Published
4 years agoon
The first day of classes at a new elementary school in southeast Fresno might have to be pushed back to August 2022 unless Fresno Unified School District soon advertises for bids on the $44 million project, a district administrator warns.
Fresno Unified chief operating officer Karin Temple
“This schedule is tight but achievable, if it stays on track.” Fresno Unified chief operating officer Karin Temple
According to the original timeline, the project was supposed to be advertised Sept. 11, with a bid opening Oct. 2 and project award Nov. 6, Temple said.
“The schedule plans for substantial project completion in late May 2021 to provide adequate time to furnish and stock the new school for a smooth August 2021 opening to staff and students,” Temple wrote. “This schedule is tight but achievable, if it stays on track.”
The project schedule was timed to take advantage of off-peak market conditions and allow the contractor sufficient time to order materials such as structural steel, she said.
If the advertisement is delayed by even four weeks from Sept. 11, the school’s opening would have to be pushed back to August 2022, and the project costs could grow because of rising costs in the construction industry, Temple warned.
The item is not on Wednesday’s School Board agenda.
The school, named for former U.S. poet laureate and Fowler native Juan Felipe Herrera, will be built on a site now occupied by Phoenix Secondary Academy on East Church Avenue between Willow and Peach avenues. Phoenix Secondary is moving to a new site further east on Church Avenue at Orangewood Avenue.
The district plans for the school to have a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) theme. District staff in charge of developing the school are scheduled this month to visit elementary schools identified by the California Department of Education as having effective STEAM programs.
The school is the only new elementary on Fresno Unified’s Measure X priority projects list.
Related Story: Fresno Unified Trustees Will Decide Measure X Projects Friday
Measure X is a $225 million ballot measure approved by voters in November 2016.Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email
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