The project to renovate Amesbury High School was initially scheduled to be completed last month. Instead, the first of two phases is incomplete, leaving school leaders in limbo with three weeks left before school starts on Aug. 29.
Officials from Alexandra Construction told the town earlier this summer they would meet a "flip date" of Aug. 12 for the first half of the school. But High School Building Committee Chairman Barbara Bode said a list of tasks remains before occupancy of that side of the building can take place. She said the contractor gave Aug. 21 as a possible new flip date during yesterday's weekly construction meeting.
"They (Alexandra) continue to not be able to meet that deadline," Bode said. She said it's "evident" that many dates have been presented to the community, but not enough action has been taken to make those dates "feasible."
"We had really hoped that Alexandra would work to get the building ready for us by the 12th," Bode said, adding that it's "frustrating" to be close to seeing the first phase completed and to not know when students will be able to enjoy the "brand-new, beautiful" building.
When the first part of the building is done, classes can relocate to the finished rooms and construction on the remaining side of the building - known as phase two - will get underway. Because of ongoing construction, freshmen have been shifted to the middle school and a number of classrooms are set up in the school's auditorium.
The High School Building Committee will meet tomorrow night, two days before the anticipated flip date, in order to make a decision on what action to take.
The town has a number of options it can choose from, including the following: terminating the contractor and risking litigation; keeping the contractor and exploring the option of fines built into the contract; and asking the bonding company, Hartford Group, to take control of the project.
"It's going to be an informative meeting," Municipal Council liaison to the committee Ann Connolly-King said yesterday. "It will be a very upfront, open discussion."
Town counsel David Doneski, from the law firm Kopelman and Paige, will join the members of the High School Building Committee for the meeting.
The committee, which consists of school and town officials, architects and community members, has spent its summer meetings reviewing the options the town can take to move the project forward.
High School Building Committee members were told at their last meeting that, if needed, students can continue to attend classes in the same wing of the building they had been occupying as no construction has taken place yet in that side.
Bode said yesterday school officials have "long been preparing" for the possibility that classes would begin this school year in the same side of the building they vacated in June. High School principal Les Murray and Superintendent Charles Chaurette have now been made aware that possibility is likely, Bode said.
Connolly-King said the committee's goal is "to make the best informed choice for the community."
The original flip date for the project was Aug. 12, 2005. The entire renovation and expansion of the high school was scheduled to be completed last month.
If Alexandra is terminated, the committee members have been told that the project will still face delays. The town will have to wait for an investigation to be completed and a new contractor will need to be hired. Doneski has told the committee that process could take between two to five months.
Connolly-King declined to comment on the meeting any further, saying she intended to wait until the public forum on Thursday. Lee LeBlanc, project manager for the construction project, also declined to comment on the status of the project prior to Thursday's meeting.
Calls to Chaurette and Murray were not immediately returned. Greg Clark, owner of Alexandra Construction, also did not return a phone call before deadline.
If You Go
What: High School Building Committee
When: Tomorrow, Aug. 10, 6 p.m.
Where: Clerk's trailer at high school
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