By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

RESERVE – After months of planning, designing and awarding various contracts, residents of St. John Parish are finally starting to see signs of progress in the construction projects that are part of the school system’s Educational and Facilities Plan.

Ground was broken last month at most of the parish’s elementary schools as construction of new playground areas began. Although rainy conditions caused some delays, crews will soon be pouring the concrete slabs that will form the foundation for state-of-the art playground equipment.

The new playgrounds will be handicap accessible and will feature soft safety surfaces to protect children should they fall from the equipment. The design stage of the project was completed two months ahead of schedule. Currently, the project is on schedule, and the equipment is awaiting installation at each school site.

The weather also wreaked havoc on the planned expansion of the field house at East St. John High School. Slated for a December start date, construction crews had to wait until this month to begin excavation work to accommodate the utilities for the new building.

According to Floyd Luster Jr., one of the managers for the projects in St. John, the contractor for the field house project is currently slightly behind schedule but is committed to getting back on schedule, as long as the weather cooperates.

The addition will double the space currently available to East St. John’s athletes and coaches. The new facility is expected to be ready for use when the new school year begins in August.

Luster said a pre-construction meeting was held Tuesday concerning the stadium upgrades at the parish’s two high schools, and next week contractors are scheduled to be on-site to begin construction.

Another project that had to be pushed back recently is the construction of the new running tracks at both East and West St. John high schools. The bidding process for these projects was to begin weeks ago, but Bob Cooper of CSRS said he needed additional time to do some more investigation into the matter to ensure the district would be getting the most bang for its buck regarding the materials used for the project. Advertisements for bids on the projects began running this week (see the Public Notices section of the Wednesday, Jan. 13, edition of L’Observateur). CSRS is expected to present the School Board with recommendations for construction firms at the Feb. 11 meeting.

Other upcoming projects include renovations at John L. Ory, East St. John Elementary, Lake Pontchartrain Elementary and the school system’s central office.

“We’re pretty much tackling some deferred maintenance issues,” said Luster.

On the more distant horizon lie two of the biggest projects on the roster — additions at West St. John and Lake Pontchartrain elementary schools. The pre-construction phase for these projects is expected to begin in April, and construction should start some time during the summer.

According to Luster, overall the projects are running on schedule and on budget, if not slightly under.

“With the market conditions, we’ve been getting good numbers on our bids,” he said.

The projects are being funded through a $46 million bond issue approved by an overwhelming majority of voters in November 2008. Although the original schedule called for the projects to be spread out over a span of five years, the authorization of early bond sales has enabled the program management team at CSRS to move twelve projects forward with the aim of completing the plan in four years.