EVERETT — Contractors literally have been placed between a rock and a hard place as they work on a $10.2 million remodel and expansion at Jefferson Elementary School.
Crews last week unearthed a huge boulder where they are plan to place a grease trap for a new school kitchen.
“We think it’s about the size of VW Bug,” said Jennifer Collins of the Everett School District’s facilities and planning department.
A small part of the top of the rock was visible before construction began. It gave no clue to the enormity of what lay beneath the surface.
“It would have been nice if someone had put an ‘X’ on a map for us,” said Hal Beumel, the district’s construction director. “They must have known about it when they built the school.”
District officials believe the boulder was deposited there when ice age glaciers receded.
It won’t be there much longer.
Construction crews plan to drill a hole in the humongous rock this week and fill the hole with epoxy. When the epoxy expands, the boulder should break into smaller pieces, making removal easier, Beumel said.
Beumel said he doesn’t believe the boulder will slow progress on the Jefferson project where a two-story classroom building will replace six single-story classroom pods. The gym and cafeteria also will be remodeled.
The school is being rebuilt for a maximum of 550 students.
If work stays on course, the new school building should be open by next fall. The district will then demolish old classrooms and build a new parking lot, which should be ready by January 2011.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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