The Wright City R-II board of education heard updates about the construction of the district's new high school construction project.
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The Wright City R-II board of education heard updates about the new high school construction project during its Feb. 15 meeting.
At the new Wright City High School, contractors are still waiting for the switchgear to arrive. That equipment was expected in January but has been delayed. It is expected to arrive by the end of March, which Superintendent Dr. Christopher Berger said would keep the high school project on schedule.
“I think if the switchgear still makes it in March, it will not impact the project at all,” Berger said. “It was just bad news that it had been delayed at all. And so we’re monitoring that. We get a bi-wekly update on that from the contractor to the supplier asking about it.”
Berger said the switchgear is needed to provide permanent power to the facility, which makes things easier when interior work begins.
“That’s considered a significant milestone whenever you get permanent power to do the project,” he said.
Another issue regarding the new track and field set up was brought to the board’s attention the week of the board of education meeting, Berger said.
“We had gotten some feedback from at least a couple coaches on the design of the track,” Berger said. “And when the design was put back out there for the February board meeting, at least one coach found some inconsistencies with the feedback he had given versus how the design of the track ended up.”
Berger said district officials are looking into that issue, but because it was brought to the board’s attention so close to the meeting, Berger said he wasn’t prepared to speak about it.
“The frustration for this particular issue was that it came up the week of the board meeting and the administration didn’t have time to run the details down,” he said. “And when you put that out there at a board meeting, it kind of leaves some questions. But we plan to follow up on that in March and provide the board all the details they desire.”
He was concerned that there could be a feedback loop with school district employees that wasn’t being closed.
“I do think that potentially there was something that broke down in closing the loop on this, and that you had a department that provided feedback and then there wasn’t any closing the loop on that,” Berger said. “So that may be a problem. We’re running that down, too, to see why.”
And despite the two issues addressed at the board meeting, Berger said district officials are “very pleased with the progress.”
“There is due diligence on the board’s part and the administration’s part,” he said. “We’ve got to get it right because we don’t do this very often. So I think there’s a lot of concern and a lot of eyes on it, and that’s not a bad thing.”
About the author: Jason Koch is the editor of The Warren County Record, and covers local news and government for the newspaper. He has won multiple awards from both the Indiana and Illinois APME and from the Illinois Press Association. He can be reached at 636-456-6397 or at jason@warrencountyrecord.com
