New school still set to open in January
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

While the opening date for the new El Campo Middle School is still Jan. 23, due to construction delays caused by weather and other considerations, builders remain confident they can make up for some lost time.

While Durotech held to the Jan. 23 opening date in its last update to the El Campo ISD school board, the builder said "the scheduled finish date may be reduced to mid-December 2007 or early January 2008."

That would be ideal for the district, which originally planned to make the switch to the new facility on FM 2765 over the seasonal break.

Construction was delayed from its original completion date by unusually rainy weather in January and February and again in June and July, and also because of a shortage of brick masons.

Overall, Durotech said building is proceeding well, and ECISD Superintendent Mark Pool told trustees Oct. 16 he is very pleased with the project's progress.

He added board members would be pleased at the changes in the building since they last toured the facility in August.

The new middle school and a practice gym at the high school - being built as a result of a $19.9 million bond package approved in 2005 - are both behind schedule, but within budget, although the budget was increased early-on to $22 million.

ECISD's board decided in September to withhold future payments on the gym, originally scheduled to be completed Aug. 1, due to what it perceived as a lack of communication with the project's construction manager, a situation that has since been resolved.

A punch list of items that needed to be taken care of before the district accepted ownership of the building was established and "substantial completion" of the project was Oct. 5, when a final walk-through inspection was to have been held.