MILL CREEK – Henry M. Jackson High School won’t open this fall with 12 new classrooms as planned.
Instead, there will be two less than last fall, leaving three teachers and dozens of students to attend class in portables at nearby Heatherwood Middle School.
“We know it’s an inconvenience for students and teachers, but it will give us the space we need to start the school year,” said Gay Campbell, a school district spokeswoman.
Construction was halted this month when the district fired the contractor, StoneRidge Development Corp. of Spokane. A rainstorm then damaged some of the existing classrooms.
The district said the construction company did not meet deadlines and was in default of its $2.8 million contract.
“We weren’t seeing any significant progress,” said Hal Beumel, the district’s director of construction. “We began to get concerned in the late spring, early summer.”
StoneRidge argues that it was wrongfully terminated and is suing the school district in Snohomish County Superior Court.
It alleges there were problems with the building design, and claims its complaints about the phasing of the construction schedule were not heeded.
“It is our contention that the district and their design team damaged StoneRidge and impeded our ability to complete the Henry Jackson project,” said Travis Young, project manager for StoneRidge.
“Without getting into details, the district disagrees with their claim,” Beumel said.
In a letter to parents, Superintendent Carol Whitehead said there will be no scheduling conflicts or effect on class sizes because of the dispute.
“However,” she said, “we will need to be flexible in the use of available space at the school.”
The district does not expect to use the new addition during the 2004-2005 school year. The project was about 70 percent complete on June 30. The district is looking to hire another contractor to complete the project.
On Aug. 6, four days after the district severed ties with the contractor, heavy rains hit the region, damaging four existing classrooms that had been opened up as part of the construction process.
A quick response limited the damage, Beumel said, and the district is working to get most of those classrooms ready for the first day of school on Sept. 8.
“Our hope is that by the end of the year, it will be complete,” Beumel said of the addition. “It is definitely our goal to get it sooner than that.”
The two-story addition is at the west end of the campus near the tennis courts. The plan was to add 12 classrooms for immediate and long-term growth.
This year, the school is expecting 27 new students, the equivalent of another classroom. Last school year, more than 1,600 students attended the school. And new housing developments are on the horizon along Bothell-Everett Highway, 35th Avenue SE and south of 132nd Street SE.
The district has paid the contractor about $1.8 million, and has about $1 million left, Beumel said.
The Jackson addition is part of a $74 million bond package that voters approved in 2002.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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