South San Francisco parents upset classrooms not ready for kids
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- Parents with children at a school in South San Francisco are wondering whether their kids will start classes next week. Construction delays are to blame and parents claim they've been kept in the dark about the whole process.
Construction crews are working against the clock to complete all classrooms at Buri Buri Elementary. They have a week before school starts. Some of the new class rooms are still without sheetrock. It has and continues to be the talk of the neighborhood.
"They're not near ready," says resident Priscilla Dubrovich. She has a grandchild and great-grandchild attending. "We haven't even gotten a notice to tell us that the kids are going back on the 12th. It's really bad. We're all waiting for a notice."
Joe Lavin is another grandparent who says, "I have not seen a letter, nothing. No phone call yet, nothing."
The South San Francisco School District has several construction projects thanks to a $162 million bond measure which passed in 2010.
At El Camino High School, the science lab and new football field were completed in time, but other projects have been delayed including the ones at Buri Buri and Parkway Middle School.
The district told ABC7 News they blame it on "unforeseen circumstances that can impact timelines."
In the case of Buri Buri Elementary there were delays in receiving the required roofing materials.
A representative of the school district toured the site Thursday with the principal.
Lauren Kitchen is head of the PTA. She said, "Basically, they are working 12-hour days to get the school ready for our kids and they've been doing this for the past three to four weeks."
While the entire project is supposed to be completed by next year, the classrooms were supposed to ready by now.
"It might be a rough couple of months as they get everybody into their right places," Kitchen said.
