Project on schedule (6/28/03)

Since a windstorm blew the completion date for the East Jay Middle School construction project back three months, construction has been rolling along towards a finished facility by the end of this year.

The new 60,000-square foot wing to EJMS, built over the site of the former Portland High School, was originally scheduled for completion in time for sixth graders to move over during the 2003-2004 school year. But a Dec. 18 windstorm that demolished an eastern corridor wall and damaged some steel joists forced the school corporation to move back the completion date by just over three months.

As a result, sixth graders at Judge Haynes, General Shanks, Bloomfield and East elementary schools won’t join the middle school ranks until the 2004-2005 school year.

But once the building is completed as predicted — in November or December of this year — EJMS seventh and eighth graders will vacate the portable classrooms where there have been attending class the past year, and spill into the new facility.

“Things are going well,” Jay Schools buildings and grounds coordinator Ron Krieg said. “We’ve finally got some good weather, and the masonry work has been our drawback ... There is still plumbing, electrical lines, heating and air conditioning (to install). They’re getting to the point where the building is getting sealed up inside and we can start doing some painting.”

“We’re all very pleased with the project’s progress,” Jay Schools Supt. Barbara Downing said. “We will still have the delay (from the December windstorm) ... but I still believe in late fall they will have what they call ‘substantial completion.’”

Downing also said the corporation has had to make two insurance claims since the construction began. The first was the mid-December windstorm, and the second — on Feb. 11 — was the result of scaffolding that was blown down.

Krieg said the scaffolding was covered in plastic overnight, and the wind caught the plastic, which acted almost like a parachute to bring it all down. For each claim the corporation paid its $5,000 deductible and the insurance covered the remainder of the damages.

With the mason work all but completed, construction workers have plenty of work inside and outside the new facility to keep busy.

Equipment like chairs, cabinets, heating and air conditioning units are already on site, so Krieg says they won’t have to waste any time waiting for materials to arrive.

“The cabinetry, heating and air are all on site, if you ever have any delays, not having that (equipment) is where it would come from,” he said. “So I believe we’re in really good shape.”

So, even if bad weather does strike again, there is plenty of work to be done underneath the building’s new roof.

The cafeteria portion of the new building will be complete before students even get to school this fall. At that time, the kitchen staff will come in for training and learn how to use all the new facilities. And for the first time, students at EJMS will have hot lunches prepared for them in house. Before, lunches were shipped over from Jay County High School.

“We will be using that at the start of school,” Krieg said of the lunchroom facilities. “(Before) the kids would carry their lunch, and when it was the Portland High School they even went uptown. So now it will be nice facility and it will be a nice place for the kids to eat.”

“Day one when the students come back to school will be up and using that full-service kitchen,” Downing said.

The southern part of the school — just north of the football field — is also being developed; including new asphalt, fencing and pavement. Also, unlike last season, the middle school football team will be able to practice on the football field. But games will still be played at JCHS until the fall of 2004, when the team will return to the EJMS field.

Also, once the heating and air conditioning is installed, head custodian Ed Geesaman can control the tempurature of each room individually from his office. That will enable the corporation to save money on energy costs, because Geesaman can heat and cool each room to comply with when teachers and students will be present.

For now, administrators are just hoping no more delays will slow the project.

“I couldn’t anticipate anything,” Kreig said of any more delays. “Lightning can strike, but I just don’t forsee anything that would stop us.”[[In-content Ad]]