THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240317
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Currituck County's new high school is about a month behind schedule in construction. But its cost appears to be right on track.
The $16.5 million Currituck County High School building is now at about the midway mark, but it is likely to miss its August opening date.
The lag is no real surprise since the project, after it was rebid last spring, was not expected to be done by the traditional start of the new school year.
Weather delays this winter have further pushed back the projected opening to late September, chief architect C. Michael Ross told county commissioners and school board members at a joint meeting Thursday night.
``I think everybody is aware that we've had a lot of bad weather the month of January,'' said Ross, who works for HBA Architecture & Interior Design of Virginia Beach.
In addition to snowstorms and rain, the architect and school personnel involved with the project - the most expensive building in county history - also have had to weather changes in key personnel.
A new field supervisor has been installed. And the general contractor, Trafaglar House of Morrisville, N.C., is on its third project engineer just eight months into the project.
The turnover can cause disruptions in continuity and communications, Ross said. But, he added, ``In most cases the people replacing the people who have left have been better.''
Financially, the project has remained on course. In fact, as of Thursday change orders have resulted in a $3,241 credit.
``Right now, I think we're holding about our own,'' said John Barnes, a member of the Currituck County Board of Education. ``Just as many change orders have been in our favor as theirs, moneywise.''
One of the biggest changes, however, remains unresolved - and could cost the county $292,000 in unapproved excavation work.
Trafaglar House is seeking the money to pay for topsoil and subgrade materials that county officials believe were improperly removed.
Ross said the two parties plan to meet on the issue in March. ``We feel very strongly still that we do not owe the contractors money. They owe us,'' he said.
The amount the county is seeking is about $37,000.
Also at Thursday's meeting in Currituck, school officials made a pitch for funding a $5 million long-range technology project designed to bring the school system up to state computer literacy standards.
By the year 2001, all North Carolina high school seniors seeking a diploma will have to pass a literacy test which includes computer use.
The Currituck school system, with about 2,900 students enrolled this year, has about 500 computers. But almost all of them run on outdated systems from the 1970s or early 1980s, said Superintendent W.R. ``Ronnie'' Capps.
Only 10 percent of these computers meet minimum state standards. And of that amount only a quarter of them can run the popular Windows program, he said.
Capps said the basic tools he used as a student included a No. 2 pencil and yellow legal pad. He read books rather than computer screens.
``But this generation out there doesn't respond to that,'' he said. ``And it's very important that we respond to this generation.''
School officials are asking county commissioners to earmark 2 cents of the current tax rate - or about $284,000 annually - to help fund their five-year plan.
The technology is needed not only to meet new state standards, but to keep Currituck school graduates competitive with other progressive counties, such as Dare.
``Our students are going to becompeting for the same jobs as their students will be,'' said Fannie Newbern, the Griggs Elementary School principal and a co-chair of the committee that created the technology plan.
The plan's first phases require hardware basics, such as networking and up-to-date equipment, to be in place at all seven county schools.
Griggs and Knotts Island Elementary are already networked. Moyock Elementary, the new high school and a renovated Central are expected to be wired in soon.
The Knapp School and the former high school, which will become a junior high, will need to be networked.
Veteran teachers, who this year must take 10 hours of computer training, also will need instructions in Internet access, CD Rom, Windows and computer integration.
These are all requirements of this spring's new crop of teachers coming out of the University of North Carolina system, said Julie Douglass, director of curriculum and instruction.
``Our teachers who are currently employed have to be brought up to speed,'' she said.
No decisions were made by commissioners at the meeting. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
DREW WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Construction of Currituck County High School is at the midway mark.
by CNB