South San Francisco school starts amid construction project
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- For days, crews have been working feverishly to finish construction projects in South San Francisco before the school year starts. They almost made it. Classes began Wednesday and not everything was finished.
School started Wednesday for children in the South San Francisco Unified School District. For students at Buri Buri Elementary School it was a little challenging given all the construction that's still going on. The fifth grade classrooms had not been completed due to construction delays.
Students at Buri Buri Elementary in South San Francisco were greeted by teachers and one or two construction workers still trying to complete some of the work at the school.
While the entire construction project is supposed to be completed by next year, the classrooms were meant to be done weeks ago.
Four fifth grade classrooms were still being worked on Wednesday. The school had to find space elsewhere for those students. The contractor says those classrooms will be ready in a week.
"I was a little surprised to see that side of the school but it's not affecting them at all. The only thing is the play structure, but they had fun," said Elizabeth Schmidt, a parent.
The play structure has yet to be installed and inspected. There were missing vents, exposed electrical boxes, gates had yet to be put up and some of the paving concrete had not been poured.
The district says part of the construction delays at Buri Buri Elementary School was due to roofing materials that didn't arrive on time. In fact, this is not the only school in the district that's behind in construction.
The district has used up all the funds from the $162 million bond for school improvements and ran out. It moved $10 million from its general fund to complete projects because of increased costs.
"It's unfortunate the construction went longer but anyone who has been around construction knows those things happen," said parent Sam Hozman.
In the meantime the PTA is asking parents to be flexible.
