarten-3rd grade library and reading services will then move to the two-classroom portable unit. The gym will be used as a cafeteria, for physical education, music, assemblies and other uses; in warm weather, the school has been using large tents for some of those purposes. Students in grades four and five will continue to attend Bethel Manor Elementary School.