CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County’s school district is trying to finish up new schools and renovation projects a month before classes start.
Five schools in Horry County are being built or renovated during the summer.
With classes starting on August 22 and teachers returning a week earlier, there are still plenty of items left for crews to finish.
“A lot of them are minor-type punch list items, but some of them are pretty substantial when it comes to a lot of our mechanical-type systems in our new schools,” said Horry County Schools spokesperson Lisa Bourcier.
Facilities director Mark Wolfe says there are 811 tasks left at the five schools. Socastee Middle School has 270 items left, Myrtle Beach Middle School has 198, St. James Intermediate School has 138, Socastee Elementary School has 107 and Ten Oaks Middle School has 98.
The punch list items range from small things like painting a wall to larger ones like final installation and inspection of HVAC units.
“On day one, are we going to be able to manage the heat and air conditioning, the cooling, the humidity,” said Wolfe. “Are we even going get through with the testing before school starts? We hope so, but there’s a lot to be done.”
During Monday’s facilities committee meeting, HCS board interim chair Neil James questioned how come the August 1 deadline may not be reached.
“It seems like you all have identified the problems,” said interim HCS board chair Neil James. “Why aren’t they fixed?”
The HCS facilities department says several new items were added during the projects, making it likely crews will work past August 1.
The district says it’s optimistic the contractors, Firstfloor Energy Positive, will finish the five buildings before kids return to class.
“We got good feedback from Firstfloor,” Bourcier said. “They seem to want to be all hands on deck in order to make all those complete by the beginning of our school year. So we’re hoping that they will stay true to their word.”
Socastee Middle School is the building expected to hold its first classes next month.
Back in 2015, Horry County Schools gave Firstfloor a $240 million contract to build the five schools.