The new extension to East Elementary School, part of the R-III district in Foristell, Missouri, was not completed for the start of the academic year.
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A shipping delay caused the Wright City R-II East Elementary School four room addition to not be ready by the start of the school year.
Bond Architects Project Manager Erik Wilson at last week’s board meeting said East Elementary “looks almost eerily like it did last month.” He said after the July board meeting, they received notice the electrical panel that was needed to run the building was delayed.
“It has been delayed again since then,” Wilson said. “So the finishing of the flooring and then the start up of the HVAC systems that are on the roof and stuff are waiting for an electrical panel.”
The projected completion date presented at the July board meeting was Aug. 15, which was six days before the scheduled start of school.
Wilson on Aug. 24 said he expects another update in two weeks.
“When it ships and they get it to install, put the flooring down, get the HVAC started up and running, that’ll be four weeks,” Wilson said.
Wright City R-II Board President Austin Jones asked if there was any concern with scheduling issues with the contractors.
Wilson said the general contractor did not say anything about any issue with the labor coming back and completing the project.
“They’ve actually talked about making sure that they get maybe some extra so they can get it done quicker,” Wilson said. “And we’ve talked about a little bit of the logistics with no work versus the flooring and how to put that install so they don’t overlap each other. And don’t have any delays that way also.”
Wilson said they talked to other electricians over the past four weeks but have not found an option to complete the work sooner than by waiting for the electrical panel.
“They can’t get another panel from somewhere else because that’s eight months again,” Wilson said. “It’s really waiting on that one, unfortunately. Unless you know someone in the government that can order a priority. That’s the only way I’ve heard of projects getting something that’s delayed, prioritized over something else.”
Wilson stressed they got in the order in early and it was not a timeline issue.
“It’s the delivery issue on their end,” Wilson said. “So I don’t know what they’re waiting for. I just know they can’t ship because it’s not done.”
Board member Kyle Lewis expressed frustration with the delay in the project.
"Just to find out the week or the week after everybody’s been moved in this whole entire project being delayed two months is extremely frustrating,” Lewis said.
The four room addition will be utilized for four kindergarten rooms. The rooms currently being utilized as kindergarten rooms will be used for art, music and two rooms for interventionists. The music, art and interventionists currently use open spaces at East Elementary, such as the cafeteria and meetings room.
Wright City Superintendent Dr. Chris Berger said the school is currently utilizing space as they did last school year. He stressed they are “not doubled up in rooms or anything.”
“It wasn’t that difficult to adapt to,” Berger said. “Of course, we have some disappointed teachers that were anxious to get in those rooms. But we’ll be ready to roll when the panel gets in and get the work to that completed.”
