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