Bids for the new school at the site of the Mary Devine Elementary School in Bristol Township’s Croydon section came in recently.
The Bristol Township School Board on Monday voted to authorize its professionals with letters of intent to the lowest bidders. Superintendent Dr. Sam Lee said the letters will likely be sent in the following days.
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The bids for the new school totaled just over $36, 238,000, according to officials. Lee said that total is just more than $3 million over what initial estimates were.
Lee said the district would not go out for bids again out of fear the new bids could end up coming in higher. District officials have stated that the longer it took for the project to start, the higher cost of the work.
Officials said zoning work and other approvals needed have delayed the project by up to seven months. During the meeting, board members asked district financial staff to make a sheet that shows just how much money delays, permit fees and public improvements, agreed upon during hearings with the township, are actually costing taxpayers.
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Bristol Township Council approved final plans for the school in the middle of October.
Credit: Bristol Township School District
What makes the Devine project different than the current construction of the new 1,300-student buildings at the sites of Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School on Mill Creek Road and James Buchanan Elementary School on Haines Road, both in Levittown, is that the Devine school has to be taken down before work can begin due to the size of the site.
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District officials said the school could be open by September 2016, if the district’s timetable works out.
Roughly 450 students have been relocated from the Devine school in Croydon to the first floor of the Benjamin Franklin School, which also currently houses the administration offices, until construction is done.
The new state-of-the-art schools are expected to save the cash-strapped district more than $1 million a year once the nine former elementary schools are closed.
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The bidders for the work will be revealed once contracts are agreed upon, Lee said.
