• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: May 30, 2009 - Page: 1B

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NEW ROADS — Construction bids on four new buildings to house the Pointe Coupee Parish School Board’s new Head Start program came in higher than budgeted, Superintendent Mike Lucia said Friday.

Out of $1.8 million in federal grant money scheduled to be used for the program, $800,000 was set aside to build four new buildings at Rougon, Valverda, Upper Pointe Coupee and Rosenwald elementary schools, Lucia said.

The dilemma, he said, is that construction bids for the buildings totaled about $1.7 million, hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the School Board anticipated:

• Rougon Elementary School, $389,900.
• Valverda Elementary School, $424,600.
• Upper Pointe Coupee Elementary School, $467,000.
• Rosenwald Elementary School, $516,313.

Architect David Mougeot, who drew up preliminary plans for the four buildings, said the estimates were based on the $122.65-per-square-foot price tag the School Board was quoted for the building of a pre-kindergarten building at Rougon Elementary School three weeks ago.

On Tuesday, the School Board received construction estimates for the four Head Start buildings, but those prices ranged from a low of $120.67 per square foot at Rougon Elementary to a high of $155.62 per square foot at Upper Pointe Coupee Elementary, he said.

Because the pre-kindergarten building and the four Head Start buildings are to be built with the same construction materials and are similar in size, Mougeot said, he did not anticipate such wide disparities in costs.

One explanation for the pricing fluctuations, Mougeot said, is that construction on the Head Start buildings has been fast-tracked to be completed in three months — in time for the program’s targeted early September start date.

Generally, it takes four to five months to construct such buildings, he said.

When a project is fast-tracked, general contractors often add extra costs to their estimates in anticipation of paying workers overtime compensation and to cover any other unforeseen circumstances, Mougeot said.

In light of the higher-than-expected construction estimates, the School Board has tentatively scheduled a special meeting Tuesday to adjust its plans.

On Friday, School Board members weighed in on the situation.

School Board member Chad Aguillard called the unsettled status of the Head Start program unfortunate.