IN West Jefferson Hills Summer 2018 | Page 42

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING 835 OLD CLAIRTON ROAD JEFFERSON HILLS, PA 15025 PHONE 412.655.8450 FAX 412.655.9544 www.wjhsd.net B Dr. Michael Ghilani West Jefferson Hills School District Superintendent y now I’m sure that most of our school community has heard about the delays associated with the building project for the new Thomas Jefferson High School. The original timeline had the project being completed this spring and open in time for the 2018-2019 school year. The first phase of construction was preparing the site and getting it ready for the building pad. The project got off to a rough start when the start of phase two was delayed because of the amount of deep dynamic compaction and mine grouting that needed to occur. While this setback resulted in increased costs, it’s still important to remember that the district purchased the 160-acre parcel of land for only $1.1 million which was far below market value. For example, local districts that are also undertaking new high school projects have paid over five times as much for less acreage for their sites. When I was hired in March 2017, I immediately became closely involved with the High School project. At that time, the project had already made up some time and was showing 40 WEST JEFFERSON HILLS a July 20th date of completion. Through the spring and summer the project completion date remained in the summer of 2018, although the original sequencing had gone by the wayside, and Nello Construction, who is the general contractor of the project, departed from the original schedule to focus on various sections of the building in a phased approach. What we were not informed of until August 2017 was that the schedule was starting to slide again because of the sequencing and insufficient progress on roofing and masonry. Despite our requests and the district’s acceptance of a Project Labor Agreement intended to facilitate the availability of workmen, the number of roofers and bricklayers devoted to the project actually declined. Although the contractors were afforded other avenues for labor because of the PLA, they chose not to pursue them. We were told as we entered the winter months that more labor would be available and that with a mild winter we could