THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300739
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Two elementary schools under construction this summer are not expected to be finished by the time classes start Tuesday, school officials say.
Students will attend other schools temporarily until the construction is complete, said Chesapeake schools Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols.
Officials said they did not know what caused the delays. But Steven M. Gilbert, the school system's administrative director for operations, said some school projects are too complex to finish in the time allotted. Other projects are held up for unavoidable reasons, such as weather, he said.
If contractors are found to be at fault for the delays, Gilbert said, the school system likely will be entitled to monetary damages.
The new Thurgood Marshall Elementary School was scheduled to open Tuesday as a replacement for the old Park Elementary building, demolished last year.
Additions and renovations to Deep Creek Elementary School also were scheduled to be finished by now. Some sections of the schools are ready, but seven classes will have to be relocated to another building temporarily.
Gilbert and Nichols said they expected both schools to be complete within two weeks of the start of classes.
Second- and third-graders who would have attended Thurgood Marshall will instead start school at the old Truitt Middle building, where they spent last year while waiting for their new facility. Kindergartners who would have attended Thurgood will be bused to the Edwards-Wilson Center, like last year.
Some second- and third-graders who would have attended Deep Creek Elementary will be sent on shuttle buses with their teachers to Deep Creek High School.
Gilbert said there was no worry about the younger children mixing with high school students. The elementary kids will start school earlier than the older students, he said, and will be kept in their classrooms for lunch. Restrooms are located near the classrooms the elementary students will use, and teachers will accompany them when they go.
``We're going to isolate them from the high schoolers,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
WHERE TO GO
Thurgood Marshall Elementary students should: Meet school buses
at the stops they used last year. Buses will transport them to the
proper buildings. For parents of kindergarten students, letters have
been sent home from the school with instructions on which bus stops
to use. For more information, call the school administration,
494-7515.
Deep Creek Elementary students should: Meet school buses at their
assigned stops. The buses will transport them first to Deep Creek
Elementary, where some students then will catch shuttle buses with
their teachers to Deep Creek High. For more information, call the
school administration at 494-7525.
by CNB