NEW BLANCHARD SCHOOL OPENING DAY UNCLEAR

Continued construction delays in completion of Blanchard Elementary School could mean the building remains unoccupied until after Christmas break.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska said he met Monday with the job superintendent and subcontractors working on the project for R.L. Persons Construction of Poplar Bluff. The group indicated a tentative completion date of Nov. 1.

"Officially, they're still saying that we could tentatively be in the building by the first of November, but realistically it looks like it could be at least 30 days thereafter," Steska said.

The school district retained $341,724.20 of the $3.4 million contract for construction of Blanchard. That amount will be paid when the building is completed.

A $300-a-day fine for not meeting the June 30 completion date will be deducted from the final payment. The fine, which includes weekends, could reach $36,900 if the building is completed Nov. 1.

The fine would increase to $45,900 if the building takes an additional month to complete.

Randy Persons of Persons Construction could not be reached for comment.

Steska said the early November projection is possible "if everything went really well between now and then." However, if completion of the new school is near the end of November, Blanchard students and teachers -- who currently are divided between May Greene and Washington schools -- might find it difficult to move before Christmas break.

"That's a possibility, but it's not what we would like to do," said Steska. "We don't want to move during bad weather or cold weather, but we may not have any choice."

Several projects await completion on the school. Some sheet rock work remains to be finished, and a few rooms still need to be painted and have ceiling tiles installed.

Much of the floor covering is down, but some has not been completed, said Steska.

"I think it's one subcontractor waiting for another subcontractor to finish work prior to them completing their responsibilities," he said.

In some cases, subcontractors have completed their portion of a project but the general contractor has not. For example, all of the cabinets for the school have been built and are being stored in trailers at the site, Steska said.

"All of the cabinetry needs to be placed in the rooms and in some of the rooms cabinetry needs to be installed," he said. "That's the general contractor's responsibility."

School district architect Tom Holshouser also has caused delays of the project by ordering corrections for work that did not meet contract specifications, Steska said.

In this case, the delays are warranted because the district plans "to not accept less than the specifications that were required."

"Our architect is making sure that the job is being completed as per the specifications, and there have been several incidents where the general contractor has had to go back and redo certain specifications of the job," he said.