Parkside Project to Be Delayed, Construction Manager Says

When the doors open next year at , don’t expect the school’s construction project to be fully complete. 

Because of some delays in getting final approval for the project’s architectural drawings, the school’s new two-story modular building will be about a month or two behind schedule, the construction manager for the school district recently said. 

Construction on the project was supposed to begin in April. But it took longer than expected for the Division of State Architect, which provides design and construction oversight for K–12 schools throughout California, to work out corrections over designs with the project’s architect, said Todd Lee of Greystone West, which manages the construction projects for the . That process then delayed the time it took to get the steel for the project, Lee added. 

Now, he said, construction crews are expecting to work nonstop to get the project done as quickly as possible. 

“We’ll do everything in our power to pick up the time to get this finished,” Lee told the school board at its meeting last week. “But I’d be lying if I told you we could open the doors on the first day of school.” 

The delay in schedule is just the latest snafu has faced in recent months. The first phase of the $13 million project, which will add a two-story pre-fabricated building, 28 new classrooms and an open courtyard, is funded but not the second phase. 

And now that the school board's proposed didn't happen in June because there was no statewide special election, the school district may have to wait until at least 2012 to take advantage of any more opportunities to fund the rest of the project.

For right now, the project will continue to move forward as planned.

Lee said construction crews just completed the excavation work and the steel is expected to arrive any day now.

Parkside Principal Angela Addiego said she was disappointed to hear about the delay in the construction. But she was still confident that, once complete, the school will be more modern and safer.

"Future generations will be safer because of the time invested now," Addiego said in an email.

Correction: This story incorrectly stated that the first phase of Parkside's construction project was not fully funded. Actually, the second phase of the project is not fully funded yet. This story also incorrectly stated that the school district's vote on a proposed parcel tax was associated with the Parkside construction project. Bond measures are usually spent on construction and equipment while parcel taxes are usually passed to pay for teacher salaries or other operating expenses.