Under construction: Goldsboro High School project
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 22, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Workers with Primus Construction take advantage of the favorable weather Monday to work on the commons area under construction on the Beech Street side of Goldsboro High School. Work is expected to be completed in May.
Construction on the commons area project at Goldsboro High School is roughly halfway through, officials said before schools dismissed Friday for the holidays.
The Primus Construction crew is working over part of the two-week break, said Dean Sauls, assistant superintendent for support services/athletics.
The additional commons area is designed to provide a place for students to congregate during lunch and inclement weather or while waiting for buses, pick-up or drop-off before and after school.
Wayne County Public Schools had proposed renovations and smaller projects in the central attendance area to include those schools in its facilities plan. The $1.9 million designation included the new student commons area at GHS and air conditioning gyms at Dillard Middle and Carver Heights Elementary schools.
The original budget for the GHS renovation was $1.14 million.
But the seemingly small project has been riddled with glitches.
When put out for bids in April, it reportedly came in over budget, forcing the school board to either reject the bid and start over or cut corners. They decided to seek funding from the county commission, but that request was denied and sent back to the school board, forcing the district to rebid the project.
Then in September, the board was tasked with addressing Moseley Architects about an unexpected bill of $223,471 for "professional services" and other items. The architect was a no-show at that board meeting or a subsequent called meeting where Moseley was invited to send a representative to address the concern.
The board ultimately voted 6-1 to ask the county commission for sales tax money to cover the tab, chalking up the surprise bill to miscommunication and a "lesson learned" in dealing with contractors. The architectural firm had reportedly signed contracts more than a year before, in March 2014, with no further discussion updating the current board on the particulars.
WCPS Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore, who was also new to the district, ran interference, explaining in Moseley's absence that no additional fees had accrued from the original agreement.
Construction on the GHS grounds started in May 2015, Sauls said, with a target completion date of May 2016.
"It's going to be a beautiful large student commons and it will have a covered walkway connecting the two buildings," he said.
While it will have a new construction feel, it also boasts a familiar connection to the historical high school -- the windows match those on the original structure auditorium, Sauls said.
"The courtyard will be rebricked and redone," he said of the process, explaining that part of the construction had been delayed because of having to remove a tree.
The previous commons area will become more of an outdoor courtyard, he said, resembling the atrium at Wayne Community College.
The highly anticipated project will be worth waiting for, officials said -- as a meeting place for students to congregate as well as aesthetically pleasing to passers-by.
Once construction is complete, the plans also call for the adjacent parking lot to be repaved, Sauls said.