Quaker Valley Rebids Middle School Project

Quaker Valley School Directors are prepared to move forward on the highly-anticipated middle school project.

Bids for the project were released Thursday, June 9, and David Pusateri, board facilities chairman, said Tuesday night that the total number of contractors picking up bid documents changes daily.

Superintendent Joseph Clapper said bids are being accepted until 10 a.m. June 30, at which time all bids will be opened.

District administrators and construction project advisers will need time to analyze the bids before moving forward, Clapper said.

The Fourth of July weekend follows the new bid opening, which means school officials won’t meet until a few days later to discuss and potentially vote on awarding contracts.

“Assuming everything goes fine, we could conceivably award bids the week of the Fourth,” Clapper said.

The board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 6 at the district’s main offices in the Leetsdale Industrial Park.

If  everything goes smoothly, Pusateri said construction could start in late July, possibly July 26 or 27. The goal is to get construction moving in the next six to eight weeks.

The construction plans involve massive and updates to classroom space, the cafeteria, gymnasium and the auditorium at the middle school, where students in grades six through eight attend.  

Board members voted to all the middle school construction bids in April after costs for the $23 million project came in well over the district’s targeted cost.

Work was supposed to begin at the end of May, but the turn of events changed the construction timeline, worrying some parents that children would be out of their school building longer than originally thought.

The district has leased Elementary School in Ambridge to house seventh- and eighth-grade students during the renovation work.

A successful bidding process would also open the door for the district to award a moving contract to begin clearing out the building for contractors and bringing equipment and supplies to Anthony Wayne.

“Everything is packed up in the middle school and ready to go,” Pusateri said.

Meanwhile, the board is poised to approve a 2011-12 budget next week. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 21 at the Sewickley Public Library.

Board members acknowledged Tuesday that the is being approved ahead of the Legislature’s state budget, which will likely be approved before the June 30 deadline, but not voted upon until the last week in June.